The New Year is undoubtedly a time for change. Everyone has been at home with their families over the holiday season, and now they're back at work and thinking about how happy they really are in their current role. No, you're not the only one, around 1 in 5 people will look for a new job in the new year, and many more will decide to quit altogether and venture out on their own, with half a million new businesses started in January last year alone. All of this is fantastic, and makes millions of people happier in the coming year.
But it's also a lot of change, and as human beings, we are wired to be a bit wary of change. We don't like it, and we will often fight it on a subconscious level if given half the chance. So how can you be sure to start your new venture, whatever it may be, with confidence?
The Brain and Change
To understand why change can be a scary thing for us, we first need to understand what's going on in your brain. Because our brains are absolutely hard-wired to be resistant and react negatively to change. This reaction, according to numerous studies, goes right back to our primitive roots, when our human ancestors depended as much on social belonging for survival as they did on food and shelter, and change to that social order could threaten our survival. So when your social environment (or environment in general) changes, the brain decides its very survival is under threat. This is all happening in a part of your brain known as the amygdala, and it nearly always interprets change as a threat and releases hormones that trigger your fight, flight or freeze response. Your body is actually trying to protect you from change, because change could be bad.
This is one of the reasons why making any kind of big life change, whether it's moving to a new job, quitting smoking or even losing weight can be incredibly scary for us. Our body is being flooded with fear hormones because our brain does not want to change the status quo. And in may cases that resistance in your own brain is enough to make you doubt what you're doing, or even to stop you from doing the new thing completely. So before you enact any kind of change, you need to make sure you have the tools you need to combat the change and give yourself the best chance of success.
Hacking Your Brain to be Confident
One of my favourite quotes about confidence comes from social psychologist Amy Cuddy. She says 'don't fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become.' And that couldn't be more true. Confidence is a state of mind, and by acting and thinking like you are confident, you will actually become more confident. It's a self-perpetuating cycle - the more you 'pretend' to know what you're doing, the more you actually know what you're doing, boosting your confidence even further. So how do you do that? Well, you can try:
Superhero Stance: The way we sit and stand can have a huge impact on not just how confident we look, but how confident we feel. If you tend to hunch your shoulders, cross your arms and shrink into yourself, you're likely to feel less confident. But standing tall with your shoulders back releases a surge of chemicals in your brain that will make you feel more powerful and confident. So practice your best superhero stance whenever you can and watch what it does to your confidence levels.
Say 'Thank You' Instead of 'Sorry': It's a little thing, but it can make a big difference. For example, if you arrive late to a meeting, instead of saying 'sorry I'm late', say 'thank you for your patience.' This stops you from putting yourself down while still accepting you did something wrong and thanking others for accepting it. This leaves you in a better place to then contribute and move on as normal, rather than feeling guilt or nervousness.
Change How You View Failure: Most of us consider failure as something we should avoid at all costs, because it causes trouble and it makes us feel bad. So much so that many of us avoid taking chances out of a fear of failure - we become paralyzed by it - and our confidence in our abilities decreases with it. But failure isn't the worst possible thing. The worst thing that could happen is not trying at all. Failure is an essential part of life, and in increasing your skills and knowledge. So try to reframe failure as a positive experience. Something you can learn from, and that takes you one step closer to success.
Can Hypnotherapy Help With Confidence?
Hypnotherapy can be fantastic tool to help you boost your confidence and change how you feel about situations. Using a combination of solution focused talking therapy and deep relaxation, hypnotherapy can help you understand and explore your situation and thought processes in a safe and neutral environment. Using hypnosis to guide you into a trance state of deep calm and relaxation, your hypnotherapist can help you reprogramme the subconscious thoughts that are standing in your way, allowing you to work with your brain in a more positive way to overcome your problems. Over the years I've helped many clients with confidence and anxiety issues, removing those mental blocks and not just looking more confident, but feeling it too.
Remember, confidence is a state of mind, and you know something that your brain doesn't - that change can be a very good thing. So the key to confidence when starting a new job or a new business is to have belief and faith in yourself, your abilities and your strengths so that you can achieve all of your goals. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help you to become more confident, happier and positive, allowing you to move forwards towards your goals without worry or fear. If you'd like to know more, or just want to find out if hypnotherapy could be right for you, start by getting in touch to book a free initial chat so that we can explore your situation and decide if hypnotherapy will be right for you and what your personalised treatment plan might look like.
Feel free to book an initial chat or get in touch to ask for advice or ask questions
