What is Self-Belief? Self-belief (or self-efficacy) is a person’s belief in their ability to complete tasks and to achieve their goals (Bandura, 1995). Judging yourself to be capable of success increases your chances of actual success. Judging yourself as not capable of success reduces the chance of success. Self-belief means that you should have enough self-confidence to change, but not over-estimate your abilities, as that could become a fixed mindset attitude. You should be willing to grow and adapt but still have ideas about your strengths and weaknesses so that you can work on the weaker areas.

Many people believe that a strong belief in one’s self is something we are born with. This suggests that people without self-belief can never develop one and are stuck living with having low self-esteem.

This, however, is wrong. self-belief is something that can be developed and rebuilt if lost.

So, if you do not believe in yourself or have lost your self-belief, remember that you can regain it with the right steps and actions.

For the importance of self-belief, circumstances that can make a person lose her self-belief, and how belief in one’s self can be redeveloped, keep reading below.

Why is Self-Belief Important?

As the name suggests, self-belief has to do with how much a person believes in herself. It encompasses the belief in your values, skills, knowledge, and abilities. Self-believe is very important because it affects a person’s lifestyle and choices.

A person without self-belief will constantly downplay their abilities while settling for less than what they deserve. Most times, the individual takes whatever blow life deals because they do not believe that they deserve better.

On the other hand, a person with self-belief knows their worth and value.

For instance, when people with no self-belief see a job vacancy with the skills they possess, they may pass up on it or apply half-heartedly because they believe that they are not good enough for the job.

People with self-belief, on the other hand, will pursue the job wholeheartedly because they believe that they are well-qualified for the job.

In the end, people without self-belief may end up working a low paying job and living at the mercy of others for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, people with self-belief will move from that job to a better one and might eventually get to the peak of their careers.

This example shows that while self-belief might seem small or inconsequential, it can affect our entire lives both directly and indirectly.

Self-belief motivates people to explore their potentials and this motivation may lead to the achievement of goals and aspirations.

What Are Self Belief Skills?

According to https://www.youthemployment.org.uk, Self belief is about building confidence over time. You can do this when you motivate yourself to try new things, and have the resilience to keep going and learn from past mistakes.

Grow your positive attitude to help you see everything as a learning process! Self belief is highly valued by employers. It makes a big difference to how much you enjoy the work you do, too.

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Your most important self belief skills are:

Motivation

Have you got the urge deep inside to achieve, grow and keep moving forward? Do you look forward to the new experiences your next project might bring? From getting out of bed in time for an early shift to volunteering for a cause you’re passionate about, there are many ways to find your own motivation to do something and give it all you’ve got.

Why is motivation important?

You will squeeze more juice from life’s orange if you give your all to a project and feel motivated to find new things to do once it’s completed. Your projects will achieve better results, you’ll feel part of something big and you’ll learn more from your experiences. This is as true in work as it is in life.

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from setbacks or difficulties. It means you can learn from mistakes and keep moving forward. Can you keep going even when you feel like giving up? In the world of work, resilience could be dealing with not getting a job, coping with a disagreement with a colleague, or even managing yourself if you’re feeling slightly under the weather at work.

Why is resilience important?

We all make mistakes. Learning from mistakes in a way where you still feel motivated and believe in your ability to grow is important. During your work, problems will arise and how you deal with them can either reassure employers or cause them concern. Organisations need to have staff they can rely on, so resilience becomes an important skill for employers. By showing you’re able to cope with issues and continue doing a good job you will really impress your boss and colleagues, and maybe even set yourself up for a promotion.

Positive Attitude

Your attitude is the way you act and how you think about things. It’s your reaction to different situations and people, and your outlook on the world. Having a positive attitude means you find the good side in things and behave in a way which shows you are willing to make an effort. In a professional sense this includes things like showing up on time, doing your best at work, and taking responsibility for your actions.

Why is a positive attitude important?

Whatever you do in life, there will be stormy waters ahead at some point. Your positive attitude will help you find the energy to meet challenges head-on. That fresh approach to things will help you find ways to cope, and overcome difficulties. A positive attitude will also help you enjoy the experience of learning and growing with less fear and frustration, and make you great company to work with as part of a team.

