What's Stopping You? Being More Confident

A prescriptive, commonsense approach to self-confidence and success With his bestselling book, What's Stopping You, Robert Kelsey helped thousands of people conquer their fear of failure and unlock their full potential in life.  Now Robert is applying his unique approach to the subject of confidence. According to Robert, it’s not something that can simply be injected into us through motivational exercises and positive thinking. What's Stopping You…Being More Confident? highlights the key reasons why you might be lacking confidence in the first place, what causes self-doubt or makes you feel less able than others. Then we are shown how to turn this around, by examining the traits that make someone confident. Follow-up to the ground-breaking bestseller, What's Stopping You?, with the same intelligent approach to self-help A road map to help us break down the barriers that make us shy away from achieving our full potential How to recognize what you’re good at, but also what you're not good at Includes tactics for maintaining self-assurance and learning how to apply these in real-life practical situations Based on extensive research and personal experience "Everyone has moments of doubt - this practical and persoanl book can help remove those demons and boost morale.  I recommend it strongly" Luke Johnson, RSA Chairman, Financial Times columnist and author of Start It Up! "This combination of searing honesty and genuine curiosity about how our lives are shaped makes for compelling reading" Fi Glover, multi-award winning braodcast journalist and BBC radio presenter "An invaluable resource for anyone lacking confidence" John Caunt, author of Boost Your Self-Esteem

Introduction 1 Part One – Explaining Poor Confidence 7 1 Scripts 9 2 Mindset 22 3 Reactions 34 4 The Journey 45 Part Two – The Alchemy of Confidence 57 5 Optimism and Resilience 59 6 Self-Efficacy and Talent 69 7 Courage and Extraversion 78 8 Trust and Judgement 87 Part Three – Achievement 97 9 Identity 99 10 Goals 110 11 The Plan 120 Part Four – Situations 133 12 Shyness 135 13 Developing Confidence at Work 147 14 Working with Others 157 15 Dating 170 Part Five – Barriers 179 16 Prejudice 181 17 Procrastination 188 18 Depression 194 19 Stress and Anxiety 202 20 Hubris 210 The Route to Confidence – in Seven Stages 221 What the Psychologists Say 224 Bibliography 233 About Robert Kelsey 237 Index 239