Many people, it seems, associate brashness and arrogance with confidence. Indeed, arrogant people may be strong in some dimensions of confidence, but they are seriously deficient in others. Truly confident people are aware of their own emotional state, and in tune with emotions of others. True self confidence leads to feelings of relaxation in a wide range of situations. Such relaxation feeds individual’s confidence, setting up a virtuous circle.

Some people are full of confidence and able to meet even most difficult challenge with an air of authority. A good level of self-esteem is essential for us to function successfully in our professional and personal lives. Sally Foan, principle trainer at The People Tree, looks at importance of self-esteem and how we can build on it…

Every day we make decisions based partly on our level of self-esteem, and exhibit that level to those around us in a variety of ways. This behaviour influences others and how people then react to us, perpetuating cycle.

Outside influences play a part in setting our level of self-esteem when we are children and as we grow up. These may have included opinions of parents, teachers, friends and family. What we need to do as adults is take a fresh look at our own opinion of ourselves. Is our long-held view accurate? Is our view ‘rose-tinted’ or unfairly negative? Bear in mind that feedback we grew up with may have been fatally flawed. What if people that influenced our self-worth were wrong? Perhaps we were bullied, or grew up in a challenging home which has left our self-confidence and self-esteem seriously dented.

As adults we have opportunity to re-examine our level of self-esteem by seeking accurate feedback from people we respect. This process allows you to expand your understanding of yourself and this information can be valuable for fine tuning and optimising your performance in workplace and beyond.

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Setting goals and achieving them will boost your self-esteem. Identify your training aspirations (that will broaden your professional skills) and support your future goals.

So, what if you do have potential to achieve more and only barrier is your self-esteem or self-worth? What if things you’d realistically like to achieve are actually possible? Picture yourself and your future as one of enormous super tankers out at sea. These massive ships can take a great deal of time to change course. Someone in bridge, at helm, needs to plan well ahead to change course for future destination. The captain must allow for overall stability, external conditions and operational planning. Don’t wait for ‘perfect’ captain or manager to steer your career, you may wait forever, or you may already have one who is too challenged by tasks and workload to think for you. Take helm yourself today and in a year’s time you’ll be glad you did. Top tips for improving your self esteem

Learn how to feel good about yourself Take time to remind yourself of all things that you have accomplished. Remember your achievements and all positive things that you do for yourself and others. We rarely hear positives and yet we certainly hear any negatives – and remember them long after we have forgotten all nice things said about us or our performance. If you are a manager remember that each of your team will have positives that you can praise; take time to find and highlight these. "There isn't a ruler, a yard stick or a measuring tape in entire world long enough to compute strength and capabilities inside you." PAUL MEYER