By Steve Beseke
In my 25+ year work career, I’ve had countless successes and a few challenges along the way. When I’ve had challenges with my physical disability, career and/or life, I have found the most important key is to have trust in myself. This unyielding confidence to successfully pull through any situation has been important for me.
Maintaining a baseline of confidence in good and not so good times is THE most most important resiliency/adaptability factor that allows me to continue my work and life everyday.
As I reach a half century this year, life has had its moments where I’ve wanted to shut the world out because I’ve momentarily lacked the confidence in myself. This may have been because I had just tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and fallen. (My balance is sometimes affected by my physical disability – Cerebral Palsy.) Or, I just had a conversation with my daughter that I knew could have gone better. Or, I had just recently been laid of from a wonderful job I truly loved.
All of us have such issues – great and small – we face everyday. They can truly affect the confidence in ourselves. To help maintain resilience, I have highlighted a few of my successful confidence strategies that you may want to apply to your everyday needs
I’d suggest you think about the following, and try at least one strategy this week to help stay resilient and confident. Because remember: Your most important asset is you.
- Finding one positive about yourself each day. Every day, I try to find at least one thing I did very well the previous day. This may be helping a colleague network to find a better job, knowing I treated my daughter fairly in a conversation about improving her grades, or (simply) that I exercised and liked the way my body reacted.
What is one simple or complex action yesterday that you felt confident about in your life?
- Stop sweating. I try to avoid sweating the daily small stuff that may lead me to lose a bit of confidence in myself. Whether that may be not worrying I am a couple minutes late for a meeting because I hurt my back getting out of the car, not getting one of my Top Five list of things done I promised myself, or forgetting to pet my wonderful dogs as I leave for work.
What small stuff will you try to avoid to keep your confidence on the right level each day?
- Liking Yourself. I am the first one to admit that I don’t always like myself every minute of every day. I make mistakes I regret, I don’t always see possibilities when they are in front of my face, or I am just having a bad hair day.
No matter what happens, though, I always remember what is truly important in my life – loving my beautiful wife, teaching my wonderful daughter the values she will carry throughout her life, or talking with the great friends I have had for so many years. Such examples are keys to being happy with myself and successfully getting past certain times where I don’t always see myself in the best light.
What do you like about yourself?
Over the next week, I suggest thinking through such questions, and trying to maintain the right amount of confidence in all parts of your life. There will always be days where your confidence wanes and your resiliency disappears. But just remember the love and emotional value of your family and friends, and the good that you do at work and throughout your life. You are such a good person!
A famous philosopher once said: “Maintaining one’s confidence is ultimately the gift of liking yourself no matter what external factors get in the way.”
I definitely agree.
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