What is self-belief?

Self-belief is a feeling of confidence in your own values, skills and experiences. It is a voice inside your head that says I can do this. It is a sense of knowing yourself and what you are capable of. It is looking at yourself and what you stand for positively. Having self-belief doesn’t mean that you are perfect. Believing in yourself often means that you accept your weaknesses whilst seeing your strengths at the same time. Having self-belief means you can be honest with yourself, make mistakes and learn from them, be realistic. You don’t get knocked back by others’ comments or opinions. You are steadfast in your approaches, consistent. You know deep down you can do this.

Why is it important?

If you have taken that enormous leap of faith and started your own business then you must have bucket loads of self-belief already. You do need to maintain it. Running your own business is completely different from life in the corporate world. Everything relies on you. To be a success and do yourself and your business justice you need to maintain your self-belief.

Your challenge

Everybody has moments of doubt or can be unsure about something or other from time to time; it is a natural process. The challenge is not to let those moments accumulate and affect your self-belief. You will always face the challenge of other people’s comments and opinion. You may have noticed in your life that there are people that you feel good being around and others you don’t. Some people give you positive energy because they believe in you. You feel it and you rise to the occasion. Others may always have a negative comment to make about what you are doing or talking about. Don’t let these comments rock your self-belief. Always question the person’s reason for the comment. If it is based on the fact you will listen; if not, then it is only their opinion. You will need to stay strong.

HOW TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF - SPECIAL RESPONSE CHECKLIST

To develop a high level of self-belief these are some of the things that you can do.

  • Make a list of all the things that you are good at.
  • Keep a record of all the positive comments made about you or the service you o!er and read them from time to time.
  • Relive experiences when you have relied on yourself and made a success of

something. It could be anything from achieving in a sporting event, travel, going to college or university, getting your ￠rst job.

  • Think about times when you have overcome adversity.What did you do?What

qualities did this demonstrate?

  • What do you think you do really well in the business that you are in?
  • Talk yourself up Monitor the way you talk to yourself. Say I can more often than I can’t.
  • Look at what you have achieved as opposed to what you haven’t.

How to use this information

Just be aware of your own varying levels of self-belief and how this is impacting on​​ you and your business. Take as many opportunities to build yourself up. The stronger your self-belief is the more likely you will be to succeed.

“Think ‘I am the best’ and you will be”