Five Tools for Reframing Confidence

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.