Greetings!!! Welcome back to my media
space. Truth be told, one of the many things that have held me back for some years
when I wanted to pursue my dreams was fear of failing and to be honest I lacked
self-confidence to overcome that fear. And let’s be honest good people, we all
face it to some degree I think. The key question is not however if we do, but how
are we going to overcome that fear. That can only be by working on your self-esteem
and self-confidence. There are times I’ve felt less confidence, less excited
about my own dreams and end up thinking they are not good enough to pursue and
succeed. This article will therefore examine in detail benefits of being self-confident.
Following your dreams
Exactly 3 months ago, in this same
blog, I stated explicitly that I was worth fairly $ 300. I went ahead and
stated clearly I want to grow this wealth by creating multiple streams of
income to grow it to an excess of seven fold in three years click
here to read about it. The first step I needed to take was to develop a
strategy of coming up with ways of making investments that would create me
multiple income sources to sustain my premises. I was stuck for the first 4
weeks after the initial idea was posted online because I felt had no confidence
to let things flow. However I’m happy to report, am doing well. I’ve already more
than doubled the amount of my wealth with at least two streams of income with
fairly $ 10-15 income flow daily. That’s fairly low but I’m still excited,
confident and optimistic that before 2016 rolls out, I will have achieved a
seven fold wealth growth instead of waiting for three years. In the next
quarter I’ll create one or two more streams of income to sustain this growth.
“Optimism is the faith that
leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence’’. Helen Keller - Author, political
activist, and lecturer
Now dear friends, here is the deal,
been in a tricky situation for the last one year, but am not complaining. If you
ain’t aware, I graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s
degree with a major in IT and a minor in Business. I thought all along life
would be conventional; I mean land a job with a prestigious IT or Audit firm in
the country or in the world and life would continue. Wake up every day, beat Nairobi
traffic every morning, finish projects for my managers, work hard, get
promoted, marry a fancy lady, have children and retire in my own home. That wasn’t
forth coming and so I had to re-strategize. Luckily for me, in some way I had
already figured out what I would do meanwhile before a real job comes along. And
so writing was my thing and I really loved it and so I did figure out how to commercialize
your talent. And note the interviewers’ panel that maliciously dismisses young
graduates as incapable, and naïve. Such was me, attending tens of interviews in
the last one year and the only response? Silence or a regret email confirming wasn’t
successful on that occasion. You honestly don’t take it lightly when someone
takes up the position when you really needed that job. Mind you those responses
have a tendency of eroding our self-confidence and self-esteem. But anyway you
agree, resign
and decide, tomorrow in another opportunity to fight for another day.
Past failures: Road to new Beginnings
On one such interview, was asked how
many hits does my site generate yearly and I was a bit shy stating it does less
than 1,000. Oh, I felt ashamed, like I would end up with nothing. Then another,
one asked, how much having been making monthly for the last one year since
graduation, honestly I thought I should lie. But I figured out, what I will lose
by telling the truth I made less than $ 50 monthly on a good month. At that moment you realize the harm that has
been done to your self-confidence to face future interviewer. And so I made up
my mind, I would be excited, to speak about my achievements, what I do to guys I
come across. Later, a few days ago, was routinely invited for another interview,
this time I maintained my cool, went through the process that was conducted by
a kind hearted lady. When she said the interview process was over, I requested
a minute with her, and to her surprise, there I was selling my products to her
and telling her more about my blog. Surprisingly, I made a sale and didn’t rest
there, I talked to a few more company staff along the corridors and managed to do
more sales and secure more hits on the site. Huh, a shot in the arm that I needed.
That’s how having confidence can let you be lucky enough! As I write this, the
traffic has more than tripled! And the limit is not in the foreseeable horizon.
“Once we
believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or
any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – E.E. Cummings
Benefits of having Self-Confidence
I guess many of some of us can relate
well with my own narration. We want to have our sons, daughters, brothers and
sisters to have confidence to follow their dreams and goals in life. Nothing in
this life is ever more important than how you feel and think of yourself. Having
a high opinion of who you are what you can do and loving yourself does magic
when you want to achieve greatly in this life. Dear readers when you have high
self-confidence you are bound to:
- Have a simpler and a lighter life: Having self-confidence you won’t make mountains out of anthills or out of plain air. You won’t have to incriminate yourself for not reaching the perfect inhuman standard that you have set for yourself. Those minor failures are according to your human limitations.
- You will have more inner stability: when you love yourself and have high opinion of who you are, you will stop seeking to get validation or attention from other human beings. You eventually become less dependent on others and attain an emotional stability because you will start working in this life from your own idea and not on suggestions of other people.
- You become more attractive in the relationships you engage with other people: With self-confidence you become more stable to handle tough periods with other people. You will fight less; argue less frequently and never sabotage other people when you cannot buy into their idea. These qualities make you a good business partner, a better colleague and a better employee. And basically you end up more motivated to work with other people because you become more aware of the needs of others.
Conclusion
Low confidence is mainly results from
criticism, fear of the unknown, feeling unprepared and unqualified, poor time management,
low self-esteem, lack of knowledge and previous failures. In the coming week, I
will take this further and give you tips to how to build levels of your self-confidence.
Remember to stay in touch with me at jeremiahwakamu@gmail.com
or on Facebook Jeremiaho
Wakamu to keep this discussion going. And again referrals though you social
media network/connection and word of mouth is the best you can do for this
blog.
