Category: Career Development

• How to Stay Motivated While Job Hunting This Year (2023)

  The COVID-19 epidemic left millions unemployed, and the list of prominent corporations that have declared job cutbacks published by Business Insider shows that another wave of layoffs is imminent. This is probably not what you want to hear if you’re feeling anxious about your job security or uninspired as you hunt for a job around the holidays in today’s competitive employment market. The good news is that many employment chances become available in a variety of sectors at the end of the year; thus, it is essential to remain motivated throughout your job hunt.

  You must continue your job hunt over the holidays. Many individuals who are now discouraged are unaware that corporations have budgets that have not yet been spent. As the end of the year approaches, as the CEO of an industry training platform, I encourage job searchers to become competitive and use their passion to their advantage. After the first shock of the pandemic, several large organisations with numerous divisions managed to recover. They will want to invest cash in recruiting and training. Now is the moment to intensify your job search efforts, as recruiting for the holidays is underway. Your search may be made more manageable by dividing your to-do list into smaller activities.

  Highlight your transferrable talents
  Do not restrict your search to known industries or positions. Employers are seeking versatile individuals. After all, COVID-19 compelled several businesses to rapidly alter their operations and offers. In your resume and during interviews, emphasise transferrable abilities that will allow you to offer value to a company whose business goals are susceptible to change.

  
  See chaos as a ladder
  Even major corporations like as Nike and Ford redirected their manufacturing lines to produce face masks and ventilators. New procedures and technologies have necessitated the creation of new sorts of positions in the workforce, so be on the lookout for chances that did not exist before. You just need to maintain a good attitude and adopt a fresh perspective. You have a unique skill set and history; thus, you should tailor how you communicate your knowledge and experiences to each position’s prerequisites. Demonstrate to employers how you fit within the modern business environment. You may find yourself in a position you never thought would be a great match.

  
  Focus on digital hiring interfaces
  In a society marked by social isolation, virtual interviews have essentially supplanted in-person ones, and email has assumed an even greater role in the early employment phase. Try to examine your communications objectively after each encounter with a recruiter or hiring manager. How do you come across on camera? How may your email words be interpreted? You may maximise every contact by tailoring your communication style to certain channels.

  Thus, even after the end of the epidemic, the business environment will continue to evolve rapidly. In the past, you would accept any job you were offered. You no longer have this privilege. You must always update your resume and examine your network for chances. The typical employee changes employment every four years, and this rate is expected to quicken in the future years.
  You may get a position you like, but you cannot assume it is secure. If you are satisfied with your current position and another company makes you an offer, you are not required to accept it. However, you should constantly be vigilant. These recommendations can teach you how to remain motivated throughout your job hunt.

  January 5, 2023

  career success, confidence, inspiring, job motivation, motivation, self-confidence, success, work

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• The Art of Reflection for Success

  Hello dear readers, I hope you are doing well. Lately, with a crisis in the job market, we all are beginning to get back to our drawing boards and have to re-evaluate many things in our life. This is where we use the art of reflection to improve our chances of success by 50%!

  How many times have you been pleasantly surprised when someone compliments you on a certain skill or a little rattled when someone criticizes you for a certain reason? In both cases, you might not even have been aware of some aspects of yourself until it was brought to your attention. This is because with our busy life, schedules, and mind, by the end of the night when we have a little time for ourselves we are fast asleep.

  This is where from today onwards you can begin to actively reflect on your behaviours and experiences of the day or allocate a specific time in the day for this purpose. This is necessary because when we say we live in a fast-paced society what we often fail to understand is that we are also unassumingly caught up in the fast-paced circle, but if we just get down from this pace and slow down a little, we will realize that it is easier to be on top of everything this way.

