Did you attend or view the recording of the webinar I presented in February on 4 Confidence Boosts to Reach Your Full Potential? If so, you probably left with lots of ideas and a bunch of good intentions. Then you got busy, and life happened.

Now, several months later, you realize you’ve done nothing to increase your level of confidence. Oh dear! You are likely not alone. Many of us have good intentions. Intentions, however, are just something you mean to do. Intentions alone don’t change anything. It is essential that take the next step if you want to see a difference.

Are you ready now to take the next step? Let’s get started!

A lack of confidence

First, let’s do a quick review about confidence and how it impacts our lives. We may feel doubtful, hesitant or unsure about doing something such as speaking up, writing a report, applying for a new position or addressing a conflict. That fear stops us. We feel a lack of confidence, so we don’t act, and, therefore, we are often not reaching our full potential.

The 4 confidence hacks

On the webinar, I shared 4 confidence hacks. These are things you can do to boost your confidence so that you can reach your full potential. To recap, they were:

1. Know you can

Increasing your competence in certain areas helps you to feel more confident. To feel more competent, you might take training, read a book or watch some videos.

2. Believe you can

To feel confident you need to have the right attitude. Your unconscious thoughts may be very discouraging. It is crucial that you work on your mind chatter. You must learn to trust yourself, and have faith in your abilities.

3. Act like you can

We often make the mistake of waiting to feel confident before we take something on. The truth is, you need to start with courage and just take a step even if you don’t feel confident. Confidence will follow after you’ve had some experience.

4. Stand like you can

The way we hold our body profoundly impacts our level of confidence. Get in the habit of rolling your shoulders back, lifting your chin up and standing or sitting a bit taller. The changes the chemistry inside of you that tells your body and mind everything is ok, and you can handle what’s coming at you.

Moving from intention to action

Maybe you left the webinar thinking about signing up for a course that would help you feel more competent, thus increasing your confidence. Perhaps you realized that your inner critic needs to be told to quiet down more often and you need to be more aware of your limiting beliefs. You may also have felt the surge of inspiration to something a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Perhaps you initially started to be more aware of your body posture but didn’t keep paying attention. You had good intentions, but you did not follow through.

We’ve all done it. We go to training and get pumped up. Then 97% of it is soon forgotten. That’s pretty normal. The challenge is, you may still be struggling with a lack of confidence. So now, the question becomes what to do.

If you want to move from good intentions to an increase in your confidence level that you can clearly feel, then you need to make a plan. To boost your confidence so that you can reach your full potential, you need to create a plan on how to do that. Then you need to work the plan!

5 steps for creating a plan to boost your confidence

1. Watch or re-watch the webinar. Refresh your mind on what could work for you to boost your confidence.

2. Schedule at least an hour to plan. You need an interruption-free time to focus on you!

3. Identify the place you want to start working. Is it your thoughts or do you need to develop some skills?

4. Create a goal for yourself with action steps and a timeline. Be clear about what you can do in the next 30 days. The smaller and more defined the goals and the shorter the timelines, the more successful you will be.

5. Review and begin again. Schedule time again in 30 days (do this now or trust me, you will put it off) Look at what you accomplished and then plan the next steps.

Examples of confidence plans:

To get you started, here are some examples:

1. Increased confidence at small talk

• I am going to buy a book on networking by the end of this week.
• I commit to reading it for 15 minutes a day for two weeks.
• I will use the strategies I learn at the next board meeting I attend on the 28th.

2. Increase my confidence in my leadership

• I will work on becoming more aware of my limiting beliefs and change them to thoughts that are encouraging me.
• I will journal for 10 minutes each day noting my thoughts around my ability to lead. I will re-write the self-limiting thoughts to more positive thoughts (OMG, I don’t know how…to…I will figure it out with the help of my team).

3. Increased confidence at fundraising

• I will watch a CharityVillage Webinar on Fundraising by the 15th.
• I will be brave and set an agenda item with my boss at our meeting on the 20th to talk about the ideas I came up with even though I won’t feel completely confident about the topic.

4. Increase confidence with that difficult person (you know, that person that always makes you feel small!)

• I will practice Power Posing before I go into the team meeting on Thursday (Power Posing is a way to shift your body posture to increase your confidence. Learn more in Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk here).
• I will put a note on the top of my notebook in my meeting that reminds me to watch my posture during the meeting.

When you leave things up to chance, there are no guarantees. If you want to be sure to increase how confident you will feel in 30 days, you need to make a plan and take action. Boost your confidence by increasing your competence, managing your thoughts, being brave and standing taller. When you work the plan, you’ll see the results!

Kathy is a leadership coach for women who want to strengthen their leadership & find balance in life. She mentors women as they rediscover their purpose, passion, and persistence for life while dealing with office politics, jerk bosses and the challenges of family life. Kathy gives her ladies the hope and inspiration they need along with a kick in the pants to make positive changes in their lives. Discover more in Kathy’s book Mastering Confidence: Discover Your Leadership Potential by Awakening Your Inner Guidance System.