Self-belief and confidence

A guest post today from my Get Moving partner, Anna!

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A thought provoking day at Get Moving today – in fact most of the days at Get Moving are thought provoking, but that is another story!

I am frequently struck by how often we convince ourselves that we can’t do something.  Whether that be walking unaided across the room or having a difficult conversation with a colleague.  And I started to wonder, is this confidence or self-belief. I had an interesting discussion with Mr Rees about this and how self-belief and confidence are linked and different. Let’s just say we agree to differ in our belief!

Self-belief for me, is the inner voice or thinking that acknowledges who I am and accepts it, warts and all. It is that sense that I know I am ok, whatever the situation and however I am feeling in that situation. It is about being comfortable in my own skin. I believe confidence comes from self-belief. 

Confidence is the energy or force (I am thinking Star Wars force here…) that is visible to the outside world, what people feel or sense when they spend time with us. 

So if our self-belief fuels our confidence, this is what drives us to try stuff and not be concerned about the outcome. The challenge we face often comes from our strong attachment to our limiting self-beliefs which restrict us and erode our confidence. How often have you talked yourself out of doing something for fear of failing or a genuine conviction that you will not be good enough? And who knows what being good enough actually means! By whose measure…

Encouraging (challenging) people to think about this differently and flip to focus on what they can do is where I spend a lot of my time – both in Get Moving and in corporate land. 

If we believe we will be ok after trying, we are more likely to try more stuff… and feel good about whatever we achieve. And who knows where that might lead!