The Confidence Coach

A sense of confidence is a crucial element for success, be it in work, personal relationships or achieving goals. Developing confidence is an ‘inside job,’ not one than anyone can do for you. It can seem easy to have your confidence dashed by others, until you have developed the skills required to maintain your self-belief and worth in a range of situations. It takes practice, but author and confidence coach Lisa Phillips believes everyone is capable of developing them.

Lisa has written a book to help people find and develop a good sense of self and worth. “It can be a fine line for people,” she says. “Some people are brought up to believe that confidence equals arrogance, so they put themselves down or doubt their abilities unnecessarily. It really is important to be your own best friend.”

Lisa is a self-confessed introvert who really does understand that it can be hard work to develop confidence. “I was not confident about public speaking,” she says. “I made a pact with myself to learn and overcome that fear. The good news is that one of the real benefits of getting older is that people are happy to really look honestly at themselves and take risks to develop where they feel they need to. They understand that facing your fears can be a struggle, but they have lived long enough to know that there can be real rewards for trying something new.

“Children learn by example, so it is important to model a healthy self image and not beat yourself up unnecessarily,” she says. “The most important thing about life and creating confidence is that if you don’t slip up, you’re not doing it properly. Confidence is like a muscle that must be exercised to perform well. Sometimes it gets injured, but learn from the failures and once you get in the stream, keep swimming!”

The Confidence Coach is an easy read, punctuated with many real life examples from people Lisa has worked with. It starts out identifying areas which affect confidence and creating good foundations for change, and progresses to set goals and deal with specific situations where confidence is required – in public speaking, body image and dealing with bullies among others.

The Confidence Coach is available now in bookstores, RRP$24.99