  To simply, when an organisation is going through major changes and problems that are stressful for everyone in the team, what separates a great leader from a normal leader is their ability to ‘stop, reflect, and do’. When everyone is in a panicked situation, the leader opts to pause for a moment to assess the situation in their mind, and then reflect on the circumstance and then finally take the necessary decisions in a calm manner that communicates a certain amount of reassurance to others. This quality immensely pulls the team from going into a tunnel of despair only because of one simple action that the leader took of reflecting. Had the leader not reflected, then there would be a possibility they would be as panicked as other members and would have failed to reassure the team.

  Reflecting on your day can make your life so much easier, this is because you know why you are doing what and more importantly you are also aware of what you don’t know. I often meet students who are confused when they are asked to choose a career path based on their strengths and weaknesses. They don’t know how to actually assess this and even if they have an idea they are hesitant to say it. While it is understandable, the key is to constantly take note of small victories or losses in your life. If one looks at their day and sees what activity they enjoyed the most, such as, interacting with people or writing and so on, they get a clue as to what they can pursue. You can also objectively know the skills that are currently not up to the level but would like to improve on. This will allow you to direct your energy in this world through ideas based on your assessment. Hence, improving your decision-making skills, confidence and most importantly allowing you to truly enjoy what you do.

  You can begin by setting some time in the day to quickly go through your day without being judgmental and objectively understanding your day. Alternatively, you can also write about your experiences in a journal. Soon, you will learn active self-reflection, where during the interactions you pick up on reasoning behind your actions and experiences.

  Remember, the key is to understand yourself, your expectations, actions and words. Do not take this time to judge yourself, criticizing yourself, or trying to understand others’ actions. This will defeat the purpose and drive you to feel more stressed out than before to the point that you might begin to avoid thinking about your actions altogether. Reflect on your day by appreciating yourself and strive to enhance your strengths and work on what you identify as your weakness.

  Remember to be kind and gentle with yourself and use the art of reflection for success!

  If you found this interesting you can check out how to improve your decision-making skills using the concepts of self-reflection. Also, Kristine Carlson has a great podcast on the art of reflection for success, you can check it out by clicking here!

  Credits: Photo by Yeshi Kangrang on Unsplash

  May 24, 2020

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• How to work smart for success?

  “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”- Pele

  When it comes down to the recipe of success, hard-work is a key ingredient. However, a recipe isn’t created by merely one ingredient, it requires other things too.

  Here are a few pointers that would be handy while following your passion.

  Success isn’t guaranteed with one action

  You have to keep in mind that hard-work doesn’t always mean that you will be successful. So while working you shouldn’t be worried about failures and whether you will achieve it or not. You just have to ensure that you put in your 100%.

  Talk to the experts

  If there are two basketball players, one player has spent day and night trying to figure out the strategies and techniques, instead of just practicing. And the other player has hired a trustworthy coach who is giving him his own expertise along with training. So now the second player has expertise from another source and his own hard work and knowledge, this will be a powerful combination as compared to the player one.

  Taking the risk

  “If you want it, go for it. Take the risk. Don’t always play it safe or you will keep wondering forever.”  Taking a risk could be a step towards your goal. But since it is termed as a risk it could hamper your career too. The choice is up to you and in times when you’re stuck making important decisions, you need to consider each and every possibility very carefully. You can’t rely solely on hard-work now at this point, the results depend on how a person thinks and works under a critical situation.

  Work Smart

  You don’t always have to keep working hard, sometimes you can use your creativity to work smart. Working smart will help you maintain a balanced lifestyle and give you the time and energy to explore different aspects of life. Not only will you feel peaceful, but you will also be able to work with a clear mind.

  A pinch of Luck

  “Life isn’t fair. It never was and never will be.” Indeed it is true because sometimes things aren’t the way you want them to be. Sometimes no matter how hard you work, at the end of the day, you don’t get the rewards or someone else gets chosen over you. In life, anything can happen at any moment in time. So, you shouldn’t feel discouraged if something doesn’t happen right away, but rather be motivated to follow your passion.

