In recent times a lot of people are probably intimidated or trying to follow the status quo, they find it hard to talk themselves up and flaunt their skills during interviews. Everyone just capitalize and highlight their skills on paper and do the exact opposite during an interview. Probably in fear of being seen as proud or a fake.
Confidence is integral and key to be used in any interview you go for. Confidence helps you utilize and show off your skills and abilities in any environment you find yourself in.
Everything in life is all in correlation with progress and phases. Before you get to the phase of utilizing and using confidence to showcase your skills, you have to identify what your skills are so you can capitalize on them.
I would state 3 ways to identify your skills to capitalize on it before I go into utilizing confidence for your skills.
You have to notice and value skills that are given to you as humans
These human skills make up what we later can refer to as our strengths. Human skills are what gives us the platform to know what kind of skills you possess. One mistake we all make is we capitalize and bank on our qualifications and experience and disregard what aids or qualifications.
For instance a diplomat by qualifications but doesn’t have the human skill of communication. The earlier we discover what human skills we possess , the better it is for us to discover our skills and our strengths. It is also advised that we note and write down all the human skills that make you who you are.
To be sure of what human skills are , some examples of human skills are communicating skills, empathy, compassion, natural leadership skills etc you have to take note of which one speaks about you and capitalize on it.
You have to seek people’s opinion.
Sometimes the urge not to be proud gets the best of us so we don’t really feel fulfilled discovering our skills, so in this kind of time there is need to ask questions from people to ascertain or make you arrive at the conclusion of what your skill would be.
All you need to do is pin point the people you believe should know you ok on different levels from family to friends to colleagues to boss, ask them questions like what they feel you are great at, ask for your weaknesses, ask for what needs to be improved , ask for what needs to be stopped.
All the answers to these questions would either support your already acknowledged fact about your skills or open your eyes to a new possibility.
So once you are sure of what your skills are , it is now ripe for you to learn to flex your confidence muscles on your skills or strengths.
There would be three suggestions that should help you boost your confidence and make you flaunt your skills.
Being Positive
It is human and only natural for you to either think of reasons why you are not so great or you start making a big deal of one mistake you once made. Most times we all find it hard to be positive in our self statements and this either kills or restricts your confidence in yourself or your skills.
The moment you start questioning your skills or abilities and start doubting how great you are. The feeling that you begin to doubt your skills could be traced to two different factors: Someone in the past already gave you a reason to believe your skills are overrated or they might not even be there; You once made a mistake and it was probably serious. All these combined together could come in the way of you seeing yourself for how great you are.
To stop the enhancement of negativity through these two means you have to go way back and think of what initially gave you the assurance you were great with that skill and you also have to realize that everyone always has bad days in office so there is no need for any fuss. Just keep calm and try to improve, every mistake is a step to becoming better.
Self-knowledge
According to the step above we capitalize on the one mistake we make and forget about the times we were great. Just like a popular saying that humans remember the one mistake you made and forget the ninety-nine (99) things you did right. You need to start celebrating even the little achievements you make.
You don’t have to wait for something grand. Take note of the times you’ve had positive feedback from clients and customers or even your colleagues. Nobody can encourage or motivate you better than yourself.
Finding Your Champion
It is possible to build your confidence by yourself but it is advisable you have a coach in the line that can help you build your confidence. I would have rightly used the word mentor but that isn’t what you need at this point, you need a friend , a guide , a brother or sister that definitely understands you.
You need someone to hold you up when you are down, you need someone to cheer you up, someone to hug you when the world turns its back at you, someone who would be honest with you regardless of the situation. This is the kind of person you need to build your confidence. Their appraisals can even be added to your little self appraisals journey.
Nevertheless it’s best to know developing your confidence doesn’t happen in one day, like the popular saying that Rome was not built in a day. It is a gradual process , even when you finally gain confidence maintaining your confidence becomes another priority.