TOP TIP: A good attitude is important as it shows you’re willing to put effort into your work, and will bring a positive presence to your office or workplace. Employers look for this as they know they can rely on employees with these traits to get the job done, as well as motivating others and creating a good atmosphere. If an interviewer can see that you’ll show up interested, enthusiastic and positive every day you will bring real value to the organisation, and that makes you more likely to be hired!

How to boost your self belief…

Boost your self belief skills as a student

There are lots of ways to improve your motivation and resilience at school, and to build a positive attitude too.

Faced with a homework problem or a lot of revision?

Do some research, take a break from it, then come back and try to work on the problem again.

Try thinking of potential problems that could happen at school or college.

Write them down and then think of some ways to overcome them. Do this any time you think of, or come across, a problem – that way if it does happen you’ll be prepared.

When you start a new education project or activity, think of ways to enjoy that task

Make the activity you’re doing your passion, not just something you’ve been asked to do. This attitude will help with finding the time to do the work, problem-solving and many other challenges.

Boost your self belief skills at work

Employers look for people with positive attitudes as they can rely on them to get on with their work, as well as motivating others and creating a good atmosphere.

Employers also look for people with resilience who can learn from their mistakes. Remember, employers expect you to make mistakes now and then. After all, if you’re just starting out in life a lot of work situations will be new to you! However, employers also want to know you can learn from those mistakes and keep a positive and motivated attitude.

Finally, employers seek candidates who have the motivation to put their all into a project and see it through to the end. That motivation will also help you get up for work on time and come into work every day you’re expected, and that reliability will pay off. Employers will see you as someone who can be relied on, and may offer you more responsibility and promotions over time.

Work offers lots of fantastic opportunities to boost your confidence and show you have a positive attitude:

• Focus on doing your work well.
• When you make a mistake, treat any feedback you get as a helpful clue on how to improve and learn for next time. It’s fine to make mistakes and learn from them.
• Try to write down one thing you’re excited about each morning.
• Go out of your way to ask a work colleague who is struggling with a task if they want some help, or offer to make them a drink next time they go to the kitchen.

You’ve probably managed yourself and displayed initiative and good organisation skills in the past, as well as taking pride in your work, so try to think about what went well and what didn’t. You can use the STARRS method to do this.

Building self belief skills at school and at work will help you:

• Build confidence when trying something new
• Keep motivated in seeing a task through to the end
• See reports and feedback on the work you’ve done as a positive step to improve yourself because you want to, not because someone told you that you should.

How to build and improve self belief skills

Boost your resilience

Think differently about problems

Faced with a problem at home or work? Do some research, take a break from it and then come back and try to work on the problem again.

Don’t give up

It often takes a number of tries, and even years, to develop a new skill. The important thing is not to give up.

Write down a list of your strengths and weaknesses

What are you good at, and how did you develop this strength? What about the things you’re not so good at, could you build up these skills?

Boost your positive attitude

Create lists of things you are good at

Having a positive attitude about yourself and your skills can be boosted by creating a list of things you are good at.

Help other people

You always get a boost from helping other people. It also shows how positive your behaviour is.

Do things you enjoy

Enthusiasm comes more easily when you are doing something you enjoy, so try to do more of these things.

Boost your motivation

Set high but achievable goals

Set yourself personal goals that are challenging enough to interest you but possible to achieve, like passing a driving test.

Seek chances to learn and build on what you know

Choosing to build your knowledge shows great motivation, and you can also build a positive attitude by treating mistakes or gaps in your knowledge as a chance to seek feedback and improve over time.

Take part in activities and projects

This can put you in situations where you may meet new people and discover new ways of doing things. It can take you out of your comfort zone, but once you’ve got used to the new experience, it makes your comfort zone grow bigger.

How to show your self belief skills to employers

Self belief is a skill. That means you can grow it over time. There are so many chances in life to make a choice to work on your confidence and attitude to learning new things, both inside and outside of work/education.

Creating a good CV and cover letter

Applying for work opportunities already shows motivation! Your CV is a great place to list achievements that show you are self-motivated to try new things and build on your experiences.

