If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life~Marcus Garvey

Confidence is defined as “the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust”.  Self-confidence is being able to rely on and trust yourself.  In today’s society, conveying confidence is necessary for your success, however actually having self-confidence is necessary for your survival.

When you are self-confident you know who you are.  You are fully aware of your strengths and shortcomings and you accept them.  When you are aware of your abilities and capabilities you know what you can handle and you know what you can’t.  Many of us blame failures on not having money, time, or access to certain things or people.  While that could be a part of it, a larger factor is not knowing or not accepting our capabilities.  Knowing what you are capable of helps you determine what you should take on, when you need to ask for help and when you should say ‘No’.  As a result, we either take on things we shouldn’t, decline the opportunities you should welcome, or don’t seek help when we need it.  

There is a degree of difficulty in owning our weaknesses.  Unlike superheros, our magical powers are limited.  We cannot do it all nor can we do most of it, all alone.  Being selective with what you take on is key.  When we take on things beyond our capabilities, we aren’t able to do our best and may ultimately fail. A failed task or goal is often seen as a failure to ourselves and to others.  Failures shatter our self-confidence, and it can take a lot to get those pieces back together.

How can you self-evaluate?  

• Write down what you like and what you do well.
• Write down things you do not like and do not perform well.  
• Write down areas you want to improve.  
• Be honest with yourself and accept that your strengths and weakness
• Reach out to close friends, trusted family members, or even a manager and ask them what they see as your strengths and ask them to be honest. This gives you a chance to find out how the people that matter most see you. (you may be surprised how this differs from how you think they view you)

It is never easy to admit that we aren’t the best, however, it is true that no one person is great at everything. Focus on and build upon your strengths.  By taking on task, that align with what you do well and that match your capabilities you will often reach your goals.  The more we accomplish the more we will trust in our capabilities, thus becoming more self-confident.  It is at this point we can begin to not only survive, but we begin to succeed beyond our wildest dreams!  
Feministas, what is something you had to accept about yourself that you didn’t really want to? Once you accepted it, did it change the way you did certain things?  Did it change the way you viewed yourself?

[info_box type=”alert_box”]Caring for yourself including takes care of your finances.  I encourage all ladies who are serious about self-care to go on The Happy Finances Challenge. In 42 days you can learn to make money decisions that will lead to long-term financial happiness. [/info_box]