If you are confident a work, you will be happy to express your ideas and opinions. You will know that you can do your job and do it well. You will be able to deal with those both above and below you in the work hierarchy in an efficient and pleasant way to achieve what you want to achieve.

If you tackle your work confidently, feeling you can ask for help where you need it, the chances are that you will do your work better than if you lacked confidence, so sometimes building your confidence at work is about letting yourself open up about the things you don’t know how to do so well.

However, workplaces can be somewhat daunting, so it can be difficult to be more confident at work. That is, of course, unless you read this article. Below are 10 ways to be more confident at work that anyone can practice.

1. Know what you need from other people

This comes into play in several aspects of being more confident at work. First, no-one knows everything, so don’t be afraid to ask for help. We will return to that point later.

Second, you can’t expect other people to give you what you want from them. You need to be honest with yourself about what you want people to do, and state that clearly. That way, you can expect your co-workers to give it to you.

2. No-one knows everything

This is linked to point #1.

Remember that the people who gave you your job were confident in your abilities or they would never have hired you. Take the chance to regularly upgrade your skills and you should be able to approach any tasks with ability and confidence.

It isn’t a sign of weakness to admit that you don’t know something. Far from it; it shows real strength that you take the steps to plug the gaps in your knowledge rather than ignoring them, or worse, denying them.

The more you learn, the more confident you can become. It also shows respect for your co-workers that you would ask them for information or their opinions.

That takes us on to the next point:

3. Foster good relationships with your co-workers

Part of having confidence is in knowing that people support you and agree with you. If you know that your co-workers are going to listen to you and respect your ideas, you can feel a lot more confident at work.

If you want your co-workers to listen to you and respect you, then you will need to listen to them and respect what they say too. Building up good relationships in this way makes any dealings with your co-workers easier so you can approach them more confidently.

If you appear confident, the people who work with you will in turn be more confident in your abilities.

4. Be clear about task demands

You can only approach a piece of work confidently if you know what you have got to do. If you take the time and effort to find out exactly what is required of you in any particular task, you can approach it more confidently.

You can learn anything new that you need to learn; you can delegate tasks to a co-worker who may be better at that particular aspect of the work than you; that way, you can facilitate teamwork much more confidently.

5. Communicate clearly and with authority

Your communication shows your confidence, and it also illustrates how confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you can speak your mind confidently, and clearly say what you mean, people will understand you much more easily.

That usually means that they will act appropriately upon what you tell them. That gives you affirmation and so your confidence increases.

6. See questions as positive

If you are sure about what you want to say, and can communicate clearly, you should be able to welcome questions from your co-workers. You know what you’re doing so these questions are no threat to you. Approached positively, questions can really help you.

It isn’t our responsibility, other than to communicate clearly, to check that everything you say has absolutely been understood by everyone. Your co-workers share the responsibility, so relax. If you encourage questions, they will tell you if something isn’t clear.

It isn’t necessary to apportion blame if misunderstandings arise. Without blaming anyone, if you encourage questions, you will give people space to seek clarification and your communication can be smooth once more, again reinforcing your confidence.

7. Remember that other people may be nervous too

When you lack confidence at work, don’t think you’re alone in that. Everyone has certain situations where they are unsure of their abilities and don’t quite know what to do.

Once you stop seeing other people as a threat and realize that they are exactly like you, the more confident you will feel in dealing with them at work.

You could even admit to others around you that you are nervous. Something like ‘I’m a bit nervous about this meeting, are you?’ would nicely break the ice and you will probably find that people not only share your nervousness, but that some have some really useful advice to share too.

8. Smile!

Body language speaks volumes. Smiling makes you appear confident and relaxed. Everyone knows that, but did you also know that smiling can positively affect how you’re feeling too? Try it, next time you are feeling nervous. Smile and feel your mood lifts as you start to think happy thoughts.

9. Remember that it’s OK to make mistakes

You are more than the job that you do. Within your life, you fulfill many roles and succeed at many things. Just because you may have made an error with something at work does not mean that you are a stupid, worthless person. It doesn’t even mean that you shouldn’t be doing the job that you’re doing.

Mistakes are not a refection of your personality. They just mean that you are human. Very few mistakes can’t be undone. Almost every time, you can put right any mistakes that you make, pretty easily, even if you need some help, and no real harm will be done.

10. Challenge yourself

You can really boost your confidence at work by taking on special projects. If you have a choice about the projects you tackle, pick something that you feel very strongly about. That will give you chance to show your bosses, your co-workers and yourself what you’re really capable of.

If you utilize these ten tips in your everyday working life, you should soon feel that you can be more confident at work. You will know what you are capable of and have rid yourself of the fear of taking risks, because you know your bosses and co-workers appreciate what you do and respect your abilities.

You don’t need to be able to do everything; no-one can. But with confidence you will happily bring in other people to help you where you need to.

You will be better able to do your work and communicate with others. Approaching your work with confidence will help your work go well so you benefit from a self-fulfilling prophecy and so your confidence at work increases.