You can’t feel confident unless you know what you need to know. Get educated, learn, research, and never stop reading. Preparing, whether it is for a presentation or a date, will help you feel safe and allow you to show off your best assets.
By making sure all your ducks are in a row you can also plan for the unexpected more easily. Although you may not have brought every trick in the book with you, you probably read about them at some point. If you prepare, it makes the inevitable question you were afraid of easy to answer.
No, you can’t constantly be ready for everything life throws at you. But, getting into the habit of preparing, you create a backlog of emotional building blocks you’ll get to use later. Trust me on this one, please; there is no wasted effort here. Whatever you are preparing for today, even if you don’t use it tomorrow, you will in the future.
Preparing emotionally is as important as preparing mentally and physically. The best way I have found is to visualize (imagine in your mind’s eye) what it is you are about to do. If it’s taking a test, see yourself passing it. If it’s giving a speech, see the audience nodding their heads and applauding (perhaps even laughing at your jokes). This technique is used to cure cancer, and I’m sure it can make you feel more self-confident. It will also help you succeed at the task in front of you.
Mental preparation requires that you are studied or have the ability to learn. There’s an old joke about men never bothering to read instructions; that may have
been the case before the technology revolution, but not these days. Life is way too complicated to not at least look at the manual before you try to hook up that new video-game system.
Doing common-sense preparation, such as a mental or written checklist before you begin a project, old or new, is only going to make you feel more confident about what you are about to take on. In addition, it will help you think of things you may have missed— and you won’t be wondering what the leftover parts are for.
Making a checklist might seem a little over the top if you are just going out for dinner and a movie, but it can be immensely helpful when you are doing something as simple as going to the market. I don’t know how anyone can get through life without to-do lists. They may actually be our single greatest aid when it comes to getting things done and staying on track.
If required, taking safety precautions is another great preparation technique: Carefully organizing your gear as you prepare to climb the Matterhorn in the Alps, you mentally practice using it. As you tee up your ball, and look around to make sure you’re not going to pulverize your boss with your Big Bertha driver, you are also preparing yourself to make a great shot by reducing your anxiety.
Preparation is your friend, and not nearly as painful as you think it is. It is also a necessity when it comes to gaining greater self-confidence.
Keep up the good work!
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life, and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”—Amelia Earhart