How's your confidence at work? A healthy level of confidence is important. It will make you more likely to engage in challenging but manageable projects and support you to achieve your goals. When we are challenged or under pressure our confidence may be impacted. Developing this aspect of our Mental Toughness can go a long way to support you at work.

What do we mean by Mental Toughness? It describes the mind-set that every person adopts in everything they do. It is closely related to qualities such as character, resilience, grit, emotional intelligence. It is defined as:

“Mental Toughness is a personality trait which determines in large part how people deal with challenge, stressors and pressure .... irrespective of prevailing circumstances”

It consists of 4 factors:

1. Control - the extent to which a person feels in control of their life and their circumstances and the extent to which they can control the display of their emotions
2. Commitment – the extent to which someone is prepared to set goals for what they need to do and make promises which are measurable and, once made, to what extent they will work hard to deliver them.
3. Challenge - the extent to which the individual will push back their boundaries, embrace change and accept risk. It’s also about how they see all outcomes - good and bad.
4. Confidence – the extent to which people believe in themselves, have confidence in their abilities and are able to influence others and deal with conflict and challenge.

What can you do to develop your Confidence so that you can effectively deal with setbacks and develop a self-belief that you can be successful? — Here are a few tips:

—Develop your positive thinking

Finding positive meaning is always possible. Most of the circumstances you face in life are not 100 percent bad. One worthwhile practice is to keep a log of three good things that happen to you each day. Counting your blessings on a regular basis has been shown to increase happiness and make you feel more content. In recent research this has been named “3 good things”.

Keep a daily log of 3 good things that happen to you each day. Complete them before bed every night for two weeks. For example:

—“Bumped into Dave - haven't seen him for ages. I'd forgotten how much he makes me laugh”

—“Really enjoyed lunch today - lovely to grab 20 minutes in the park and chat with Jo instead of eating at my desk.”

—“Hooray kids did the dishes without my asking them”

—Make Affirmations
Affirmations (meaning a statement said with confidence about a perceived truth) can help you increase your confidence. We are what we think. An affirmation can work as it has the ability to program your mind into believing the stated concept. This is because the mind doesn't know the difference between what is real or fantasy.

Make a list of what you’ve always thought of as your negative qualities. Include any criticisms others have made of you. Use these as a basis for creating your affirmative statements. Say them out loud every morning.
Here are some examples

—“I am calm and efficient at work” "I can achieve difficult tasks"

—“I can make a difference” “I work well under pressure”

“Success is most often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.” 
― Coco Chanel, Believing in Ourselves: The Wisdom of Women