For example, you can list volunteering you have done in the past. You can also record any training courses you have taken. Participating in team sports or extra-curricular activities shows your motivation when a teacher or boss isn’t there to make you do things. Earning medals, grades or awards shows your resilience in pursuing a goal and learning to get better over time. Volunteering in team activities also demonstrates your positive attitude to working with other people.

Job interviews

You can demonstrate resilience in job interviews by talking about a time when you overcame a problem or challenge. This could be personal or at school, college, or work. It doesn’t have to be a big problem, it could be that you left your keys at home and had to figure out how to get back in after school, as your parents were at work. Only share what you’re comfortable with, it’s probably best not to talk about a problem you had with your boyfriend or girlfriend (it’s not very professional!)

You can let prospective employers know you have a good attitude by making sure you arrive on time for interviews, being enthusiastic and interested in the work, and taking responsibility for things. Ask questions about the job and workplace, and talk about why you want to work there. Passion is just as important as having the right skills; enthusiasm can’t be taught and it’s easy to spot if it’s genuine.

Why Do Some People Lack Self-Belief?

No one is born without self-belief. Most times, we find ourselves in certain situations and circumstances that can negatively affect our self-esteem – either temporarily or in the long run.

To rebuild your self-belief, understanding the circumstance that made you lose it can help you learn how to proceed.

Here’re some common causes of lack of self-belief:

1. Unhappy Homes

Growing up in an unhappy home can reduce a person’s belief in herself. This is because as kids, the way you are treated by others, especially by your family, majorly influences the way you view yourself.

Kids who grow up with parents who never commend or congratulate them (but complain and tear them down) grow up lacking confidence in themselves.

2. Negative Peers

Being surrounded by people who constantly discourage you and make you feel like you are not good enough can make you lose confidence in yourself.

Sometimes, your peers may even convince you to do things you are not comfortable with and when you refuse, they may say and do things to make you feel odd. In order to fit in, you may find yourself abandoning your morals and values to please them. This can damage a person’s self-belief in the long run.

3. Traumatic Experiences

Physical and emotional abuse can tear down a person’s self-belief. If you have a partner who makes you feel like you are not good enough to attract and keep their attention, it may extend to you feeling like you are not good enough for anyone or anything.

Also, people who experience physical abuse may suffer from depression and anxiety, which will gradually eat away their self-esteem. Eventually, such an experience will make them feel unworthy of their goals.

4. Bad Decisions

Some bad decisions made in the past can affect a person’s belief in herself and cause them to doubt their ability to make decisions in the future. This mostly happens when the decision made turns out to have consequences that affect not just the person but also their loved ones.

For instance, a mother decides to move abroad with her children in hopes of finding greener pastures for them, but the father disagrees. After arguing for a while, the father gives in and loans some money to sponsor the trip. When they travel, the mother is unable to find a good job so her plan fails.

The failure of this plan, the disappointment, and the losses incurred might make her doubt her ability to make the right decisions in the future.

5. Negative Thought Patterns

If you always think of the worst-case scenarios, especially when it comes to yourself, chances are that you will lose confidence in yourself.

If before a job interview, the only thing you can think of is all the mistakes you might make or how you might not be as good as other candidates, you will most likely take in that energy and discourage your interviewers.

Over time, such negative thought patterns might lead you to feel unworthy and inferior to everyone else. That is why you need to think positively and eliminate negative thoughts.

How To Develop Self-Belief

Once you understand the reason behind your lack of self-belief, you can proceed to work on how to build it.

Here are 8 ways to help you develop self-belief.

1. Know Who You Want to Be

When self-doubt or self-pity is not eating at you, who would you like to be? If you were not afraid, what would you do?

Boldly answering these questions is the first step to rebuilding your self-belief. This is because the doubts and negative thought patterns, over time, bury the real you along with your goals and dreams.

To gain self-belief, you need to work towards these goals while pushing away low self-esteem. So, give yourself the space to dream a little, and make a list of all the things you would like to achieve and believe. In the process of doing this, whenever self-doubts spring up, push them away until you create a comprehensive list.

2. Affirm Yourself

Self-affirmations are strong tools that reinforce your belief in yourself. This is because as humans, our self-image influences our behavior. If you see yourself as one of the most good looking people in the world, you will definitely behave like one.

