Confidence for Dummies

by Burton, Kate; Platts, Brinley N.

• ISBN13: 9781118314678
• ISBN10: 1118314670
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-07-16
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Build up your confidence levels and become more effective in all areas of your life Self-confidence is more than just a feeling inside - it's an indispensable ingredient for success in life. Written by two of the most sought-after executive coaches in the world, Confidence For Dummies, 2nd Edition arms you with proven tools and techniques for overcoming insecurity and social inhibitions, and for learning how to think and behave with more confidence at work, socially, and even in love. Know where you stand - gauge your confidence level, identify which aspects of your life need confidence-building, and find out what's keeping you stuck in place Get on track - tailor a personal programme for creating the new super-confident you that you want to present to the world Find your focus - find out how to let go of perfectionism and unrealistic expectations Project self-confidence - broadcast your new-found confidence to the world and connect more easily with others Open the book and find: What confidence is and where it comes from How to connect confidently through social media Top tips to prepare you for a presentation or job interview Advice for approaching romantic relationships with confidence How to say 'No' with confidence Ways to recover quickly from any setback Learn to: Recognise your strengths and believe in your ability Develop your confidence both personally and professionally Get the results you want, whatever the situation

Author Biography

Kate Burton is a leading international executive coach with a background in corporate communication in IT, and works with clients such as HP, KPMG and Microsoft. Brinley Platts is a leading authority on the development of senior executives.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
About This Book	p. 1
Conventions Used in This Book	p. 2
What You're Not to Read	p. 2
Foolish Assumptions	p. 3
How This Book Is Organised	p. 4
Considering the Basics	p. 4
Gathering the Elements	p. 4
Building Your Confident Self	p. 4
Engaging Other People	p. 5
The Part of Tens	p. 5
Icons Used in This Book	p. 5
Where to Go from Here	p. 6
Considering the Basics	p. 7
Assessing Your Confidence	p. 9
Defining Confidence	p. 10
What it is in practice	p. 10
How it feels	p. 11
Determining Where You Stand Now	p. 12
Looking at indicators of confidence	p. 13
Finding your place on the scale	p. 14
Recognising Your Strengths	p. 19
Celebrating your own talents first	p. 20
Gathering feedback	p. 22
Picturing the Life You'd Like to Lead	p. 23
Paying attention to what matters	p. 23
Uncovering your confidence	p. 24
Preparing for Action	p. 25
Setting your intentions	p. 26
Acknowledging the perils and perks of change	p. 26
Identifying Your Sticking Points	p. 29
Digging Down to Root Issues	p. 30
Forgetting the blame mind-set	p. 30
Rewriting your role in your family	p. 32
Benefiting from your life experiences	p. 34
Cleaning Out the Negatives	p. 35
Tackling unhelpful assumptions	p. 35
Staying busy but not overwhelmed	p. 36
Redirecting those inner voices	p. 38
Discovering What Drains Your Batteries	p. 39
Counting the cost of toleration	p. 40
Trying to meet everyone's needs except your own	p. 42
Charting Your Course Ahead	p. 43
Knowing Where You Want to Go	p. 43
Determining your areas of focus	p. 44
Mapping your own journey	p. 45
Choosing Role Models	p. 48
Finding reliable guides	p. 49
Becoming your own coach	p. 50
Becoming the hero in your own life	p. 51
Gathering the Elements	p. 55
Finding Your Motivation	p. 57
Driving Forward in Your Life	p. 57
Rising through Maslow's hierarchy of needs	p. 58
Greeting the world with grace	p. 60
Taking Charge at Work	p. 62
Looking at usable theory	p. 62
Recognising the importance of achievement	p. 68
Going for the next promotion	p. 69
Sticking to Your Principles	p. 71
Understanding Your Values	p. 71
Discovering your values	p. 72
Uncovering your ends values	p. 73
Resolving values conflicts	p. 75
Living Your Values Every Day	p. 79
Focusing on what's important	p. 79
Sprinkling your values through your day	p. 80
Reviewing your day	p. 80
Living Authentically	p. 81
Developing your identity	p. 82
Facing up to your demons	p. 84
Making Friends with Your Emotions	p. 87
Getting a Grip on Your Emotions	p. 87
Accessing your emotional intelligence	p. 88
Pitting rational thought against emotion	p. 89
Connecting creativity and confidence	p. 90
Finding courage to voice your emotions	p. 91
Tracking Your Moods	p. 92
Staying in touch with your mood patterns	p. 93
Becoming more aware of your natural state	p. 93
Trusting Your Intuition	p. 95
Tuning in to the gifts of intuition	p. 95
Listening to your inner self	p. 96
Harnessing Your Darker Emotions	p. 97
Turning your anger into energy	p. 98
Letting go of unhelpful emotions	p. 99
Allowing yourself to forgive and move on	p. 99
Unleashing Your Passion	p. 101
Discovering Your Passionate Self	p. 101
Becoming more passionate	p. 102
Exploring your neurological levels with Robert Dilts	p. 103
Tapping into your natural passion	p. 107
Realising your dreams	p. 109
Putting Your Passion into Action	p. 110
Starting your journey	p. 111
Using your passion to lead	p. 114
Building Your Confident Self	p. 117
Moving Beyond Perfection	p. 119
Letting Go of Unreal Expectations	p. 119
