To grow and reach your goals, you need to believe in yourself, and Bill Gates knows exactly how to do that.
Having confidence in yourself doesn’t mean being cocky or thinking you’re better than everyone else or that there’s nothing left to learn because you already know everything. Instead, it means listening to your gut, fighting for what you want, and being able to stand up for your ideas and projects even when the noise around you makes you want to give up.
Fear and doubt can stop you from making the decisions you need to make or from taking those leaps of faith that can lead to great things. This can keep you from moving forward and keep you stuck. If Bill Gates hadn’t trusted himself, for example, he might not have dropped out of college, Microsoft wouldn’t exist, and he might not be one of the richest people in the world today.
The problem is that even though we all know that confidence and security are important, it can be hard to get them, especially if you don’t know where to start or how to stop doubting yourself and hurting yourself.
The good news is that Bill Gates also has some suggestions, in the form of tips and wise words.
Bill Gates advice on how to gain more confidence in yourself
According to CNBC Make It, Gates had a Q&A session with Harvard students where he said that when he was starting Microsoft, he had a lot of doubts and fear that his business would fail, but he eventually found a way to turn off that internal noise and Learn to trust your abilities and your idea.
The first point was learning to accept challenges
From the beginning of Microsoft, Gates learned that “Things are dangerous. You shouldn’t miss a single turn along the way “from what CNBC says.
To feel better about himself, Gates decided to see these problems as challenges to be met and a chance to use his mind and skills to reach a goal and make a difference (to have a purpose). Instead of worrying about what he was afraid of not being able to do, he decided to focus on what he could do to overcome the challenge and reach the goal.
Don’t be afraid of failure, learn from your mistakes
Gates once said that he did something wrong that cost Microsoft a lot of money. He knew that smartphones were the way of the future, but it took him a long time to decide to join that world. By the time he did, Google had already made the first Android, so he was behind.
Gates didn’t give up after that failure. Instead, he decided to learn from it. He learned that it’s important to make decisions quickly or else someone else will beat you to the idea. Mistakes are not the end of the world. Instead, you should see them as chances to learn and get better.
Do not compare yourself with others
You should look at what your competitors are doing to get ideas for what you should do or what you can offer that others don’t. However, you should never look at others to compare yourself to them.
Some paths are longer and slower than others, but that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong or that you need to change how you do things. Comparing yourself to others can make you feel frustrated or overwhelmed, which can affect how you work and grow. It can also stop you from coming up with more creative or different ways to solve problems and challenges.
INC.com says that Gates once said, “Don’t measure yourself against anyone else. If you do that, you’ll be putting yourself down.”
Don’t give up your dreams to follow someone else’s
It may seem easier to follow someone else’s dream, especially if the path is already clear, but doing so can leave you feeling unhappy, unfulfilled, or unmotivated.
It’s important to fight for what you want and stand up for your ideas and projects, even if they seem hard and success seems to be taking a long time to come. Gates would not be where he is now if he had decided not to start his company because it was hard or because no one told him how to do it.