And if you see yourself as the future CEO of a company, you will also act like one. So, what you need to do is see yourself as someone worthy and amazing.

Affirmations can help you create that image. They are positive statements that knock out doubts, especially when recited aloud and with belief.

For example:

“I am worthy of everything I desire.” “I am smart enough to achieve my goals.” “I deserve all the best things life has to offer.” “And I will put forth effort daily to meet one specific desire and one specific goal to experience the best things.”

So make a list of affirmations, stand in front of your mirror and say these words to yourself. It does not have to be lengthy. Just four uplifting sentences can help you feel prepared to conquer the world each day.

3. Face Your Fears

One effective way to develop self-belief is by facing your fears.

You do not have to face them all at once or go for the scariest first. You can choose to start little by little.

Start by figuring out the source of your self-doubt and tackling that problem. If your parent’s treatment of you as a kid is the reason you lost confidence in yourself, approach them and speak to them about it. Do not be afraid of being censored. Expressing yourself might help you get the weight off your chest.

Next, face the fear of failing to achieve your goals. Go for that interview and give it your best. Address that board of directors with your ideas and innovations. Walk out of that relationship that constantly beats on your self-esteem.

Once you face and conquer your fears, self-doubt will flee.

4. Address Your Inner Critic

If society is the reason behind your loss of self-belief, it can easily be addressed and rebuilt. If you are your own critic, however, your confidence cannot be regained if you do not shut off the criticizing voice in your head.

Most times, the lack of belief in oneself is a result of an overactive inner critic. You might have this amazing idea but while creating the proposal, you may start wondering if the idea is good enough. You then start to convince yourself that the proposal is not good enough, discarding the sheet of paper, and keeping the idea under lock and key.

Addressing your inner critic is crucial because until you do, you may keep undermining your abilities and settling for less than you deserve.

So when your inner critic asks you “why would they pick me for the job?”, ask yourself, “why shouldn’t they pick me for the job?”

And then go on to count out all the reasons why you are qualified for the position. Doing this repeatedly will shut your inner critic up and build your self-belief tremendously.

5. Be Prepared to Win

Before you take a step towards your goals and aspirations, make sure you are all set up to win.

Do not take things on a whim or have a ‘winging it’ mindset because these often result in failure. Instead, study hard for that exam, prepare to provide all the best answers at that interview, make an impressive presentation for that meeting, and cut off acquaintances who fill your mind with negative thoughts.

Preparing to win also fills you with confidence that will encourage you to put in the extra effort to achieve your goals.

6. Encourage Others

Do you know that encouraging others can change your mindset about success? Most times, loss of self-belief can also lead to losing faith in other people’s abilities.

You might find yourself constantly discouraging people against going after their dreams because you doubt that they can achieve them. So make an effort to see success as something anyone can achieve.

Encourage your friends and family, and your mindset about success will also change over time. Soon your encouragements will turn inwards, and you will start feeling motivated to achieve your own goals.

7. Take Care of Yourself

To develop your self-belief, you need to take care of yourself and not just mentally and emotionally. Physical care can go a long way toward influencing your mental and emotional health.

So, go to a spa and get a massage. Go shopping for outfits that make you feel good and do your hair. Register at the gym, eat healthily and make sure you get enough rest. Also, talk to a therapist or join a support group.

Looking good and feeling good will surely help boost your self-confidence.

8. Cut Off Negative Acquaintances

So-called friends who make you feel unworthy or not good enough through their words or actions should be cut off. This is because keeping such people around you will destroy every effort you make to rebuild your self-esteem.

It should not matter who they are to you because if they cared about you in the same way, they would treat you better. So, make a decision to avoid them.

If your family are the ones treating you poorly, speak to them about it, and make it clear that you will not tolerate negativity in your life. If your partner is physically or emotionally abusive, cut the person off too because until you do, your self-belief may never grow.

While distancing yourself from negative acquaintances, draw your loving friends and family closer and cultivate healthy relationships.

Final Thoughts

Marilyn Monroe once said

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.”

So, if the reason you lost your self-belief is that you believe others are better than you, you need to make a conscious effort into changing that mindset.

Think of all the amazing things you can do that other people cannot. And remind yourself that you are just as deserving as the next person.

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