Building Self Confidence and Self Belief

My name is Estera, and this is a glimpse into my msfdn journey so far. I’m a content creator apprentice. We create a range of content for various platforms. All duties vary depending on their niche, platform and audience.

Self-confidence is a powerful and essential quality that greatly influences our lives. For a long time, I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to pursue and that greatly affected my self-confidence. However, after exploring a few fields I was interested in I found one which stuck. The marketing industry. It was like a click in my brain, it sparked an instant interest. I started interpreting it into my day job and from then I was desperate to get into the industry and learn more. At this point my self-confidence was up, I was approaching life differently. My mindset was positively changed and I gained resilience, a sense of self-worth and personal growth. Before my apprenticeship at msfdn people always told me I have potential and I never understood until I realised I could be good at something. Building my self-confidence made me realise I do have potential. Understanding my potential was a powerful source of motivation. Now that I recognise what I’m capable of I can set goals and work diligently to achieve them.

Ever since I can remember my interests have always been creative. From cooking, acting and fashion. I’ve always dreamed of working with influential people from a variety of creative backgrounds like Coco Chanel, Calvin Klein, Kylie Jenner and Christian Dior. All these people have been overly successful and have a huge influence over our society. I’d like to be a part of an influential movement/ project that’ll have a positive effect on our society. I’ve always wanted to influence the younger generations to pursue their dreams and go out of their comfort zone to achieve something they want but still be approachable to give out guidance they might need. As I grow older my priorities have shifted and I value my career over anything else. My success is something I want to share with my friends and family. My success is their success. I want to repay them for pushing me to reach my potential even when I didn’t believe in myself. I’ve become more self-aware in finding ways I can fulfil my dreams. The people at msfdn started their career path before me however, they never made me feel like I have less experience. My colleague casually told me ‘ ‘If I can do it, so can you”.

Putting yourself out there

Before msfdn I was a waitress at a restaurant local to me, I really enjoyed working there but it wasn’t enough to fulfil my creative interests. I started pitching marketing ideas to my boss and he agreed as he needed the help. We worked on social media plans together to build a platform that’d attract customers. This was way out of my comfort zone and took me a while to go along with it, but I knew it was the first step in the right direction. After his approval I felt a sense of validation and investigated apprenticeships in the marketing industry. I believe that was the push I needed to be where I am today. This was a boost of self-confidence that I needed to accept the apprenticeship at msfdn. All though everyone was very welcoming I wasn’t sure I’d fit in or even be useful to them, but I feel like I’m learning everyday and now the future excites me whereas before I’d be a worry to me.

Leap of faith

Accepting this apprenticeship was a big leap of faith for me as I’ve never worked in this industry before and didn’t really know what to expect. My parents always pushed me to go into further education after sixth form but that was never my plan. I never believed university could benefit me the way this apprenticeship has. I wanted the practical experience right from the start and accelerate my learning-by-learning industry-specific knowledge that employers value. Taking this leap of faith has taught me to always follow your gut and it’s never too late to change your career path or learn something new. Here at msfdn I feel like my skill set can grow and so can I, professionally and personally.

It’s all about self-confidence and self-belief

Self-confidence is all about finding yourself and realising your potential. This is a journey and won’t happen overnight because with ambition comes hard work. You shouldn’t wait around for a trend in the media to validate you, you are capable of achieving greatness the way you are. “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. I’ve learnt to accept myself for the way I am and stopped worrying about what everyone else thinks of me. This way of thinking has made me live a happier and efficient life. I’m comfortable to pursue my dreams without worrying about the judgement of others.

No more excuses

In order to find self-confidence and self-belief you need to stop making excuses. No one is more important than you. Put yourself first and make that first step. Stop comparing yourself to others, this creates a negative impact on your growth and mindset. Excuses and negative thoughts will only set you back, find what makes you unique and special and embrace it. This journey is all about you and making the most of yourself. We all have different timelines for when things are supposed to happen it’s never too late! We never stop learning throughout our whole life span. Don’t let your impatience destroy your ambition. Pushing things too hard without preparation could backfire on you and set you back. Enthusiasm and authenticity will take you places in your career.

6 top tips:

• These are the top tips I believe are critical to building self-confidence and self- belief…
  Be 100% Yourself
• Appreciate others around you and try to learn skills from there as well as teach them what you know. Don’t be afraid to help them grow as they do the same for you.
• Take your time and trust the process.
• If you don’t put 100% of your heart and soul into something, then it might not be for you, and you will never be able to unlock your full potential.
• Reflect on your journey: where you are and where you’re going.
• Speak about how passionate you are about your interests, if you can’t do them every day or do it for a living,
• you’ll never be completely happy.
• Find something you can’t live without and run for it, go for it, and never say no.