The Little Book of Confidence

Author: Susan Jeffers

I first read this book about eight years ago and although I would not see myself as someone who lacked confidence – I was drawn to the book. It is a mini -pocket size book with 159 pages. The theme of the book is confidence, what confidence is, how to build your own confidence and why you would want to. The book is easy to read and once you start is it difficult to put it down.

The book suggests that confidence is only a matter of thinking, that everyone has two methods of thinking, the first being ‘Lower Self’ thinking the second being ‘Higher Self’ thinking and it is only habit which type of thinking we choose to use on a daily basis. The book explains the ‘Higher Self’ as the realm within yourself where you have a feeling of calm and wellbeing, full of joy, creativity, intuition, love and all feels right with the world. In other words, you feel full of power and confidence. The ‘Lower Self’ on the other hand is full of self-doubt, anger, fear, anxiety, helplessness and nothing is right with the world. In other words you feel powerless and without any confidence.

Once this distinction is made between what it feels like with confidence and without it, you can then become aware of which thinking mode you are using, by listening to your emotions. The author calls the voice of the ‘Lower Self’ the ‘Chatterbox’, which is comparable to the ‘Gremlin’ or the ‘Sabateur’ – all of which try to stop you from growing in confidence and moving forward in your life. There are also parallels to be drawn from the Red and Green Platforms. The majority of the book deals with insights, tips, suggestions and exercises as to how you can quiet the internal ‘Chatterbox’, to grow in confidence, and live the life you want to live, to work towards achieving balance in your life.

I feel this book encapsulates in brief, the principles and ethos of personal coaching in a very clear and concise way. It looks only at the present and the state that a person is currently in, it does not delve into the reasons why, the past or other historical emotional issues. The focus is very much on action, altering the thought patterns, on taking the steps you feel you need to take to bring you to live the life you want to live. It includes breaking negative habits, to quash the Chatterbox, to adjust your own thinking, replacing negative thought patterns with positive thought patterns and some of the steps you can take as a result of these changes.
This is a book that I recommend to participants on some of my development programmes – such as presentation skills and interpersonal development skills programmes. It is a handy book to carry around with you and can provide a boost when you feel yourself slipping toward a ‘red platform’.

Student of Executive and Life Coaching Course with PSG