  January 12, 2020

  anxiety, Career, confusion, failure, self-esteem, success, work, work hard, work smart

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• How to achieve your desired goals?

  With the new year, lots of resolutions and promises to oneself must have come up. The reality is that setting these goals is just one step, the question of how to achieve these desired goals is often confusing, but if we break it down and simplify it then we can see how these goals are achievable and even begin to enjoy the process.

  The first and foremost step is to understand, visualize and define the steps towards your goal. More often than not, we set high aims in our life which is a great thing, and then get excited by that dream, but the actual process of working seriously and consistently towards that dream is not always necessarily glamorous and as a result we lose motivation too quickly and become disappointed. The important thing is to understand that if you want to achieve that dream you have, you have to struggle for a period of time doing things that you might not be necessarily happy with at the moment but still contributes to your dream. When you modify your thought process like this, you will start to see almost everything in life as either a healthy contribution to your dreams or as something that takes you a step away from your dream, thereby, keeping you on track by the virtue of your thought process.

  Another helpful habit that you can adopt is to attain clarity on what kind of goals you are setting, whether it is short term or long term, and to asses your own strengths and weakness. This kind of clarity combined with an optimistic viewpoint will allow you to harness your strengths when needed and to work on your weakness. For example, if you are looking for a job in a country that you have been dreaming about, but you don’t have the language skills required to stay in that country, then identifying this can give you an opportunity and time to develop the language skills to work in your dream country.

  Lastly, it comes down to your actions every day. Incorporate the activities and work that you need to do to achieve your desired goals in your daily life without letting it overwhelm you. The activities can also be an indirect contribution to your dreams which you can do even when you are relaxing in the day. For example, if you want to use social media, you can look up relevant articles or Quora threads that are related to your field just to read every night. Alternatively, you can watch Youtube videos or pick up a new skill that might not be directly related to your field but can contribute to your goals one day.

  Thus, when you start looking at multiple goals, prioritize them and break them down into long and short term goals, then almost all the activities and habits that you take up in your life will either be directly or indirectly geared towards them, thus allowing you to move forward in achieving your goals. This is not a one time effort, its a continuous journey that you are embarking upon, hence it will take time, patience and lots of self-motivation, but soon it will begin to change how you look at life and hence make the journey of achieving your goals enjoyable and an enriching learning experience.

  If you found this interesting then you might enjoy our article on a fresh new perspective on defining your goals.

  Some books that you can read on this topic are listed below:

  Creating Your Best Life by Caroline Miller

  The Book of Mistakes by Skip Prichard

  January 9, 2020

  achieving dreams, achieving goals, decision making, goals, mistakes, motivation, new year resolution, reaching goals, success

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• Examples of famous people overcoming failures

  Failure is the first step towards success. Every once in a while we fail at a number of things. That shouldn’t make you give up but rather to make you work harder. Rather than losing hope, we should see it as an opportunity. Rather than feeling dejected, we should see it as a task to do the job in a different, innovative and successful way. At the age of 67 when the factory of Thomas Elva Edison got burned out, there wasn’t a pinch of fear in his face. He calmly walked over to his son and told him he got rid of all the rubbish and now he will start again from tomorrow.
  So here are 5 famous stories of a setback that later on contributed to even more success for the people. These real life examples of famous people overcoming failures can inspire us and help us learn how to keep moving in our path to success even in the face of setbacks.

  Charlie Chaplin

  We all know Charlie Chaplin as one of the best comedians. But he has had a fair share of failures and struggles in his life. His father left him when he was only 2 years old and his mother was in a mental asylum. For almost all of his childhood years, he had to look after himself and his younger brother, Sydney. He had to earn for them and often ended up eating nothing and living a stray life.

  But all of that didn’t stop him from succeeding in life. He followed his passion despite all the shortcomings. He did not know what lay ahead of his path to his passion. There was risk in it but he did what his heart desired and finally after tons and tons of failures made his way to showbiz and became an all time favorite comedian in the world.

