How to build confidence and express yourself at work

Speaking up at work can be challenging for anyone. It can be nerve wracking because there are so many factors involved; whether or not your input will make a difference, what others might think about what you have to say, and how it could affect future interactions in the group.

But staying silent just because you feel nervous isn’t doing yourself or anyone else any favors. 

If you want to become more confident about speaking up at work but struggle with feeling intimidated by other people’s ideas, implementing these six hacks is a great way to get started:

1. Find your voice

The first step to being able to express yourself is to gain more confidence. To do so you have to understand what confidence actually means. When most people hear the word confidence, they picture a person who is brimming with self-assurance. 

However, confidence is actually a state of mind that has many different components: 

Self-efficacy: This is your belief in your ability to achieve a certain task. For example, you might feel confident speaking in public because you know that you have the skills and knowledge to do so. 

Self-esteem: How much you value yourself as a person. It doesn’t matter how many skills you have if you don’t feel like they’re enough to make you a worthwhile person.

Mood: How happy or sad you are can massively impact how confident you feel about yourself and your abilities. 

Self-image: How you view yourself as a person. It’s important to remember that this is how you see yourself, not how others view you.

2. Practice, practice, practice

Some people are just naturally better at speaking up than others, but anyone can learn to do so over time. It is a skill you can build through practice and repetition. 

If you want to become more confident at public speaking, you should start by practicing with smaller groups of people. Start by speaking up at home with your family, then move on to speak with your friends. 

Learning how to be confident can be tricky, but it definitely isn’t impossible! You need to find a way to make yourself more comfortable in social situations. 

One way to do this is to try to be more outgoing and make more eye contact with people. Another great tip is to use positive self-talk. This means telling yourself things like “I am good at this” or “I can do this”. It might sound a little silly but it can really help boost your confidence a lot!

3. Fake it ‘till you make it

The easiest way to build your confidence is to fake it until you make it. It’s not as dramatic as it sounds. You’re just doing what you would naturally do, but with more confidence behind it. 

Some people are naturally quiet, but they would like to become more vocal in conversations. If you want to become more vocal, the best thing you can do is just open your mouth and start speaking more. Practice opening up more in conversations and speaking up more until it becomes second nature to you.

4. Don’t care so much what other people think

The way to build your confidence is to focus on yourself, not what others think of you. Everyone is too busy worrying about themselves to care what you’re doing. Sure, people might be judging you a little, but they’re probably not even paying enough attention to you to judge you properly. 

The only person whose opinion truly matters is you. If you’re confident in your ability to perform a certain task, then there is no reason to worry what others think of you. You only need to be concerned with impressing yourself. Being more confident doesn’t mean you have to transform into a different person entirely. 

You don’t need to lose your personality in order to feel more confident. All you need to do is boost your self-esteem, your mood and your self-efficacy, and you’ll be well on your way to being more confident.

5. Don’t compare yourself to others

The only person you are truly competing with is you. You don’t need to be the most confident person in the room. You just need to be more confident than you are now. Comparing yourself to others will only make you feel worse about yourself. If you focus on improving yourself, you’ll find that your confidence will rise naturally. 

If you’re constantly comparing yourself to someone else, you’ll never be satisfied with your progress. You’ll always be trying to catch up with that one person who seems to have everything figured out. 

You don’t need to be the most confident person in the room, but you do need to be confident enough to speak up and be yourself. No one is perfect, and everyone has their own doubts and insecurities. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be to feel confident in yourself.

6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

It’s not easy to speak up and feel confident. However, it is important that we do so in order to improve our work environment and our confidence. We need to know what we want and how to get it.

A lot of people are afraid to speak up and ask for help when they need it. They think that asking for help would make them look incompetent or incapable. But the truth is, asking for help is a sign of intelligence and capability.

The workplace can be a very intimidating place. But if you don’t feel confident enough to speak up, you will never get what you want and deserve at work.

People who are afraid to speak up usually find themselves in a never-ending cycle of self-doubt, which only gets worse with time. So the best thing to do is not be afraid to ask for help when you need it!

Conclusion

Confidence is an important trait that can help you in any situation. Whether you’re asking for a raise, approaching someone you admire, or speaking up in a meeting, you’ll feel more empowered when you feel confident enough to speak up.

With the right mindset and some simple tips, you can get there.

💡Trust is key to a company’s success. If you don’t trust your coworkers, it will be hard to get your job done. Find our 6 tips to build trust and improve your workplace culture. Read more here →