The Truth About Confidence

There can be a tendency to think that increasing confidence means going against our true nature and behaving in ways that are out of keeping with our genuine selves. But this does not need to be the case.

Confidence does not have to be like a mask that we artificially put on in order to hide our inner insecurities.

This kind of confidence is not real confidence but something more superficial that breeds mistrust in others – a fear of being tricked or manipulated. It also quickly shows the cracks under closer scrutiny.

Real confidence is about being true to yourself, and more particularly recognising that it is okay to be you and then acting accordingly. Paul McKenna talks of learning ‘the confidence habit’.

Where confidence is lacking this is usually due to a shortage of self-belief rather than an inability to conform to some preconceived notion of what a confident person should be like.

Building confidence means learning to accept yourself more fully rather than trying to be something you are not. And the self you learn to accept does not have to be perfect.

Once belief in self has been established then you can work on developing exisiting personal qualities so as to maximise your potential as a unique individual.