5 Strategies To Boost Confidence In The Workplace Backed By Neuroscience
- Jul 23, 2024
- 8 min read
Written by Maz Matin, Mindset Coach
Maz Matin is a pioneer in mental wellness strategies. After a near-death experience, she witnessed the profound impact of these techniques and founded MindGate with Maz. Committed to transforming lives, her mission is to empower others by unlocking their subconscious potential.
Imagine transforming your confidence at work by tapping into the hidden power of your brain. The brain is responsible for our thoughts, moods, emotions, and intelligence and plays a crucial role in shaping our behaviour and interactions. Confidence is important in forging great relationships, getting noticed in the workplace, and being given more responsibility, but what can you do if your confidence falters?
Neuroscience reveals that people who are more confident internally foster positive relationships at work. They also have enhanced communication skills, leading to happier and healthier relationships inside and outside work. If you want to increase your confidence at work, here are five techniques you can implement immediately.
The impact of a morning routine
Starting your day right matters; we’ve all heard about the super performer who wakes up at 5 a.m., has a healthy breakfast, hits the gym, and is in the office by 8 a.m. But let's get real: We're all wired differently, and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another. Having said that, there is merit in the morning routine; if your routine is hectic where everything is rushed, and you gulp down a coffee and arrive at the office just in time, we can all agree it’s not the best way to start the day. You’re setting yourself up to play catchup for the rest of the day, running on adrenal, which will eventually catch up with you. Starting the day calmly helps with planning and prioritising the day ahead, leading to higher-quality output and more productivity.
Neuroscience supports this: a structured morning routine can enhance cognitive function and emotional regulation. Having those extra few minutes to yourself before you settle into work or even when you’re getting ready at home can make all the difference towards how confident you feel about tackling the day ahead. Implementing small changes to your routine can go a long way, whether it’s a healthy breakfast, energising yourself with a workout, meditation to clear your mind, creating or simply waking up an extra 3o minutes earlier so that you're organised and deal with things calmly from the word get-go.
Top tip: Before you start work, think about the one thing from the list above that you can do to help yourself feel great and implement it into your daily routine.
Self-dialogue
What if the biggest factor in your career success was how you talked to yourself? How you perceive yourself in the workplace plays a significant role. It can influence career development, job performance, job satisfaction and even relationships with subordinates, colleagues, and management. How you view yourself influences how others see you, as we all exhibit unintentional tells when interacting. e.g., confident and capable leaders are evident through their behaviour and interactions with others. People are drawn to them for their can-do attitude.
In contrast, people who don’t take the time to build their confidence can have higher self-doubt and, as a result, hold themselves and their capabilities back. Therefore, they may not be seen as leadership material by others.
Neuroscience shows that self-dialogue significantly impacts brain function and behaviour. Positive self-talk activates the brain's reward system, releasing dopamine, which enhances motivation and focus. Conversely, negative self-talk can increase cortisol levels, leading to stress and anxiety.
Regardless of where you are on your own journey, a way to help yourself is to start by examining what you are saying to yourself daily. Yes, I am talking about the inner voice that either tells you that you're doing a great job or that you’re not good enough, depending upon what mood it’s in. How you perceive yourself is a key contributor to confidence levels, regardless of your stature or position.
Is your internal chatter lifting you and setting you up for the day? What language are you using when it comes to you and your day-to-day tasks in the office? e.g., if you’re looking at a project and telling yourself, “I can’t handle this project,” these negative thoughts will impact your feelings. Replacing this with” I have the skills and knowledge to succeed in this project” will make you feel more able and confident. Is your language encouraging and helpful, or do you beat yourself up over how you could have done things better?
Reframing the words to a positive is key if your language is negative, e.g., If you are in a meeting and everyone is contributing ideas, a negative thought could be, “I’ll never be as good as my colleagues, whereas a positive reframe would be “I recognise and celebrate my unique strengths, and I love the fact that smart people also surround me”
It’s important to pay attention to your day-to-day thoughts and vocabulary. Over time, the daily voice can compound, and these thoughts turn into habits, and you begin to operate on autopilot without realising.
Top tip: When engaging in inner dialogue, refer to yourself in the third person to create emotional distance.
For example: “Alyssa, remember to stay calm and focused during the meeting. You can handle it."
This helps you view situations more objectively and make more rational decisions.
Flood your brain
Here is why it matters: If your boss has given you a new task and you didn’t do a great job last time, one of the first things your mind will point to is your previous failure, which understandably will have a knock-on effect on your confidence levels It’s your job to overcome this by reminding yourself why you will do a great job this time. Remind yourself of all your previous accomplishments and positive past achievements, no matter how small. This will help you feel more positive and confident when approaching a new task. In contrast, if you mentally review all the projects or tasks that went wrong, you're setting yourself up for failure. It becomes a habitual part of your unconscious thought process by constantly internalising negative expectations about what could go wrong or how others will react to you.
