better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

Confidence Under Pressure

3 June 2013

Your hand is on the door handle…you’re about to enter the room for that meeting…what are you saying to yourself?

‘Door handle’ self-talk routines are a good litmus test of our self confidence. Are we – fretting to ourselves that we’re not good enough? Hoping the problem will just vanish? Frightened of the ‘big’ people?

Confidence counts – and what we say to ourselves makes a difference. So, my first tip is, on the threshold of a room, to pause and remind ourselves:

– We have a right to be here.
– We are all equal (sure, we might have different experiences, but when we go into a supermarket they don’t know any of us!)
– We can state our case.

The second tip, is very simple. Sip water. Don’t drink it, just sip it, so that we feel its cool touch on our lips. This is a great way to ‘ground’ ourselves and to regain control over wayward emotions. Sip water, take a breath, feel calmer. This helps to underpin confidence.

Finally, my third pointer in terms of retaining confidence under pressure is to practice beforehand. This builds up cognitive pathways in the brain that makes it easier for us to state our case when under pressure. To make life even easier we can write a couple of keywords on our pad to help jog our memory.

I’m always astonished that people turn up for meetings without any notes on their pad and simply rely on their memory to carry them through! It’s okay to write down key facts and figures when we’re calm, so that we can read them when under pressure. Life doesn’t have to be a memory test!

We all work under pressure and we can all take steps to take care of ourselves.

What will you do this week to help build your confidence?

Next week: Silent Brainstorming