As someone on a Successful Graduate journey, you’re very likely already self-aware enough to be able to self-rate your general confidence level, let’s say on a scale of 1 (being not at all confident) to 10 (being super-confident).
But our confidence can also vary across different situations, and in more challenging situations (the obvious example is walking into a job interview) it can be really empowering to be able to ‘reframe’ your confidence – or put simply, to think about it a different way.
Reframing confidence is achievable. Here’s five different kinds of resources that can help refresh your self-belief as you start your graduate adventure:
- Quotes on your wall: An old approach that’s still a good approach. One of my all time favourites is Henry Ford’s ‘Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.’ Find one that resonates with you.
- TED talks: Amy Cuddy’s ‘Your body language shapes who you are’ is famous for key concepts like ‘power-posing’ and ‘fake it til you become it’ – in fact the rather passive act of listening to a TED talk a day as you eat your breakfast (or complete another mundane daily task) can reset your perspective fairly efficiently. You can even search their site by topic for well curated content.
- Linkedin influencer articles: These resources give you bite-sized access to truly great minds, without needing to read their whole biography! As a little bonus, this one actually features in the Successful Graduate course.
- Career search websites: While psychological support isn’t their primary purpose, these sites include a lot of useful content, from the highly practical to more enlightened approaches, including this one on CareerCast.
- The real world: It’s easy to start to feel a bit isolated when you’re job-seeking. Be proactive and reach out to family, friends, teachers or mentors who can remind you of your abilities (usually with first hand examples!).
Confidence can be learned. And practice makes perfect.
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