Building Self Belief skills as a Young Professional This presentation aims to help young people better understand the ways we can build our self belief skills, why having good self belief skills are important and how we all can build and develop our self belief skills throughout our lives.

What is self belief? Self belief is about confidence and building your confidence! Nobody feels confident 100% of the time, everyone doubts themselves sometimes! Let’s explore three skills that can help you: Positive attitude : Your attitude is all to do with how you act. Having a positive attitude means you try to see the good side of things and you are willing to make an effort. Motivation: is that thing inside that keeps you going and wanting to do your best. Have you got the urge deep inside to achieve, grow and keep moving forward? Resilience: is all about how you deal with setbacks. Learning from them, moving on and trying again Self doubt is OK, in fact it is normal, but it should not the norm, the defacto standard. Young people should be inspired and motivated by their skills and ability and all of the exciting opportunities ahead of them. Really seeing themselves as Young Professionals can give them a new power to have the best attitude and motivation.

Why having self belief matters You can never really know what life is going to bring your way but being motivated, remaining positive and being resilient are your tools for confidently dealing with whatever comes your way - that’s self belief! Self belief can give you the tools to get through difficult projects, challenging times with friends, tricky new sports shots or keep you progressing in work As life tests us all it is our self belief that helps us to keep on going and find the good stuff. We all faces challenges and adversity, so it's crucial to build up young people's self belief. If they believe they can overcome anything and are motivated to be successful then they start out on the best path. Share an example you might have

Self belief in education, work and life Exams, coursework, job hunting, work deadlines and challenges….. It is all coming your way. What helps us stay focused is often our motivation to have a good life, our desire to be the best we can be and knowing that we can handle any situation. As you move from education into employment the challenges change, but look around you and watch who of your colleagues seem to believe in themselves that little bit more and how it helps them to succeed. Some people seem to have self belief in bucket loads, teachers, business owners, celebrities. Have no doubt that they all have moments of self doubt, but what makes them stand out is their ability to get over it and get on with their jobs or the tasks ahead of them.

Set some goals How do we test self belief if we don’t know what we are aiming for? You might not know what job it is you want when you leave education, but how about imagining the life you want to live, holidays or houses you might want. . , . That might all seem like a long way off but what about being player of the match in your next sports game or getting a higher score in your next essay. . Having a plan will keep you motivated, dealing with the setbacks will help you to be more resilient, achieving the steps along the way will grow a positive attitude Supporting young people to set realistic and measureable goals is crucial, use the STARR technique detailed on our site. When you have a goal and are able to visualise it and the steps to get there the motivation and positive attitude follow.

Develop your skills - Top Tips Reward yourself when you have done something really well or achieved a goal. It is important to recognise your success! When things are not going to plan remember to not beat yourself up and give the situation a rethink. You might need to shift your goals or come at the problem in a different way, but building resilience is key. Help other people, sometimes this is the best way to boost your own self belief, find an activity or project you can support that will make a real difference to someone else. Resilience, positivity and motivation are key skills that make up our self belief. Be sure to highlight opportunities to help your young people nurture these skills.How do you reward yourself?

Practice like a Young Professional There are so many ways for you to practice - Start by setting your self some goals and make sure you reward yourself for passing them Think about volunteering or fundraising as an opportunity to show your self belief Seek opportunities to learn new things and build new skills Take the time to think about your strengths and weaknesses and ways you can develop both further Identify some opportunities for the young people you are working with to develop their skills in your setting or a setting they are familiar with (volunteering, youth clubs, sports, National Citizen Service etc). Make sure that you and the colleagues you work with recognise it when the young people you work with use good self belief skills. Recognising and praising good skill use will help them to know they are doing something well and boost their confidence. Ensure that the young people you are working with register as a Young Professional Member and have the time to complete the weekly challenges and explore some of the articles on the site to help boost their skills.

Next Steps: Sign up to be a Young Professional at Youth Employment UK Read more about self belief skills and how you can develop them on the Young Professional Members pages. Undertake the Youth Employment UK weekly skills challenge. Ensure that the young people you are working with register as a Young Professional Member and have the time to complete the weekly challenges and explore some of the articles on the site to help boost their skills. http://www.youthemployment.org.uk/young-professional-training/