Education leaders must possess the self-confidence to be successful. Self-confidence has to do with your capacity to fulfill multiple roles and is built through your experiences and dealings during your life. Unfortunately, self-confidence is one of those things you either have or do not have, but I believe that it can be learned with a moderate amount of work.
Building self-confidence 101
To build your self-confidence, you need to be open to new experiences and be willing to fail, or you will never grow and find the strength required to push the limits of what you are capable of. To begin, you need to confront your fears and all of the things that cause you anxiety. What is it about these things that freak you out? If your worst fears and anxieties come to life, what is the worst that can happen?
Next, make a conscious effort to confront your fears, one by one. No matter have scared you are, dig deep inside and take that leap of faith. What you will find is that on the other side of fear is self-confidence, as you find out that even if you fail, it is not the end of the world. Also, as you continue to do things that cause you anxiety, you will see that in some cases, you become very good at the tasks and duties that frighten you. With some things, you may never be an expert or even a novice, but overcoming your fear and continuing to do it anyway is a victory in itself.
Concluding thoughts
Remember, as a leader, you call the shots, and as a result, your employees will follow your lead. If you don’t feel confident in your abilities, how can you empower them to be confident in theirs? An organization led by someone who lacks self-confidence will not be very successful, and at it its best, it will be lackluster.
Why is this? Because in business and in life, timidity is rarely rewarded. People have inspired by boldness and courage, not cowardliness. That’s because in business and in life, you will undoubtedly face obstacles, and the timid usually give up, and those with grit and resilience usually power through to the other side, where success is located.