Neuroscientific research shows that focusing on positive experiences activates reward pathways in your brain, releasing feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine, which boost your mood and motivation.
In contrast, by flooding your brain with previous successes, all the things that you’ve done well, such as a compliment from your work colleagues, praise on your project from other departments, and recognition during your appraisal, will help you fire up neurons that make you feel good about your previous successes.
It’s a reminder that you’ve had some great accomplishments, and there’s no reason you can’t do it. If you don’t have examples relatable to the new task, that’s okay, as the objective is to remind yourself that your previous history confirms you are a capable and talented individual.
The value of learning hours
Putting in extra time pays off, and I’m not talking about staying behind when a deadline or project deadline needs to be met. You must put in the extra time and effort to improve your work. People who excel in the workplace spend additional time learning and improving, regularly honing their skills. Unfortunately, it’s not workplace culture to share all the work-related extracurricular activities a person undertakes to get ahead of the curve. Lengthy conversations on the latest TV show or your next holiday are all socially accepted, yet how often do you discuss or hear your colleagues sharing how they're swotting up to get ahead in their careers? Hoping and winging it doesn’t cut it; the only way to sharpen your expertise is to go the extra mile.
Neuroscience supports the benefits of deliberate practice. Consistent, focused effort strengthens neural connections related to the skills being practised, a process known as neuroplasticity. Reading industry journals, attending workshops, keeping abreast with the latest news, and understanding the mechanisms of what and why you do something will naturally make you feel like a specialist at what you do and instil confidence in you.
Even if you dedicate an extra 1 hour per week over a year, that will compound into an additional 52 hours that you didn’t have previously. The "10,000-hour rule” originates from research by psychologist Anders Ericsson then was popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Outliers." The rule suggests that achieving mastery in any field requires approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice and dedication to become the best. While you may not need to invest 10,000 hours, even a reasonable amount of extra time can significantly enhance your skills and confidence, setting you apart from your colleagues.
By committing to continual improvement and embracing the neuroscience behind skill development, you can cultivate a proactive mindset and build a foundation for long-term career success.
Visualising success
The world’s best athletes and celebrities use this technique regularly Novak Djokovic
is known to use visualisation. Arnold Schwarzenegger has credited visualisation as a crucial component in his success in various careers, such as bodybuilding, acting, and politics. Nothing is stopping you from using the same technique.
There are many advantages to visualising success in the workplace, e.g., if you are chairing a meeting on a project, imagining the presentation going smoothly, delivering key points confidently and answering questions easily will assist with the actual presentation going smoother.
Neuroscientific research shows that when we mentally rehearse a scenario, our brain creates neural pathways that simulate the experience, making us more prepared for the real event. The advantage of this mental rehearsal is that it helps our brain perceive the task as something already accomplished, which reduces anxiety and boosts confidence and performance during the actual task. The mind tends to keep us in our comfort zones on a day-to-day basis, so when we face something new, it naturally feels uncomfortable. However, mentally rehearsing can create a sense of familiarity and preparedness, making the new experience less daunting.
Visualisation leverages the brain's ability to adapt and prepare, setting you up for smoother and more confident execution in real-life situations.
The power of repetition
Repetition is the key to long-lasting change. Our mind learns and adapts through repetition, so practising these confidence-boosting strategies daily is crucial until they become natural habits and you function on autopilot.
Neuroscientific research underscores the importance of repetition in learning and habit formation. When you repeatedly practice a skill or behaviour, you strengthen the neural connections associated with that activity. This process, known as neuroplasticity, allows your brain to rewire itself, making the new behaviour more automatic and ingrained over time.
Top tip: Make repetition a key component of your strategy to boost confidence. By doing so, you leverage the power of neuroplasticity to create lasting, positive changes in your brain and behaviour.
Incorporating neuroscience-backed strategies into your daily routine can significantly boost your confidence in the workplace, paving the way for greater success and fulfilment in your professional life.
Remember to:
Dedicate time each day to practice these techniques
Create a good start to each morning
Keep Visualising success,
Engage in positive self-talk,
Keep your skills sharp
By leveraging these strategies, you can foster positive relationships, improve job performance, and navigate your career more easily and confidently. Remember, consistency is key. Make these practices a regular routine to see lasting benefits and unlock your full potential at work.
To find out how Maz can help you improve wellbeing in the workplace, get in touch here.
Read more from Maz Matin
Maz Matin, Mindset Coach
Maz Matin is a Wellbeing & Mindset Coach with over two decades of experience working with individuals in the workplace. Specialising in the subconscious mind, she offers one-on-one coaching, workshops, group sessions, and corporate well-being programmes.Maz also specialises in critical areas essential for professional success, including mental health support, burnout prevention, performance enhancement, and workplace wellness. She collaborates with thought leaders to foster a culture of wellness, focusing on transformative experiences that resonate deeply with her clients. Her mission is to empower others by unlocking their subconscious potential, ensuring transformative and lasting results for her clients.
