confidence

Some weeks ago, we began a short series on Career Direction. The tips in this series will help you to gain good clarity for career decisions, especially if it involves a major career change or advancement.

In the last post, we looked at the role of Prayer. Today, we’ll be addressing the topic of ‘Skills’. Taking stock of the skills that you have is a big deal when it comes to making career decisions.

A skill is a special ability or expertise that you acquire by formal or informal training and practice. It is the most important factor in any career. Your skills may come from the practice of your talent or natural ability or from deliberate learning.

There are three important ways that the knowledge of your skills will help you in your quest for career direction:

1. You will have an idea of just what you can do and where you fit in. The most basic requirement for any career or promotion is skill. If you know the skills that you have, you will know the kind of work you can do.

2. You will understand how and where you fit in the world of work. This way, you’ll have an idea of which direction to turn. You will increase your level of confidence. Skillfulness equals proficiency and competence. As you take stock of your proficiency in certain skills, you will become more confident in your abilities and what you have to offer a potential client, customer, employer or boss. This will help you as you take steps or make changes in your career.

3. You will know how to get better. Having an idea of what you can do will help you to make the right decisions on where to focus your development efforts. If you have a specific career in mind and you know the set of skills required for that career, knowing what you do have will help you to determine if you can be effective in that career. You will also know the specific skills you need to go and learn or acquire to help you to function optimally in your desired career.

There is hardly anyone without some kind of skill, regardless of its level of proficiency. Your technical skills and people skills combine to make you a unique individual and understanding them will help to make your career decisions easier. Next week, we’ll discuss ‘Opportunities’.

**I explore the subject of skills more deeply in my upcoming book Create Your Ideal Career. This book also contains an exercise that can help you to discover your skills and rate your level of proficiency in them. If you would like to get this book or you would like more information, please visit www.TinukemiOlaoye.com or send an email to services@tinukemiolaoye.com.

Confidence is a great thing. It gives you a winning edge in the work you do. Whether you’re a manager, a make-up artist or a marketer, confidence will take you places. When you display confidence, people are more likely to trust you with greater responsibility and better opportunities.

There are people who would rather not display any kind of confidence in their career for different reasons.

Some of them simply do not want more responsibilities or opportunities. As you may already know, this is self-sabotaging. If you do not have bigger opportunities, you will not grow personally or professionally. You will keep doing the same things over and over again, and it’s only a matter of time before you become quite redundant in the ever-changing world of work.

Some other people do not show any confidence because they do not want to be perceived as arrogant. There is a difference between arrogance and confidence. Arrogance has to with your comparison to other people. It makes you believe that you’re better than everyone else and cannot be corrected. Confidence, on the other hand, focuses on your knowledge of your own ability to get the work done or learn how to do it. It deals directly with you and your capabilities.
One way to develop more confidence at work is to sit down and take stock of your skills. Make a list of all the skills that you have, whether you derived them from a natural ability or by deliberate learning. Include your ‘hard skills’ and your ‘soft skills’.

Hard skills are the technical abilities and knowledge needed to perform specific tasks. Examples are: administrative skills, architectural skills, baking skills, event planning skills, graphic design skills, legal skills, teaching skills, web design skills, etc.

Soft skills are ‘people skills’ or ‘interpersonal skills’. These pertain to the way relate to the way you relate to and interact with other people. Examples are: team-building, negotiation skills, decision-making skills, networking skills, time-management skills, etc.

Knowledge is power. When you’re armed with the knowledge of the skills you have to offer to the world, your level of confidence will increase. Additionally, you will be able to make the right choices for your career and your life in general. You will be able to celebrate your uniqueness instead of wishing you were like someone else. You will understand that you, too, have something tangible to offer.

confidence

Seeking Career Direction: Skills

One Way to Develop More Confidence at Work