Confidence is like a group of muscles, which you need to develop and strengthen.
Let’s continue this excellent* analogy, for speaking confidence in particular:
1.) Conversations. A bit like running, in that they maintain overall speaking fitness and stamina. You may find that you’ve had fewer of these during the lockdown.
2.) Talking in meetings. The speaking equivalent of free weights, this can be more of an effort, but allows you to develop certain areas of speaking, such as your intro, humour and audience engagement.
3.) Presentations. Similar to barbells in that they require a lot of preparation and effort, and for your abilities to be at maximum. Also, if you fail to execute it properly, you might damage your confidence and need to build it back up again.
* unoriginal
It basically comes down to discipline. Buying that book on confidence is the same as buying that gym membership; a well-intentioned action that will probably go nowhere. You may realise that what will build your confidence most effectively is a personal trainer, in the form of a coach, mentor or trusted colleague.
Get your confidence gear** on. Get exercising!
** OK, perhaps the analogy has been stretched a little far, but you know what I mean.
(Image by William Stitt on Unsplash.com)