Unlocking Self Confidence

Read time: 5 minutes

Why Confidence is Important for Interviews

As important as it is to make sure that your work shines through in your applications, the way you carry yourself and the language you use is equally important. This is because, to an extent, you need to be able to connect with the interviewer and show them that you can it into their firm and general office environment. I personally struggled (and still struggle) with portraying confidence both in public and private conversation.

How to Build Your Confidence is a great TED Talk, it really gives you a deeper insight into using confidence to use your skills properly. It also shows us what happens when we have low-confidence which is kind of similar to the cogs and gears for productivity.

I also really loved when Brittany mentions that confidence needs permission to exist and community is the safest place to try this on. I really want you to think about this cohort as your community, your people. No one is out to judge you or critique you here because many of us are on similar journeys, so use this opportunity to showcase your confidence.

"For some of us,confidence is a revolutionary choice" - Brittany Packet

Here's another fantastic and underrated blog post about confidence; Powerless, Un-confident, and Afraid? It’s ok, we have all been there by Mark Perret

As you make your way through school, you will be introduced to a wide range of interference. You have to be able to reduce interference such as self doubt, and focus on things that are tangible, such as putting pen to paper. It is important to worry less about what other people think and focus on more important things, like having clear goals and accomplishing them step by step.

There is a great quote from Will Smith that I reference often when I think something is too challenging:

“You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall." - Will Smith

This reminds me that although there is a big challenge in my way, all I really need to focus on is the next step, and then the one after that and so on.

Types of Skills

Understand that your current set of skills will only grow with experience and practice; and that you are always going to be challenged with inner and outer obstacles. Most of us focus so heavily on the “OUTER” obstacles such as being

afraid to compete with other people who are better than us

afraid we won’t make it to the end

afraid our career won’t be successful

That we forget about the inner obstacles. The largest being:

“I don’t believe in myself.”

You have to be more confident in yourself, and the most efficient way to do this is to simply allow yourself to fail. It is ok not to be the best in your class.

As long as you are always growing, learning, and piecing together your greatness day by day, you will see yourself grow over time, and you might even notice your work being featured more and more over the other people in your class you always thought were “better than you”.

Who to Follow

Chris Do is a person I really admire. Not only has he built an educative platform but a super exciting community. Content at The Futur is generally targeted at freelancers and small businesses in the graphic design world, but being an introvert is something Chris himself is very familiar with.

I've listed below a few of my favourite videos about the power of being an introvert and building self-confidence in your career:

Speak More Confidently: An Introverts Guide to Working with Clients (think of your tutors and your clients in this case)

Secret Power of Introverts— Being A Great Listener

How To Build Self Confidence & Overcome Imposter Syndrome. 7 mins. (I love that he says, confidence is a skill and ability, not something you are born with)

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Identify your Skills