Confidence is all important. Confidence in yourself will influence how people see you, and the extent to which they trust you both as an individual, and as a part of a team. If you can put aside self-doubt, and mistrust, and stop thinking that you 'can't do this or can't do that, you are on your way to self-confidence and success. Some people are just born oozing self-confidence, others develop it as they grow up and develop specific skills and abilities and establish their life path. For others, however, it's something that needs to be worked on as an adult. This may be because they have too often been told that they are useless, incapable, etc. They may have been unfortunate enough to have overbearing parents or older siblings or perhaps been bullied at school or by others in the neighborhood. It can be hard to unlearn those views of yourself that have probably been internalized over many years. However, it is always, always worth shedding self-doubt and re-learning about your self-worth. There are lots of ways that you can achieve this. Self-hypnosis, using affirmation,s, and neurolinguistic programming techniques are all possible aids to learning self-confidence. For all of them, however, you first of all need to understand that we, as humans, are programmed. Our brain and our conscious subconsciouses minds operate very effectively. If you pile into the brain statements about how useless we are, then the brain will effectively fill our data bank with this detail. If we ensure that our brain is told that we are able, can learn, and can achieve, then our data bank will reflect this. If we then ask ourselves 'what sort of person am I', it is the data in the brain that will give us the answer. So a data bank full of positive information will give positive answers. Opening the channel to the subconscious is the key to internalizing the data. Try playing a tape or CD of affirmations when you are just about to go to sleep. Your brain has told your conscious mind that it's time to sleep - which is an example of self-hypnosis. So your conscious mind switches off, and your subconscious mind is receptive. This is the technique used to hypnotize people. When a hypnotist tells you that you are feeling sleepy and your eyes are closing, and you will listen to what is being said - this is exactly what you will do. Your subconscious mind will accept the information it receives, and any instructions it receives. So you can be hypnotized into believing that you are a mouse, a dog, a horse, etc. Equally, you can be convinced that you are sensible, capable, able, and confident. Self-hypnosis is really about learning how to open the door to your subconscious mind, and transmit the information that you want -just the same way that someone else would do. Using tapes or CDs is a good way of receiving the information you want. U sing affirmations are effective and can be done anywhere and anytime. F first thing in the morning, while you are getting ready in the bathroom, look at yourself in the mirror and repeat your affirmations. For example: -I am a confident and capable person. I am an achiever and will be successful. I work hard and deserve to succeed. I find solutions when there are problems. I am goal-oriented and successful. R repeating affirmations, whatever they are, have to be done regularly, and with belief in what you are saying. Self-confidence is the key to learning new skills, progressing in your work and home life, and the foundation of all self-development.