Self-confidence is a virtue linked to everything people want in life, like success at work, good relationships, a positive sense of self, and happiness. With the help of the Self Confidence Workbook, readers are able to build confidence and accomplish their dreams by developing their self-esteem. Readers understand why self-confidence is crucial, as explained in the book, and how the information from the book can impact their lives. Self-confidence is essential since it helps people live better lives by ensuring that they are highly motivated, have no fear and anxiety, are resilient, set better goals, and get rid of stress.
Book
I chose Markway and Ampel’s (2018) Self Confidence Workbook because it gives a sense of how confident a person is and sets a baseline. In effect, one can measure growth and purpose on how to overcome life challenges. The book consists of two parts: setting the stage and strategies. The two parts are made of eight chapters: understanding self-confidence, setting goals and getting started, practicing acceptance, calm one’s body, working with one’s thoughts, working with one’s beliefs, facing one’s fears, and moving forward. These chapters epitomize the essence of self-confidence in one’s life.
Self-confidence has numerous benefits, including developing greater motivation, improved relationships, less fear, and anxiety. According to Markway and Ampel (2018), confidence boosters such as loyalty and persistence can benefit students when performing to the best of their abilities. Markaway and Ampel (2018) postulate that, “as your confidence grows, you’ll find yourself more driven to stretch your abilities” (p.28). As such, confidence allows people to have a realistic view of their strengths and weaknesses because self-confidence increases while self-doubt decreases.
Topics of Interests
The book stresses the setting of goals, which results in positive outcomes by capitalizing on a plan. Characteristics of a plan include realistic, values-driven, and are specific (Markaway & Ampel, 2018). Students should dream deeper when setting goals and learn how to break them into doable pieces. Reality can force people to change desires in the future, and there is a need to be specific on the goals set and aim at achieving them.
Accepting weaknesses and imperfections is essential in life and can help develop self-confidence. Essentially, “you’ll be able to accept your weaknesses, knowing they don’t change your self-worth. You’ll also be able to celebrate your strengths and use them more fully” (Markaway & Ampel, 2018, p.29). Shortcomings arise from different angles like lack of information or lack of practice. When training a team towards a specific goal, all team members may differ in terms of goals and values. Even so, uniqueness in customs such as being talkative or shy makes members understand each other and create self-confidence.
Collaboration
Other researchers collaborate on the significance of self-confidence. Verma (2017) agrees with Markaway and Ampel’s (2018) assertions. According to Verma (2017), higher academic achievers possess a higher level of self-confidence when compared to the low academic achievers. Verma (2017) reveals that self-confidence boosters such as knowledge and wisdom can be helpful to students in tackling situations without depending on others for help which corroborates with Markway and Ampel’s (2018) book. Also, Markway and Ampel (2018) and Verma (2017) reveal that fear and anxiety can influence self-confidence in students hence perceiving their environment as dangerous. Students may live in fear of being judged by others, leading to wrong decision-making, which results in emotional suffering. Verma (2017) postulates that self-confident students are optimistic, competent, and have good leadership qualities, which corroborates Markway and Ampel’s (2018) book. For instance, both Markway and Ampel (2018) and Verma (2017) highlight that self-confidence gives students a sense of control over their lives, allows them to set goals and plan, and become successful in their studies. Factors such as stress make students feel out of control hence undermining their self-confidence. Students should minimize emotional suffering such as stress and relax their bodies to control the way people think about situations and fix them (Verma, 2017).
Practice Application
In conclusion, the information from the book will positively affect my personal life since the lesson from the “Acceptance of Weaknesses and Imperfection” applies to my daily life. Self-acceptance is an important principle to adopt in my life since it serves as a foundation for the rest of the confidence skills. I have to set goals to achieve the best out of my potential.
References
Markway, B. G., & Ampel, C. (2018). The self-confidence workbook: A guide to overcoming self-doubt and improving self-esteem. Althea.
Verma, E. (2017). Self-confidence among university students: An empirical study. International Journal of Applied Research, 3(7): 447-449. Web.