When planting a seed in a garden, you need to encourage it to grow and flourish. You have to water it and remove any weeds that can stifle its growth. With some nurturing, that seed will blossom into a beautiful flower.
“Confidence is just like a seed”, says Nico Davies-Cooke of NDC Coaching & Training. “It needs to be nurtured to grow.”

Nico helps women, especially busy mums who feel stressed and overwhelmed, tap into their inner resources so that they can start to blossom. Often, a lack of confidence is fueling their self-limiting beliefs and feelings of inadequacy.

But growing in confidence doesn’t happen overnight. “It’s not like I can wave a magic wand and you’ll instantly become confident. It takes time,” says Nico. “One of my early coaches used the analogy of a bamboo plant. You see a clump of bamboo, but what you don’t know is that the bamboo sends down roots first – for seven years – before it starts sprouting.”

This is how you should think about confidence. It can’t be rushed. You have to allow it to develop roots and grow over time.

Nico gives three tips on how to increase your confidence:

• Tackle one area at a time. Find something that you want to become better at and start developing that skill. Once our confidence increases in one area it often has a ripple effect, spilling over into other areas of our life.
• Take small steps. How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time. If you’re learning something new, it can be daunting. Breaking it down into smaller chunks makes it less scary.
• Seek support. Let’s say you’re a new mum struggling with motherhood. Joining a mother’s group where other mums share how they overcame challenges can help you do the same.

The seeds of confidence often lie dormant within us. All it needs to grow and flourish is some TLC and patience.