  Charlie Chaplin once said, “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even troubles.” For more such quotes by Charlie Chaplin, follow this link.

  It isn’t always about running away from the failures, getting scared of them. You should know that whatever you’re trying for is what your heart longs for and give your best.

  Colonel Harland Sanders

  We all know that he was the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). He too struggled a lot in his life. At the age of 5, his father died. While his mother went on for work he was given the job of feeding and taking care of two of his siblings. By age 14 he left his home and after that worked at odd jobs for a number of years. At 40 he opened his restaurant and began serving chicken. By the age of 50, he had lost all of his business due to a fire. At the age of 65, he failed another business and decided to sell his recipe. He was rejected by many restaurants before finally, one accepted his offer. In response to all the failures he had suffered, the famous businessman said, “One has to remember that every failure can be a stepping stone to something better”.

  Harrison Ford

  Harrison Ford, aka ‘The Indiana Jones’ is a known figure. He is one of the most talented, hardworking and decorated individuals to step into the Hollywood industry. He was born to parents who were both involved in the industry, it could be said acting was in his blood.

  A lot of expectations were from him. However, in his first film, the executives told him that he simply didn’t have what it takes to be a star. At this point, he could’ve quit it. Having so much pressure and in the first job you’re told that however hard you may try, you won’t make it big. Imagine how he would’ve felt. But he said NO to giving up. It was at the age of 31 when he got his breakthrough role in the movie after numerous rejected auditions in films, voice covers and doing odd jobs. Harrison Ford famously once said, “To me, success is a choice and opportunity.”

  J.K. Rowling

  She is one of the most renowned authors having written the wildly popular Harry Potter series.

  Her entire childhood was difficult, maintaining an already strained relationship with her father and dealing with her mother’s disease of multiple sclerosis. At the age of 17, she applied to Oxford University and was rejected. It was at the age of 25 when she was moving to Manchester on a 4 hour delayed train that the idea of Harry Potter came to her mind. At the age of 38, she was divorced, had a daughter, victim of domestic abuse and had only completed 3 chapters of her first novel. She felt that she was a failure, having failed in everything she has put efforts on. She was suicidal. She could’ve easily dropped the idea of some wizards. She could’ve easily accepted the fate and could’ve felt that maybe it was in the destiny to fail and could’ve let go of it. But did she?

  By 1995 she had finished the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Her book got rejected by 12 major publications until finally, one gave her a deal. Fast forward to 2004, she was the first person to have achieved billionaire status via writing.

  J.K. Rowling famously quoted “Its impossible to live without failing at something unless you might’ve lived so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all.”

  Michael Jordon

  Regarded as the Greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordon or MJ was born in 1963 and is an unparalleled winner in the history of sports, having never been defeated in the NBA finals and a playing style that was as competitive and jaw-dropping as it could get.

  Having not been picked for a varsity team, the incident affected Jordon to the core of his life. He couldn’t believe what had happened and started crying in front of everyone. It was his mother, who then encouraged him to work even harder. From then on, he spent hours and hours working on his shooting, his footwork and ball-handling. For years all he ever thought of was Basketball.
  At the age of 38, having retired from sports, he decided to play the game again. Imagine picking up basketball and playing that game where people who were almost half his age were dominating. He was still a success then. It was his sheer determination, love for the game, and the courage to follow his passion that led to his success. Michael Jordon once quoted “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

  So if you want to achieve something in your life the only way is to keep working in face of any kind of obstacles and failures. This is because, in the path to success, failures and obstacles are inevitable, hence it should not scare you, rather you should gently remind yourself that it can be dealt with the power of hard work, perseverance and passion.

  For more such articles on overcoming obstacles, you might be interested in What should I do after a failure?

