Do You Trust Yourself?

This question might seem like an obvious answer, “Of course I trust myself.” But do you really?

Self-trust has been found to be one of the most critical success factors to leading happy, and fulfilling personal, and professional lives. And it becomes an important part of our journey into leadership.

Traditionally, leadership was centred around control. At the top of the hierarchy you controlled the people, the resources, the assets, and the capital, without much backlash from anyone that you led. But over the last decade there has been a significant paradigm shift in the way we look at leadership and what is expected of a leader.

What new employees expect from leaders is an exchange. One where they give up their control in favour of trust that the leader is going to influence them in a way that helps them grow to achieve their goals both inside and outside of work. However, deciding to step up and lead others isn’t simply a matter of them trusting us, in order to gain trust we first need to trust ourselves. If we miss this crucial step of developing self-trust what happens is that we break down. We become overwhelmed by the simplest decisions and we start showing up inauthentically. While you might think it’s possible to fake it until you make it, inauthenticity shows through and your employees may not fully trust you.

So how do we begin our journey towards self-trust?

Building self-trust is a skill that we acquire through self-work, and learning.

It requires a deep understanding, and acceptance of who we are, and what we stand for, our why. It is a constant work in progress, involving ongoing analysis of the self, as well as the sharing and cultivation of insights with others. Much more than simple self-confidence, self-trust goes one step further as it is an integral part of who we are, how we define ourselves, and how we show up in our day-to-day lives.

If someone asked you right now 'what you most trust about yourself' - as an individual and a professional - would you immediately know the answer?

If not, here are 3 questions that can start you on the right path towards developing self-trust. The first thing you need to do is decide on 3-5 people in your network who you believe understand you at a core level. And then ask them these questions:

1. What core value do they associate with you, and why?

2. What do they wish they knew about you, and why?

3. What great leader does your leadership style most closely resemble, and why?

When you are operating from a place of self-trust, a place where you are so aware of what you stand for and against, you will find that the answers to these questions (not matter who you ask) will be quite similar.

Trusting yourself does require a degree of risk, and challenge. However, pushing through the fear and embracing your inner trust will bring the kind of abundance and opportunity you could only have previously dreamed of across all layers of your personal and professional life.

If this article has resonated with you and you want to explore this topic more deeply add your thoughts in the comments below or reach out by booking a FREE clarity call with me and we can talk a little more about how you can develop self-trust and unlock your full potential.