From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Personal Branding and Profitable Networking Made Easy, 2nd Edition

Decide for each confidence zapper if you will fix it or accept it, and record your action plans on the Confidence Chart.

Step 5: Stop Apologizing

The best way to zap your confidence is to continually apologize for your shortcomings. It keeps you from focusing on your strengths. Catch your negative self-talk. For every negative comment you make about yourself, contradict it with two positive thoughts. It's an excellent habit to develop that will eventually change your perspective about yourself. For those who have significant negative self-talk habits, the book The Happiness Trap: Stop Struggling, Start Living by Dr. Russ Harris is really helpful in teaching you how to diffuse the negative stories we keep replaying in our heads.

If you've ever said or felt that you don't want to waste someone's time by talking with him or her, you have a confidence problem. It is not average behavior to apologize for communicating with someone. I hear people say it all the time: “I don't want to bother you . . . but . . . can you . . .?”