  Image credit: https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/804385183428357001/

  January 1, 2020

  ceo, failure, famous actors, famous people, inspiring, inspiring stories, stories, story, storytime

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• Quick healthy habits for success

  We have all heard the phrase that success does not happen overnight, but this phrase brings up a question that what does contribute to success? Success is dependent on the small tasks that often form a part of our daily routine. Hence it becomes essential to incorporate healthy habits as a part of our lifestyle. That’s why we bring to you some absolutely quick healthy habits for success that you can make a part of your life!

  Keep yourself up-to-date with what’s happening around the world

  This is a habit that you will thank yourself for whenever you are in a social circle where people are discussing different business takeovers or the imminent future of the economic situation of a country.

  All it takes is 5 minutes of your day to begin reading different kinds of news of the world, and slowly, you will start enjoying, and it will expose you to tons of creative ideas that you can utilise in your personal or professional life.

  Subscribe to newsletters and regularly follow websites such as the financial times or the wall street journal.

  

  Take a deep breath

  With the hustle and bustle of life and our relentless pursuit of success, we really do forget to take a deep breath at the very least once a day and to take in our surroundings.

  This habit takes less than a minute but will instantly uplift your mood and bring the center that you would need in your life. So, don’t forget to make this small but absolutely essential habit a part of your life from now on!
  

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  Making a to-do list and appreciating it

  The important point with this habit is not only to make the to-do list and complete the tasks but to take a moment to appreciate yourself for accomplishing a task- no matter how small or big- this will make the process so much more enjoyable. Also, this 5-minute habit will slowly teach you to appreciate yourself allowing confidence to gradually seep into you over time.

  

  Genuinely listen and enjoy the conversations

  Every day, we meet new people with their own exciting life experiences and stories, and actually listening to them can be so rewarding in every way for us!

  People’s stories might not always be about the great big adventure trip to an island, it could be something as simple as them talking about their routine life or chores, but as social being, we thrive in a setting where people will listen and speak to us. Hence, actually listening to people will first of all make them happy, and it will also allow you an opportunity to know them better or pick something up from their stories. Moreover, it will also strengthen your bond with the people you meet and people you already know, which is a strong base for success in life, so enjoy your conversations with people!

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  So, what are you waiting for? Now that you spent 5 minutes of your time reading this, maybe you can take out another 5 minutes and incorporate one of these habits into your life. After that, you will almost immediately see the way these habits enhance the quality of your life.

  To get more insight into the habits that some of the most successful people have adopted, you can read our article.

  November 25, 2019

  habits, habits for success, healthy, healthy habits, quick success, successful habits

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• How To Improve Your Decision Making Skills

  Did you ever make a choice that you regret now? Are you wondering how to make future choices with minimum regrets? Then read on to know more about becoming good at decision making.

  Before we understand how to make good decisions, we need to understand why confusion occurs in the first place while decision making.

  Some of the reasons why one gets confused while taking decisions:

  Unclear thoughts

  There are so many thoughts that go through our head every second. We aren’t even aware of some of these thoughts.

  Some of these thoughts never completely materialize no matter how important they are to us. Sometimes we don’t let a thought completely form in our mind, the thoughts become unclear to us and hence leads to confusion while making a decision.

  Dilemmas

  Each choice has its own pros and cons. We face a dilemma because we need to accept the cons of one choice and let go of the pros of the other choice. This will always be difficult and hence we stall the decision-making process.

  Head vs heart

  Sometimes, our emotions point us in one direction and our rational thinking points us in the other direction. In other words, our desires influence us to lean towards one choice and our rationality favors a different choice. This leads to a large amount of confusion and struggle, especially when you are not clear about your priorities.

  We don’t give importance to our thoughts

  While making a decision, every single reason and thoughts we have regarding the decision is important. But given the plethora of information we have and out of a fear of what others may think, we sometimes don’t listen to our inner voice and then we feel uncomfortable with a decision that we make.

  The most common advice we hear and how to actually use it?

