Many people suffer with self confidence issues. Even very clever people in London suffer from some sort of issue regarding self confidence. Its such a common problem that terms have been invented to describe the condition.

Here are the secrets to self confidence that will help you to never doubt yourself again!

1) Impostor syndrome

Do you feel that you are not good enough or inferior to others? This is often felt in social situations where you think the friends around you are smarter or in someway better than you are. Just because your potential new friends in London may have better jobs or have a better education that doesnt mean they wont socialise with you. Becoming their friends is all about your “Value Add”. Eg what can you bring to the group that others do not. For instance you might be meet lots of interesting people in your job and have lots of funny stories. So never feel like you are an imposter in any social group!

2) The Dunning-Kruger effect

The Dunning-Kruger effect refers to a bizarre cognitive bias: People who are incompetent will over-rate their abilities, and those who are very competent will under-rate theirs. We have all been in the situation at work when you think “how is that person in such a senior position – they know nothing!”. The Dunning-Kruger effect ties into self belief. These individuals believe they are good enough and therefore other people believe in them too.

So now you know the barriers to having self confidence lets examine the solutions.

3) Your childhood and education

How you were brought up by your parents and your education will have a massive effect on your self confidence. As a child we are very vulnerable to the things people say and do around us. If you had a happy childhood, with successful and loving parents and you had lots of friends then it is likely your self confidence as an adult will be higher than someone who had a tough upbringing. In addition, those who attend the best schools will have the best teaching and employment opportunities later in life, again this will have a significant positive on their self confidence.

4) Determine your weakness

Contrary to common beliefs self confidence is not something everybody possesses in equal measures. Each of us has different levels of confidence in different areas of his or her life. While you might be very confident in playing sport you might fear social situations.

5) Find the missing skills

So once you have worked out where the weaknesses in your self confidence lie you need to go about fixing them. Most of the time you can achieve this via education and practise. So look for books and training courses that address your skill deficiencies and absorb as much information as you can. Once you have done learning go out and put those skills into practise! All of a sudden your self confidence issues will be gone!

6) Promote yourself

People are attracted to people who are skilful at something. But if you dont show off your skills then how will anyone be aware of them? You need to think of ways to get out there and show others your abilities. If you are good at football then join a football team in London, everyone will want to be your friend as they know you will be a great asset to the team.

7) Showcase your talents online

Its not easy to get compliments from others these days. We live in a very competitive world and lots of people are looking out just for themselves. But even so, if you are good at what you do then why not showcase it? The web has made it so easy for you to demonstrate your skills to others all around the world. So why not set up a website to show what you can do. Or maybe upload a video to youtube? The positive comments are likely to come flooding in. That will be a massive boost to your self confidence.

8) Surround yourself with the right people

If you surround yourself with the wrong people that can have a devastating effect on your self confidence. If you find your current friends bully or make fun of you then you need to get some new friends in London!