YOUR CONFIDENCE - Talk About Talk

As you know, my passion is helping others improve their communication skills. A huge part of that is building CONFIDENCE.

Effective communication fuels your confidence
and confidence fuels your communication!

This week I’m really excited to share a few things to help you become a more confident communicator!

Read on for…

3 things to Talk About this week:

1️⃣Confidently establishing yourprofessional identity
2️⃣ Taking the stress out of speaking up
3️⃣ May 21-Day Confidence Challenge

1️⃣ Establishing Your Professional Identity

Last week I shared my 3-point elevator pitch checklist. Today I want to delve a little deeper into the third point: establishing your PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY.

What exactly is a professional identity? Simply put, your professional identity is your PERSONAL BRAND, filtered for a professional or career context.

Certainly, your professional identity includes your job title and your employer.

But it’s more than that! Your professional identity also includes your discipline, your function, plus your strengths, passions, and your style!

You can think of your professional identity as the unique value you bring to a project.

Knowing your unique value is half the battle. The other half is knowing how to communicate it without reciting your resume!

We are all sophisticated, complicated humans. There are so many things we can share. It’s almost overwhelming. So what do we do? We FILTER.

In a professional context, we filter to focus on our careers. We also filter to focus on the person with whom we’re communicating. Remember: it’s about them, not you!

2️⃣ Taking the Stress Out of Speaking Up

Do you ever feel anxious when it comes to speaking up in meetings? If so, you’re not alone. The fear of public speaking is very common, even for self-proclaimed extroverts who thrive on social interaction.

Since April is National Stress Awareness Month, it seems like an ideal time to talk about a few things that can help you manage the stress and anxiety of speaking up:

#1 Be Prepared – Know the agenda and materials inside out, and write out your comments or questions in advance.

#2 Breathe – Concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths. By focusing on your physical state you can help calm your mental state. Bonus tip: focus on slowing your exhale. It’s magic!

#3 Redefine “Speaking Up” – You don’t need to contribute a brilliant original idea to make an impact. Sometimes speaking up can be asking a question, or building on what a colleague has said.

Interested in learning more? Download a free copy of the 10 Strategies for Speaking Up tipsheet!

3️⃣ May 21-Day Confidence Challenge

Here’s an opportunity for you to change some habits and boost your confidence. You’ll also be able to network with other women who are doing the same!

I’m thrilled to team up with my friend Christina Greenberg, Founder and President of Scala Network, for the Scala Connects May 21-Day Confidence Challenge!

image shows a red coffee cup, a pen, and a napkin with the text, "gain more self confidence"

This challenge is designed to help get you out of your comfort zone, build confidence, and kick imposter syndrome to the curb. It’s also for ladies only.

Here’s what you get:

Two LIVE online group coaching workshops with Christina and me.
21 days of prompts (tips & exercises) to challenge you to boost your confidence.
Access to a private group chat to share questions and ideas.

Hope to see you there!
Click HERE for more information.

There you go – when it comes to building our CONFIDENCE, here are 3 things to Talk About this week:

1. establishing your professional identity
2. 3 ways to take the stress out of speaking up, and
3. a confidence challenge.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me or message me on LinkedIn. You can also leave me an audio question here. I love hearing from you.

Talk soon,