  When we are confused and seek other’s help, most people use the following phrases “It’s up to you to decide which way you want to go” or “That totally depends on you”, or “You should decide which one you want”.

  It brings us right back to the starting point of the whole decision-making process. But somewhere, there is a fundamental truth in that advice that we often overlook.

  The key is to start looking within yourself, your emotions, your goals, and your thought process. Once, you understand that you can begin making decisions that will have a positive impact on your life.

  

  How to improve your decision-making skills?

  So now that we know why we get confused while making decisions and how to use the advice that we get. We can look at some strategies to improve our decision-making skills.

  1- Accept the confusion

  First, accept that you are not sure about what to choose or what you want. It will push you to search for more defined answers about the choices and about yourself.

  2- Focus on the aspect of certainty

  Every choice has some uncertainty associated with it. So, don’t worry about the uncertainty and focus on what you know for sure, regarding the decision. Focusing on the uncertainty will only hold us back and keep us worried.

  3- Listen to the response of your body

  Think of each choice and just observe how your body responds to each of the choices. Do you feel a pit in your stomach when you think of a certain choice, or does your breathing rate rise due to excitement?

  Positive intuitions and vibes manifest in the following way – breathing becomes easy, chest and shoulders are relaxed, the gut is calm, feels safe, and energized

  Negative intuitions and vibes manifest in the following way – Sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, shoulder muscles tighten, sense of darkness, pressurized, agitation, feeling drained.

  4- Get creative

  We may be limiting ourselves to choice A and choice B. We think we have no other choice other than these. But we tend to forget that we can create a choice C that has the good parts of both the choices.

  5- Take a small step in one direction

  Take a small step in one direction and evaluate your thoughts on the developments. Your state of mind could change after acting on one of the choices. Your thoughts may be clearer and the new developments will make it apparent which choice you actually prefer.

  Finally, you have to remember that every confusion is a challenge thrown at you to better define yourself. Most of our confusion is not between the choices, it’s between the different people we could be while making those choices. 

  Give importance to every small desire that your inner self-tells you. You can never be sure that a choice is going to be perfectly right for you in every way. But make the choice after putting your best effort to understand yourself and your choices. After all according to the famous Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard – “Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.”

  Making a choice isn’t easy, but choosing what works for you and makes you happy will minimize the chances of regretting your decisions.

  July 17, 2018

  choices, confusion, decision, decision making, decision making skills, making choices, problem solving, skills

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• A new perspective on defining your goals

  We, human beings are simple creatures. Even though we have the ability to think objectively and rationally, we are easily swayed and influenced by images and by things we see or hear. Having a goal is the first step that everyone talks about and advises on. I am not going to repeat the same thing and I’m also sure most of you have already set a goal. We all have goals, but the problem is we define them too vaguely. Here is a fresh new perspective on defining your goals.

  “Anything we achieve now was first aimed for.“

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  When you are extremely hungry you can’t think of anything else other than food. You visualize food, you imagine biting into it and getting the sensation of its taste. This visualization increases our motivation to eat and to put more effort into getting the food. When we see someone else eating, we become hungrier. That is because it becomes easy for the mind to reach a higher and more defined level of visualization.

  Your goal is like food. Those who have defined its smell, its taste, its appearance and every aspect associated with achieving it, work more towards it. I think this can also explain why kids choose their parent’s career when the parents are in a highly glamorous career. It could be because the kids have experienced the emotion and lived through the experience of achieving the goal vicariously through the parent. For a simpler example, sometimes kids wear their parent’s clothes and footwear. Because they’ve seen their parents wear it and they have a clearly defined image of themselves wearing it. In this case, they can’t help but make the goals come true.

  Don’t just tell yourself I am going to do x, or I am going to get y. Think about how you would feel after you do x or get y. Think about every little minute yet important detail associated with achieving your goal. So my point is, go and explore the other side of your goal, which is- your life after achieving those goals. There are many ways to do it, such as, visualizing how it would be after achieving those goals, talking to people who have achieved their goals, and writing about why you want to achieve those goals.

