According to research by Whitmore, on average a professional brings only 14% of their potential to work.
It is a very low value, especially if we think about how much better you could work if in offices you dare to feel more confident and less anxious!
Among other things, according to research by Georgetown University, in fact, professionals with more confidence at work are 17% more likely to be innovative, 24% more likely to positively overcome the obstacles they encounter at work, and 16 % more to better follow their activities, ensuring higher quality.
Unfortunately, according to some studies, at least 50% of professionals think they could perform better if they were less worried about making mistakes; 24% of these employees spend a significant amount of time caring about their performance, and 18% have these concerns constantly.
Let's try, then, to discover together some simple techniques to acquire greater work confidence and shake off these fears.
We can certainly train, using the theory of emotional flexibility, which comes from cognitive psychology and suggests 6 possible techniques.
The first technique has to do with one's mission and values: having a strong direction, both professional and life, having a strong reason that makes us get out of bed in the morning, being aware of what is really important to me beyond the need for daily emergencies can help us stay on course towards long-term goals, even when we face moments of stress. And I'm not talking about crap: writing down what your goals are, for example, the learning goals for the current year, and writing down why they are important, is something extremely pragmatic if I put it in front of my eyes. this list every morning.
Another technique consists in introducing some relaxation practices into one's habits, even for just a few minutes a day, in which to practice, for example, diaphragm breathing, listening to pleasant music, or giving myself to meditation or some guided visualization. This minimal and daily effort can train you to master your mind better.
Third suggestion: practice the art of "acceptance", which means facing a new challenge that can generate stress, observing what happens to us in front of this new situation to be faced, without judgments but only by recording the flow of thoughts and emotions that pass through us and pretend to note mentally. This exercise will help us to recognize our fears, to observe their facets, reducing their negative impact that would often push us to avoid new challenges due to the fear of failure.
The fourth technique has to do with the "defusing" of the recurring elements that generate anxiety. It all lies in becoming aware of what are the elements that generally frighten us or make us end up in a state of emotional "kidnapping", such as your manager getting angry, the complaint of a colleague, or a dissatisfied customer. Practicing the defusing technique means recognizing these situations and keeping them at a distance, under control. This does not mean avoiding them, it does not mean avoiding the colleague, but rather recognizing that they are only particular external situations, they are not inside me, and therefore I can handle them appropriately while remaining calm and behaving in the already convenient way.
Another technique is "contextualization", which, as the name implies, simply consists of the ability to look at new challenges with the ability to zoom out and look at them in perspective, placing them in a wider temporal space. Ronald Heifetz, a trainer, describes this technique as the ability to stand on the dance floor and look out over the stands at the same time. Is the year coming to an end and I still lack 30% of turnover? Okay, but for the past 10 years, I've always achieved my sales goals. Am I having professional difficulties today? Okay, but let me think about where I started from and everything I've built since then.
Last technique: build a timely action plan for change, which leverages habits. One or two rules to be applied daily are enough to develop confidence through the practice of certain functional behaviors: for example, I go for a run at least twice a week, rain or shine, no compromise; or, I wake up 20 minutes earlier to start the day with important and non-urgent things.
So, in summary, 6 techniques that can help us develop solid confidence in our work and life, in general, have to do with clarity about our long-term goals and values, with the ability to relax, with acceptance, disarming, contextualization, and your own action plan.
What if we now try to put it all together, trying to identify a possible "process" that we can follow to develop better emotional flexibility and confidence? Faced with any challenge, what are the possible steps I can take to better face it, without being controlled by my anxieties and fears, but going in the direction I want?
On six moves, I can start from my values, from my goals, from what makes sense to me. From there, the second step is the belief that my thoughts are not me, but are just a part of me, of the voices that cross me and of which I can observe their passage. The third step, in fact, is the observation of what is happening inside me in terms of thoughts and emotions.
At this point, acceptance comes, and therefore I can welcome these thoughts and emotions, even if they are painful, but I accept that they have every right to exist within me, even if they are not me. The fifth step is, in fact, to reach full awareness of my internal world. Finally, I am ready to get involved in what is most important to me, but I will decide and act, with all of myself, not just with those deterring parts of me.
Finally, we remind you that a great effort to better manage anxiety was made by Albert Ellis' "Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy".