Things happen in life that affect how we feel about ourselves. Sometimes bad things happen in our lives that break us down and leave us feeling uncertain about our own self worth or our ability to do what’s hard and unknown. Other times, great things happen that reinforce the good thoughts we have about ourselves, making us certain that we can accomplish whatever we dream.
All of these thoughts play into how we perform as entrepreneurs. When things are great in your life and your confidence is through the roof, that can show in your business. Similarly, when things aren’t so great in your life or you just lack confidence, that shows up in your business too.
It’s important to be able to identify some of the ways that the lack of confidence can manifest itself so that you know how to identify it and address it. So let’s talk about a few ways that the lack of confidence can affect you in entrepreneurship.
1. You never take action.
When you lack confidence, you lack the ability to take action on your ideas. In fact, you may want to start a business that you haven’t started yet because you don’t believe in your ability to execute your idea effectively. You have goals, you have ambitions, but without confidence, you only dream and never actually go for it.
2. You second guess everything you do.
You may spend a lot of time second guessing your decisions. This makes you feel scattered, like you have no sense of direction. You overthink every decision you make which can make you inefficient or even cause you to end up back at #1, not taking action.
3. You’re unable to stay committed.
Commitment can be a sign of strong confidence in a situation. When you lack that commitment, it’s time to question how confident you feel about what you’re doing. The lack of confidence in a particular area will cause you to jump ship and retreat when things don’t seem to be going the way you want them to or when things get a little hard.
4. You take things too personal.
When someone is super sensitive about something, it’s usually a sign that they lack confidence in that particular situation. Taking things too personal in business is no different. In business, it’s usually not personal, so if someone won’t buy from you or isn’t showing support for you, don’t dwell on it. Rather than taking things personal, you could just make sure you have the right audience, the right message, and the right offer that compels people to buy.
5. You can’t take feedback.
One of the worst things that the lack of confidence can do to you is cause you to be completely oblivious to feedback from your audience, or — even worse — to get mad about criticism. Now, I know sometimes people complain for the sake of complaining or offer up opinions that hurt, but a confident entrepreneur doesn’t disregard negative feedback. It’s important to be able to listen to your customers about their experience and to make adjustments and improvements based on that feedback.
6. You miss out on great opportunities.
Low confidence can make you blind to all the doors of opportunity that are open around you. When your confidence is low, you don’t think you have the ability or the experience that you need to compete with or work with others in your field. Or you stay in the “I don’t want to put myself out there” mindset that impedes your growth.
7. You can’t stay focused.
Staying focused is hard when you lack confidence in yourself. Not believing that your actions will ever add up to anything worthwhile makes those actions seem invaluable in the moment. So everything becomes a distraction and keeps you from making progress on daily tasks or larger goals.