  Don’t start from where you are, visualize where you want to go first. Imagine the destination first and you’ll realize how much you want it. On the other hand, you might realize that there are things about the goals which you don’t like.

  This process will help you move forward and you’ll find the hard work become easier as your mind wants to make the visualization a reality now more than ever. This process can be applied to short-term goals or even everyday tasks.

  To apply this perspective to your life for achieving your desired goals you can read more by clicking this link!

  Credit: Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

  June 25, 2018

  Career, goals, latest, plan, success

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• How to build true confidence in life?

  Building confidence is a life-long process, identifying certain factors can help you understand what you need to work on, and how to move forward in the right direction.

  Before we start, you need to adopt a viewpoint of looking at confidence as not just a trait, but as an emotion, a thought, and a state of mind. You become confident when your whole mind and body agrees with it.

  This will be your one-stop guide to understand how to build true confidence in life and use this for success. Now, let’s look at those essential factors that will help you build true confidence.

  1- Fake it till you make it

  “Confidence is a habit that can be developed by acting as if you already had the confidence you desire to have.” – Brian Tracy

  This is the first step to start the process of building confidence. You can’t always be prepared for everything and you can’t always have 100% confidence in everything, sometimes you just have to fake it until it becomes real.

  For example, if you are terrified of hosting a show or giving a speech because you are not confident that you can speak in front of so many people. Then, you just have to fake confidence for some time. You keep doing it until you are actually on that stage, and this experience of just going to the stage will help you gain real confidence.

  2- Understand your core values

  Whether you are aware of it or not, your actions will always be influenced by your values and beliefs. Hence, understanding them will help you understand what you are willing to do and what you aren’t. This helps you avoid unnecessary pressure that you put on yourself to do something that you don’t even want to do.

  Focus all your energy on working on something that you believe in. If you don’t know who you really are at heart, then how can you truly build your confidence?

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  3- Accept yourself

  No one can be good at everything in this world and be “perfect”. You have to accept who you are, sure you can improve certain qualities that you don’t like, and keep modifying yourself. But, at the end of the day, you have to accept who you are, your goals and even your mistakes. It’s important because if you don’t truly accept yourself, you would never have confidence that someone else will accept you.

   4- Perfecting your skills

  So far, we have seen how to manage your thought processes when it comes to confidence. But, an equally important aspect is to improve on your skills every single day.

  If you keep perfecting your skills that you would have to use every day or something that you would have to use in your career or your life. It would help you gain true confidence since this aspect is grounded in reality. This means that to start building a strong foundation to be confident, you need to put in a lot of hard work and efforts.

  5- Don’t stop

  While you are building confidence, you can’t stop after one task or one successful event. You need to keep going and push yourself more every time, it is very easy to get stuck in the safe zone, but that won’t help you grow.

  So, keep trying out new things and put yourself out there as much as you can. The tasks or goals can be very simple and easy, but the important thing is to not stop this process.

  6- Body language

  In times of need, assume a powerful body language! This will instantly make you feel confident and lift your mood. Our body language affects how we feel and how we think. Simply walking tall with your head held high and taking wide steps will make you feel confident. Always keep your back straight, your eyes forward and avoid fidgeting or hiding your hands. These are some of the ways you will feel confident in any situation.

  Lastly, you need to remember, building true confidence is a lifelong process. These points can help you understand what to focus on and how to move forward, but it requires a lot of hard work and patience from your side. It can become difficult or frustrating, but do not give up because achieving this is truly freeing and exhilarating.

  Now that you have read how to build true confidence in life, you can read more on incorporating it in your life to achieve your desired goals by clicking this link!

  Some books that can help you out:

  The Little Book of Confidence by Susan Jeffers

  The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

  Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

  June 25, 2018

  body language, confidence, self-confidence, self-esteem, success

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• Why am I scared of failure?

