Week 8: Summer Internship Programme

Confidence is a SUPERPOWER!

Nadine Pfeifer , founder of HopStair? , took the ladies through a session on confidence and what a blast it was!

She starts by explaining that confidence goes beyond what we see and think about a person. People tend to judge and focus on what they can only see. Yet, confidence is about what is happening behind the scenes. She likens the entire scenario to a tree. A tree stands firm and tall because it has roots, yet many think the crown of the tree alone is an end in itself. Confidence for every individual should be like roots that hold him or her firm, not seem but important for survival. It will be a challenge to go through life without confidence as confidence is what leads to perseverance and grit. Without confidence, a person can engage in many things to fill the void that the lack of confidence brings. It includes being in a relationship to get validation and having a high end career to feel important and desired. Confidence speaks to how you value yourself, believe in yourself, say no and cut negative people and influences off.

Ms. Pfeifer again describes a confident person as one who has resilience, perseverance and knows when to let things go where necessary. You don’t compromise on your authenticity and there’s no fear nor shame. She lists some characteristics of confident people as having an elaborate filter mechanism; knowing how to filter thoughts and opinions of yourself and others while blocking out noise. Confident people know their strengths and weaknesses, trust themselves, are self-motivated, and are highly efficient.

The Founder shares that part of the way to build confidence is to have role models, who inspire you. Confidence is not about specific personalities. She mentions that an extrovert may be labelled confident because they are outspoken and outgoing while an introvert labelled as unconfident and yet, the reality may be far from that. Confidence goes beyond personality types as mentioned earlier and speaks to the core and essence of a person. Some myths associated with confidence are that it is equal to arrogance, extroversion, must be about something, must be seen on the outside and that women are less confident. Being arrogant does not equal being confident and when looking to boost your confidence, arrogance is surely no way to go about it. The tendency to be extroverted is not necessarily a sign of confidence as confidence goes beyond extroversion. You can be introverted or ambiverted and still be very confident. It is not limited to external demonstrations of certain actions and certainly, women are not less confident than men. Dominantly male societies from history may have made it so but society today has evolved. The building blocks of confidence are education, self-awareness, habits, moving out of your comfort zone and surrounding yourself with the right people.

To wrap up the session, Nadine mentions ways to start your confidence journey. Talk to different people, seek constructive feedback and take opportunities. She mentions that it is also important to quit obsessing over failures, comparing yourself to others and always seeking to be perfect. Believe in your own worth.

The interns ended the week with a catch up call with the AKAYA team and are looking forward to the next week of the Internship.

Article written by Content Writer Intern - Edna Dorgbefu

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