Admitting that you can't be perfect (and that you don't want to be)	p. 120
Focusing on perfection distracts you from excellence	p. 121
Being Generous to Yourself First	p. 122
Acknowledging your successes	p. 123
Accepting help and delegating	p. 124
Overcoming Procrastination	p. 125
Breaking the gridlock	p. 126
Biting off smaller chunks	p. 128
Taking Time Off - For You	p. 129
Slowing down	p. 129
Adopting the 80/20 principle	p. 131
Generating Realistic Standards of Behaviour	p. 132
Adjusting your goals to the circumstances	p. 133
Staying positive while keeping it real	p. 133
Increasing your flexibility	p. 134
Stretching Yourself Mentally	p. 137
Expanding Your Comfort Zone	p. 138
Understanding the limits of your zone	p. 139
Stretching your boundaries: Expanding your zone	p. 141
Driving Safely in the Fast Lane	p. 144
Creating a haven for yourself	p. 144
Preparing for the future	p. 148
Developing Your Physical Confidence	p. 153
Connecting Your Mind and Body	p. 153
Considering What Makes You Healthy	p. 155
Releasing stress, staying healthy	p. 156
Following the golden rules for a healthy diet	p. 159
Believing in your health	p. 160
Looking Forward to Your Healthy Future Self	p. 161
Raising Your Voice	p. 163
Speaking Out with Confidence	p. 164
Listening to yourself	p. 164
Breathing to improve your speaking	p. 167
Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say	p. 168
Holding onto your integrity	p. 169
Having difficult conversations	p. 170
Recognising that the Message Is More than Words	p. 172
Visiting the natural school	p. 172
Acting out the theatrical school	p. 173
Finding your authentic approach	p. 173
Getting the Result You Want	p. 175
Shaking Off Fear	p. 175
Understanding your physiological response	p. 176
Managing fear by observing earlier breakthroughs	p. 176
Naming and Focusing on Your Target for Confident Action	p. 179
Visualising that you achieve your goal	p. 179
Turning the dream into reality	p. 180
Making Your 'Why' Bigger	p. 181
Considering what achieving the goal means	p. 181
Adding up the cost of failing	p. 182
Considering the Impact of Your Dream	p. 183
Checking in with your values	p. 183
Changing and challenging	p. 184
Following the Six-Step Guaranteed Success Formula	p. 186
Decide on your objective	p. 186
Create your plan	p. 187
Put your plan into action	p. 188
Notice what happens as a result	p. 188
Change your approach	p. 189
Repeat the cycle until you achieve your result	p. 189
Engaging Other People	p. 191
Demonstrating Confidence in the Workplace	p. 193
Developing Confidence in Your Professional Life	p. 194
Realising that your job isn't you	p. 194
Defining your professional identity	p. 195
Uncovering what you want to do	p. 196
Finding value in what you do	p. 198
Becoming Assertive	p. 199
Showing Confidence in Specific Work Situations	p. 201
Demonstrating power and presence in meetings	p. 201
Shining during presentations	p. 202
Rejecting manipulation and bullying	p. 204
Managing Your Boss	p. 206
Dealing with feedback	p. 207
Getting your boss to keep his promises	p. 210
Telling your boss he's wrong	p. 211
Casting Off Your Cloak of Invisibility	p. 212
Dealing Confidently with Corporate Change	p. 214
Getting through rejection	p. 215
Taming the threat of redundancy	p. 217
Approaching Romantic Relationships with Confidence	p. 219
Relating with Romance	p. 220
Checking in on cultural notions of romance	p. 220
Choosing your own view of romance	p. 222
Realising What Really Matters	p. 223
Looking at Relationships with Open Eyes	p. 225
Making that first move	p. 225
Fulfilling your partner's needs without running dry yourself	p. 226
Getting by with some help from your friends	p. 228
Eliciting Your Love Strategy	p. 229
Facing Relationship Changes	p. 231
Making decisions	p. 231
Redesigning the way you are together	p. 232
Connecting Confidently via Social Media	p. 233
Harnessing the Collective Power	p. 234
Working out what the attraction is	p. 235
Using the most popular services	p. 236
Getting to Grips with the Basics When You're a Newbie	p. 239
Getting stuck in	p. 239
Taking your time to get comfortable with social media	p. 240
Getting help to engage	p. 240
Benefitting From a Social Media Strategy	p. 241
Forming your basic approach	p. 241
Considering your online privacy	p. 243
Considering your online security	p. 244
Generating a professional social media strategy	p. 245
Connecting Yourself to the Bigger Network	p. 248
The Part of Tens	p. 249
Ten Great Questions to Spur You into Action	p. 251
How Does Your Inner Voice Speak to You?	p. 251
Are You Proud of Your Name?	p. 252
Who Do You Hang Out With?	p. 252
What's Your Confident Thought for the Day?	p. 253
Where Are the Tensions in Your Life?	p. 253
What's Your Sticking Point?	p. 254
Who Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up?	p. 254
How Do You Experience Failures and Mistakes?	p. 255
How Do You Balance Time Alone and Time with Others?	p. 256
What's Your 120 Per Cent Dream?	p. 256
Ten Daily Habits to Raise Your Confidence	p. 257
Start Each Day Alert and Ready for Action	p. 257
Concentrate Your Mind on the Page	p. 258
Put Your Best Sunglasses On	p. 258
Track Your Moods and Emotions	p. 259
Exercise Your Body	p. 259
Take Quiet Moments Alone	p. 260
Go Outside and Wonder at the Beauty of the Sky	p. 260
Operate from a Position of Generosity	p. 261
Review Today and Create Your Tomorrow	p. 261
Connect with Your Life Purpose	p. 262
Index	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.