  How many times have we let an opportunity go because we are scared of failure or making a mistake? “To achieve great success, you need to be ready to face failure along the way.”

  Stumbling down and falling is a part of life, one doesn’t need to be afraid nor be embarrassed about it. If we start truly embracing and owning our failures, we will only grow and move towards the right path.

  The reality is that there will be a little bit of fear with every big step you take, and that small amount of fear is necessary to push you towards your goal, but the trick is to not let the fear grow so much that it actually prevents you from achieving your goals. This uncontrollable fear will only lead to regrets, missed opportunities and more trouble later on.

  “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.”  – Jack Canfield

  Life is all about learning, evolving, and growing, and no matter how philosophical that sounds, it is that simple. If you understand that failure is inevitable in the process of learning and growing, the fear will soon start disappearing, simply because there will be no place for it anymore. Your enthusiasm, curiosity, and zest for life will soon take over.

  In many ways, failure is the best teacher you can ever have. It will push you to think outside the box, work harder and try different approaches. It will help you learn so much about yourself, and make you think in-depth about your choices and decisions. All these things are essential for success and true contentment in life. The simple thing you should tell yourself every day is that failure is inevitable on the path to success.

  If you are not failing and trying again, that means you are not moving forward.

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  So, now the question is how do we overcome this fear? How do we start embracing our failures?

  1. Understanding Your Strengths and Weakness

  The first and the most important thing that you have to do is, take time to understand your strengths and weaknesses. You can do this by taking time to reflect on your decisions at the end of the day, or simply making a pros and cons list!

  This will help you to play to your strengths and enhance them, while at the same time being aware of your weak points and improving on them. This simple activity will help you be as prepared as you can when you perform a task, so every mistake or failure will just automatically become an opportunity for you to learn more about yourself.

  2. Changing Your Perspective

  “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

  Simply looking at the world through a different lens will immediately change the way you think and feel. If you think that failing in many things, makes YOU a failure, then you need to shift that perspective to understand that it’s not the same thing.

  How will you do that?

  Well, you need to start with changing your perspective about small events in your life, such as appreciating small things in your life and trying to look at problematic situations more optimistically or learning how to be calm when you are faced with minor stressors. Then you can move onto bigger events, such as looking at failure from a different angle. Changing your perspective about a failure by looking at it as an opportunity to learn and grow, will help you get rid of that fear.

  3. Managing Your Emotions

  When you experience failure, you don’t need to suppress it or deny its existence. It is not only unhealthy, it will come back at some point in your life. When you had a bad day at work or a fight with your friend, you need to let out your emotions in a healthy way. You can simply cry, write, exercise or talk to a friend.

  Once your emotions are settled, you can focus on dealing with the problem objectively.

  4. Don’t regret your decisions

  “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”-Henry Ford

  There are some things you can’t change, you can only wish that you can go back in time and change it. But, you don’t need to be stuck in this thought process.

  The practice of not regretting your decisions comes with having confidence that any decisions you have taken in life, you took it for a reason, even if that reason doesn’t make sense at this point of time. Regretting your decisions will lead you to a path of self-pity, which will only cloud your judgment more than ever and make you doubt your abilities.

  5. You Have The Power

  If you want to be stuck in a certain phase of life, then you can try to play it safe. But, if you want to move forward in life and achieve your goals, then you need to look at the process of failure as inevitable, even rewarding at times.

  You have the power to overcome these situations, no matter how difficult or impossible it seems. You always need to keep in mind that you have the power to change, learn and move forward.

  Hope this helps you understand a bit about why you are scared of failure and how to overcome this fear. For the next steps on your journey to overcoming fear of failure, check out the article on What Should I do after a Failure?

  Some additional resources that can help you:

  The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph– by Ryan Holiday

  How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life - By Scott Adams

  Credit: Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

  June 23, 2018

  failure, fear, overcoming fear, success, winning

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