Confidence is an interesting topic. I come across as very confident in a couple of areas, even though I don’t perceive myself as confident in general.
I do know this: Confidence can’t live where fear dominates. Nobody can instantly become confident in anything, but we can teach ourselves to find areas or pockets of confidence, and that methodology can then be applied to anything. VERY few people lack at least one area where they feel confident, even if it’s just little things.
For example: lets say that you lack confidence in public speaking. I would argue that your response to someone who tells you to “just give it a go, whats the worst that can happen?!” is to want to punch them in the face. 🙂
(Don’t, btw. Not nice to hit people.)
However, if you instead break it down into smaller pieces, we can think about it in a different way.
Public speaking: you do it every time you talk to someone. And you can do that. So add on one more person, then 2 more. Than 5. And all of a sudden, a couple of weeks later, you can speak to 10. it won’t be easy. Reducing fear never is.
Remember that lack of confidence is often driven by fear, and fear usually gets reduced with exposure (sort of like shining a light under your bed when you were little).
And remember to take it one step at a time.