Any measure of confidence is by its nature pretty subjective. Other people may form an opinion about how confident you are based on your outside appearance and actions, but only you can know for sure what you feel like on the inside – what you believe to be true, and what it’s like to be you.

Your confidence level is different according to the time and place. If you think back ten years to a younger you, you probably realise that your confidence has grown since then according to the experiences you have faced, knowing that you have lived to tell the tale. How confident you feel differs in various situations, and may well fluctuate from day to day and week to week according to what’s happening at work and at home. There may be areas where you’ve taken a risk, or suffered a loss, for example, and your confidence has dropped.

If you’ve been unwell and have taken on too much work, your confidence level may dip and wobble. Yet when you’re well and have a sense of completing your work, you may feel as if you can conquer the world. Think of your confidence as a pair of old-fashioned scales – it’s a delicate balancing mechanism and anything, even something feather light, may tip it either way unexpectedly.

Make change easy on yourself. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Allow yourself time and space to improve. Lots of smaller steps are often more realistic and maintainable compared to giant leaps for mankind.

When you act with confidence, you are likely to have a good selection of these ten qualities:

1. Motivation: You are motivated by and enjoy what you do. In fact, you’re likely to get so engrossed in what you’re doing that nothing distracts you.
2. Emotional stability: You have a calm and focused approach to how you are yourself and how you are with other people as you tackle challenges. You notice difficult emotions such as anger and anxiety, but you work with them rather than letting them overcome you.
3. A positive mind-set: You have the ability to stay optimistic and see the bright side even when you encounter setbacks. You hold positive regard for yourself as well as other people.
4. Self-awareness: You know what you are good at, how capable you feel, and how you look and sound to others. You also acknowledge that you are a human being, and you don’t expect to be perfect.
5. Flexibility in behaviour: You adapt your behaviour according to circumstance. You can see the bigger picture as well as paying attention to details. You take other people’s views on board in making decisions.
6. Eagerness to develop: You enjoy stretching yourself, treating each day as a learning experience, rather than acting as if you are already an expert with nothing new to find out. You take your discoveries to new experiences.
7. Health and energy: You’re in touch with your body, respect it, and have a sense that your energy is flowing freely. You manage stressful situations without becoming ill.
8. A willingness to take risks: You have the ability to act in the face of uncertainty – and put yourself on the line even when you don’t have the answers or all the skills to get things right.
9. A sense of purpose: You have an increasing sense of the coherence of the different parts of your life. You have chosen a theme or purpose for your life.

You can use these indicators to help figure out where you are stuck in life because you lack the confidence to move on. Moving out of that feels like escaping from treading in treacle.

Go to www.yourmostconfidentself.com for self analysis about your confidence level.