Page 104 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2019

the why
presented by South Mississippi Living magazine
THE ART OF
woman who
is ready from
her head to her
toes for her
business day can
still be missing
the most important
ingredient. How
does she acquire self-confidence and become comfortable in her own skin?
story by Lisa Toye Kaufman
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) website, self-confidence is defined as the degree to which a woman feels her actions will achieve beneficial results. An example, a basketball player shoots the ball, no matter how bad a shot,
and thinks it is going into the basket, otherwise she would not take the shot.
Inner confidence evolves because it gives a female an edge to begin a job without trepidation. The catalyst in bringing the function of self-confidence to life is the realization that a woman’s
actions influence her results. Accepting that she can influence the outcome
establishes a sense of control, initiating self-confidence. Teri Eaton, CLU, agent/
owner State Farm says, “We have times in our lives when
we are less confident than others, so you must dig down
deep inside. You go back
to where you started from,
asking yourself why you are doing what you do.
The why gives you the confidence.”
The NAWBO website publishes,
a self-confident woman grew up with an accurate
assessment of her abilities and
thus knew where she stood. This
allowed her to develop a strategy
to strengthen herself and to use
improvements to create a supportive
feedback loop to reduce anxiety when entering a taxing instant.
She has engaged in constructive visuals to grow internal confidence. The self-confident woman has a history of having lively, optimistic visualizations of herself in all sorts of moments from winning a beauty contest to running the country.
As a child, she perceived criticism
as information that could help
her develop. The result was an improvement in task performance and boost in self-confidence the next time she had to perform the job.
She matured with strong support systems and felt secure. Fear of failure became minimized and learning easier, when beginning a new endeavor. This allowed her to approach her stressful moments with a positive attitude.
The woman experienced a self- confidence building occasion that allowed her to believe she could accomplish it, perhaps getting a part
in the school play. Although this seems like a minute event, it was a powerful happening because it created feelings of inner confidence.
Self-confident women develop themselves by noting and celebrating their small successes and use them, probably subconsciously, to create encouraging expectations for more fruitful adventures.
A woman wanting to feel more self- confident needs to replicate these occurrences. In effect, she will be internalizing the essence of inner confidence. Eaton adds, “Perfect practice makes perfect. The confidence comes because you feel comfortable with your ability. Not arrogance. You’re comfortable with what you do and how you do it.”
104 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • September 2019
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