One of the elements that underpins success in almost any endeavor is confidence. It’s easy to lose and sometimes hard to maintain.
In business and in selling, it really is everything. Especially, when you consider that 94 percent of face-to-face selling is your body language and how you say what you intend to say. If you are not confident, simply put, you’re shot!
Which is why if you lose your confidence, for whatever reason, you need to find a way to get it back FAST!
And once you have rediscovered that belief in yourself, you also need to make sure your newfound confidence stays.
Here are three key ways I have discovered for maintaining and unearthing lost confidence:
1. Keep a file where you put all your accolades and written and video testimonials.
Having a place to store your success stories is a great thing to do! It reconnects you with that part of yourself that KNOWS you can succeed. That part of you that has proven to the rest of you that you are good at what you do.
Peter Cook, from Thought Leaders has a workbook in his Evernote that he calls the Legend File. If you don’t use Evernote, no worries! You could start a folder on your computer; it could even be your YouTube channel! Regardless, pick a place and just start stockpiling your achievements.
Even better, call five clients who think you are amazing, This will also connect you to that part of yourself who knows your high value. Your own social proof.
2. Use the visualization exercise.
Years ago, I read an incredible book by Maxwell Maltz called Psycho Cybernetics. It was written before anyone had started talking about NLP, but uses many of the same ideas and essentially involves the following:
- Recalling a time when you won an event or award, or when you really nailed a triumph in sports or in business.
- Remembering how you felt, what you saw and what you could smell and hear.
- Then walking from your recalled memory into a visualization of what you want to have happen in the future (picture yourself in a successful meeting with a client or a negotiation.)
3. Go do something you love.
For me, it’s surfing. I love surfing and regardless of if I have a killer surf or an average one, it never ceases to put me in a better mood.
You’ll know what it is for you, but whatever it is, go do it!
Try these tips out. They are simple, but effective and will get you back into the confidence zone FAST.
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