Sum up your confidence to move forward

There are points in your lives when you may feel stuck to move forward because you don't trust yourself. You might doubt your abilities or skills. You might make excuse that this is not the right time. You might think that you don't have the necessary resources. Or you may feel that your family would not support you. No matter what is going on in your head, if you are not thinking how to get where you want to go, but what stops you from getting there, it might be a great idea to start with a boost on your self-confidence.

The force-field analysis for enhancing self-confidence

Step 1. Initial assessment

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is "not confident" and 10 is "100% confident", where do you find yourself at the moment?

Step 2. Identification of self-confidence driving and restraining forces

• Draw a vertical line. 
• Thinking of the result you have just scored for your self-confidence, start listing on the left side of line all the driving forces that make you feel confident. Rank each of them in congruence with the strength of their influence you feel right now.
• Next, think what keeps you away from the score of 10; list on the right side all the restraining forces that stay on your way to being fully confident that you can identify. Rank each of them in congruence with the strength of their influence you feel right now.
• Go back to the left column. Start thinking on all other factors that make you feel confident in general but are not present in this particular case. List them below your driving forces with rank 0.

Step 3. Build a strategy
Now that you have a clear picture of what enhances your self-confidence and what keeps it from further enhancement, start thinking of strategy that would enhance the power of your driving forces. This may include:

• strengthening existing driving forces; 
• activating driving forces that are not currently having an influence in your confidence field analysis, but in general boost your confidence;
• removing restraining forces or diminishing their influence on your confidence field;
• transforming a restraining force into driving force.

Step 4. Action plan

Develop an action plan to implement your strategy. Identify what resources or support you need on the way. Don't ignore the small steps. They could lead to something big.

Step 5. Start right now

What is one thing you can do right now to win a point from the restraining forces and add it to your driving forces? Do it! And celebrate your first win!