Читать книгу Real Confidence - Magazine Psychologies - Страница 4
INTRODUCTION
ОглавлениеYou might be surprised to know this, but buying a book about confidence is in fact a sign of confidence. At Psychologies magazine we believe that confidence begins with self-awareness, knowing exactly who you are and how you are in different life situations.
Right now you’ve identified that finding real confidence is what you need. Perhaps you might be aware that chronic low confidence is at the root of all your problems. Or perhaps you lack confidence in one particular area in your life – maybe you shine at work but want to disappear behind the curtains at social events. There might be just one particular fear like public speaking that you’d like to find the confidence for.
Whatever your reasons are for buying this book, one thing is for sure: you’re not alone. Although there aren’t any official statistics on people suffering from lack of confidence we know that it’s a huge preoccupation for people. We know this from our readership research, from what psychologists, psychotherapists, life coaches and all the experts we talk to tell us. We know that people are Googling confidence, self-confidence, how to be confident and every variation. That’s why we decided to create this book for you, providing all the latest research and the best expert knowledge in one handy book. We’ve done the research for you and formulated our philosophy so that you have a clear understanding of what to do next.
What we hope this book will do for you is help you understand what confidence really is while showing you how to develop confidence for real. Understanding why you lack confidence is of course important, but we’re not going to dwell on that too much. We believe it’s good to understand why we are the way we are, but we know that you’ve bought this book because you want to leave the past behind and become the best you. If you didn’t believe this was possible, you wouldn’t be reading this – and that in itself is a sign of confidence.
You’ve probably read or been told that you should fake it until you make it, that you should act confident. But think of your favourite actors and why you love them and one of the main reasons is that whichever character they play they are totally believable. They don’t appear to be ‘acting’.
Our approach to confidence is based on not acting. We want you to feel relaxed in absolutely any situation and accept who you are. We want to show you that confidence has nothing to do with any type of personality and that what you may think of as confidence is often a fake front, arrogance or narcissism. And that’s not the person you want to be. Having a go at what you find difficult, slowly trying and going step by baby step, staying on track, being patient and focused on developing different skills is what real confidence is.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
We’ve divided this book into three parts (How Confident Are You? Why Do You Lack Confidence? How Can You Learn to be Confident?). In Part 1 you’ll gain a sense of how low your confidence really is by understanding the true meaning of confidence. You may indeed discover you’re not so bad after all. In Part 2 you’ll explore why you are the way you are, which will help you move on. Finally, in Part 3 we have lots of practical advice. To help you take immediate action we also have confidence boosters throughout the book so that you can work on your confidence immediately.
At the end of the first five chapters there are tests that will help you assess yourself. There are also key ‘Ask Yourself’ questions at the end of each chapter for you to reflect on so that you can relate each chapter to your personal experience. You will also find case studies, who are all real people (with names and identifying circumstances changed). Their journeys will help you see how it’s possible to overcome low confidence.
We interviewed two psychologists, two acting coaches, two life coaches and one neuroscientist, all of them top of their fields, and the best experts on confidence. Instead of just one perspective we wanted to tackle every aspect and show you how experts from different areas converge. We wanted to create a Psychologies perspective on Real Confidence that is multidimensional, giving you an all-round, thorough approach. We hope that through this you are able to stop seeing lack of confidence as a problem that is an obstacle to your happiness.
OUR EXPERTS
Annie Ashdown, Harley Street business and personal development coach, clinical hypnotherapist, and intuitive
Ashdown’s clients include CEOs, lawyers, entrepreneurs, diplomats, doctors, corporate employees, top achievers in business, celebrities and teenagers.
She is the author of Doormat Nor Diva Be – How to Take Back Control of your Life and Relationships (Infinite Ideas) and The Confidence Factor – 7 Secrets of Successful People (Crimson Publishing).
@Annie_Ashdown
Dr Ilona Boniwell, founder of the European Network of Positive Psychology, head of the International MSc in Applied Positive Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University (UK and France) and head of training consultancy Positran
Boniwell has been involved in helping the government of Bhutan develop a framework for happiness-based public policy. She has contributed to, edited and written several books. Her latest as an author is Oxford Handbook of Happiness (Oxford University Press) and positive psychology tools, such as Strength Cards and The Happiness Box (Positran).
Dawn Breslin, life coach, TV presenter and author
Breslin’s extensive TV work includes presenter and confidence-building expert for GMTV, and presenter for Discovery Channel’s Life Coach Series. She helps people from all walks of life repair their self-esteem and rebuild their confidence.
She is the author of three books, Zest for Life, Super Confidence and The Power Book (Hay House) and was a consultant on Lorraine Kelly’s book, Real Life Solutions (Century).
@DawnBreslin01
Dr Nitasha Buldeo, research scientist in biophysiology
Buldeo is qualified in health sciences and psychology, neuroscience, nutrition and NLP. As a product-innovator and entrepreneur she has been awarded scholarships from the UK Department of Trade and Industry to study at the Kellogg School of Management in Chicago, USA. She was also awarded a scholarship at business school, Cranfield School of Management.
@NitashaBuldeo
Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Psychologist and Professor of Business Psychology at University College London and Columbia University, CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems (psychological profiling)
Chamorro-Premuzic advises clients in financial services, media, consumer, fashion and government and appears regularly on news channels including the BBC, CNN and Sky. He is the author of eight books, including his latest Confidence: The Surprising Truth About How Much You Need and How to Get It (Profile Books).
@drtcp
Niki Flacks, award-winning veteran Broadway actress, director, acting/corporate training coach, psychologist, therapist, founder of the Bergerac Company
Flacks, also a former assistant professor in theatre at Southern Methodist University, fuses psychology and neuroscience to help actors handle nerves and create authentic characters. Her flagship programme for corporations is Power Talk, which trains employees in overcoming fear of public speaking. She is the author of Acting with Passion (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama).
@NikiFlacksAct
Patsy Rodenburg OBE, Head of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, leadership coach
Rodenburg was former Head of Voice at the Royal National Theatre, and works with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court, the Donmar and Almeida theatres, as well as A-list stars. She travels all over the world coaching business leaders, athletes and politicians. She is the author of five books including Presence (Penguin).
