How My Lack Of Confidence Cost Me A Promotion

By Perminus Wainaina

What is keeping you from getting that promotion at work?

Is it competition from your colleagues? Do you lack the practical skills needed to take up a supervisory role? Or is there no room to grow in your current organization?

Hilda was sure she was going to be promoted to the position of team leader. She had been with the company for five years and because of her performance, she knew this would be her next step.

The position was offered to her and at that moment, Hilda knew she could not take it. She turned down the offer.

“I did not feel I had what it took to lead the department. I have a hard time speaking up during meetings… how am I expected to lead a team and present the meetings? It hurt me, but I could not take the job.”

Hilda lost on a promotion because of her lack of confidence – something she wants to build.

Truth is, confidence plays a key role in your growth. If you look around the workplace, you’ll notice most of the professionals who get promoted are confident of both their skills and themselves.

If you want to be successful, you have to start by being confident in yourself.

The good news is that you can become confident. It doesn’t matter if you lack it; it is still yours to experience.

Learning how to build confidence is part of the process of evolving into yourself. 

Benefits of Self-Confidence

• Openness to try new things – When you believe in yourself, you are more willing to try new things. Whether you apply for a promotion or sign up for a public speaking class, believing in yourself is key to putting yourself out there.
• Better performance – When you feel confident in yourself, you’re able to devote your resources to the task at hand. Rather than waste time and energy worrying that you aren’t good enough, you can devote your energy to your efforts. Ultimately, you’ll perform better when you feel confident.
• Better resilience – Believing in yourself, will enhance your ability to bounce back from any challenges or adversities you face in life.

Whether you lack confidence in one specific area or you struggle to feel confident about anything, here are things you can do to build your self-confidence.

1. Face Your Fears

It’s human nature to experience fear and anxiety. But when you believe in yourself, you realize that those emotions are there to encourage you to take action, not to hold you back. You’re able to take a deep breath and control your emotions, then shift your focus and turn fear into action. 

Face your fears by creating goals that are connected to your overall purpose in life. Setting and achieving goals that help you overcome your fears will give you a sense of accomplishment. Your goals don’t have to be huge – taking small steps that add up to big results will improve your confidence and boost your ability to have confidence in yourself.

2. Learn A New Skill

One way to begin to develop a growth mindset is to challenge yourself to learn new things. Whether you learn how to speak with confidence or how to code, learning a new skill can increase your belief in your abilities to execute tasks, control your behavior and attain your goals. You’ll begin to have faith in yourself, one new skill at a time.

3. Stop Comparing Yourself To Others. Instead, learn from them

Pay attention to times when you compare your wealth, possessions, skills, achievements, and attributes. Thinking that other people are better or have more will erode your confidence in yourself. When you notice you are drawing comparisons, remind yourself that doing so isn’t helpful. Everyone is running their race and life isn’t a competition.

Instead, watch what others are doing. Then critically examine what you would have done differently or better.

4. Engage a Mentor

How can you take your confidence to the next level? How can you ensure that it lands you promotions and even your dream job?

The answer is, by having a mentor. Having a mentor that is a few years ahead of you means that you can learn from the mistakes that they have made, and learn from the successes that they have achieved, in essence, accelerating your skills and building your confidence.

In Conclusion,

People with self-confidence tend to set stronger boundaries, prioritizing their own needs and emotions. Having self-confidence not only impacts how you feel about yourself, but it helps you better understand and love others. It also gives you the strength to walk away if you’re not getting what you deserve.

So cultivate it today!

Perminus Wainaina is the C.E.O and Managing Partner at Corporate Staffing Services, a leading HR consultancy firm based in Westlands. Through career mentorship programs, he assists mid-level and senior professionals get solutions to complex and challenging career issues that they are facing.