Identify those things that you know to be true of yourself.
We all need to have confidence in things that are true of us, if we become muddled between how we are and how we want to be at this stage, it becomes difficult to accurately identify areas for development later.
You are looking for things that you believe to be true of yourself.
You can start anywhere…
You love your children / partner / pet.
It’s important to you that you are polite.
You enjoying cleaning your house.
You grow your own flowers / veg.
Honesty is important to you.
It doesn’t matter what comes up here. These are things that, if challenged, you could and would defend.
You may find yourself with a long list of qualifications and, or experience, and yet still not feel confident. In this instance I would ask you, what those qualifications and, or experience give you, that can not be taken away, and that you use regularly.
In case you’re getting muddled between what is true to you and what you’d like to be true, challenge yourself to find evidence to support your thinking, and more difficult, challenge yourself to find evidence that you’re not. Most value will be gained from your honest assessment here, at the end of this exercise you will have created your case for believing something to be true of yourself, or not.
Many of these things will be true of you for your entire life, and some will change. Either can be ok.
Spend sometime this week reviewing this list and clarifying those statements that are true of you.
e.g.
I am honest.
I love my children.
I am committed to helping others.
You will notice that I am not asking you to see what others say, that’s because your confidence exists, how ever strong it is, in you. Others might be able to provide evidence to support your statements or challenge them. What’s important to remember is that other people will always have an opinion, and some of them might be important to you, it’s for you to decide whether that opinion is supported by evidence and whether it, therefore, alters your self perception.
