I was thinking earlier today how much self-confidence can help you accomplish so much. Every time I allowed self doubt to take over, I've usually screwed up and missed out on something great. Now when I say self-confidence, I'm not talking about being stuck on myself and think I'm all that and a bag of chips. No. I'm referring to talking with moderate intelligence about what you're doing or want to do.
Whenever I had a reason to talk with a group of 20 to 100 people, I've usually been prepared. By being prepared, with a little speech or outline of what I plan to talk about, I rarely get nervous. I'm more apt to go into autopilot and when it's over with can't remember what I said. Later I'll ask someone how I did and they would say fine, that I didn't look nervous at all and my voice was clear and at the perfect level. That's always a relief. Too many times I've felt sorry for some of our presenters. We've had a few who would mumble, keep their eyes down and read off their notes (for the whole speech), use filler sounds (er, ah, uh, etc.) or include the filler phrase like "you know."
At work, I've had the occasion of talking to a group on the spur of the moment. Thankfully I know my job well enough that I don't have a problem with it. Besides, most of my friends know I enjoy positive attention and I do work in a man's field.
So I guess being aware of what you're doing and being informed are the keys to being self-confident.
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