Do you doubt your own ability?
 

I am on the look out (again) for a new job but having had a bad experience in my current job I have started to really doubt my ability as my choosen role in life. I have been a Sales person for over 5 years now but have also held the roll of Assistant manager for 2years in my previous job and was to be promoted to manager before leaving.

I keep looking at management and sales rolls and my confidence has been knocked badly in the past six months to the point where i don't think i could hold on to a roll in this line of work. Any words of wisdom of what do to do? Should i consider trying something else?

Anyone been in a similar situation?

Doubt my ability in everyhting in life, except my Artwork, as I know I'm good at it. Simples. It's a confidence thing.

Pm me if you wanna nattter about it.

Apart from spelling,what seems to be the problem ?

I am the best in the world at what I do best .......... no doubt in my ability :D

You should of course always have confidence in your own abilities right up to the point where you believe youve nothing more to learn

The argument being what you do best. I bet £10 my opinion of what you do best differs to yours Peter :D

I used to with regards to fitness in a big way, nowadays it's quite easy and can adapt to whatever is necessary, gym wise i could never pack on muscle.

Once i knuckled down, started eating lots of greens and protein and listen to advice and got into a proper routine did i start gaining the correct kind of weight.

22lbs up and still fitting into 36" jeans, i know very quickly when im doing it wrong, im currently 217lbs. :)

I reckon you may lose your £10 ;) :lol1:

Trust me, I won't :)

i don't doubt my talent at all i wake up and pi$$ excellence :D

great quote from Nick Frost (Spaced, Hotfuzz etc) when asked how how he came from being a waiter to "fame and fortune" and was told by a friend that success wasn't something that happend just to other people

"No one had ever told me that before. And that was what I was really afraid of. I knew what failure felt like, but I didn't know what success felt like."

think positive,

I just look at whoever is doing something and decide whether I think I could do what they do, there arent many people I think are on another level, especially in the work arena, I cant count on one hand those I think who outdo me across my career, I am secure in my own abilities and can learn quickly, I have a fair amount of common sense and little in the way of actual ego so am prepared to defer to (and learn from) someone with better abilities in a particular area, I am intelligent but not mensa territory but have enought to keep those kind of guys on there toes, they tend to use me when their common sense and decision making skills run out.

The only thing I doubt is my own commitment, I am pretty lazy and will coast, I will take the easy option, I will skive, I will have a laugh, I am a total smartarse.

You seem to have confident arrogance too. :)

Maybe, I am not perfect, I know my own limitations and work around them, i used to work in an environment that made me feel inferior and since leaving I have thrived, I am not over confident and realise there are much more capable people than me but I can turn my hand to most things with a reasonable degree of success, not excellence with my usual lack of effort but enough to achieve a satisfactory result, I never say I cannot do something, just I cant do it yet, it took me until about 35 to realise this.

I am no alpha male, I am not arrogant, just secure in my own abilities and ready to try and make best use of what I have available, it pains me when capable people do themselves down, but not as much as when incapable people big themselves up (watch the apprentice for some tragic examples), I think you tend to do yourself down a bit and have way more to offer than I think your think you have...

Are you talking about the human race in general there, or me in particular?:)

You specifically seem to sometimes sell yourself short, I may be wrong.

James
Dont sell yourself short mate.
In this current economic climate cutbacks are being made left right and centre and unfortunately some people that have a natural sales ability take a set back and start to doubt themselves. There are a lot of people in your situation at the minute, take a look back at what you were doing 6 or 12 months ago and I am sure you will find you are doing nothing differently now. Stick to what you know and you wont go far wrong. One door closes another one opens.

Don't let things get to you, and when you feel a bit of doubt coming on just shrug it off and stay motivated.

If you've done something before you can certainly do it again!

well i've done 2 things i'd never thought i'd ever do:
1. registered for the Jobcentre
2. register for the Civil Service:lol1:

Going on Monday to see about a job in security too ffs.:thumb:

Hopefully i'll beable to get a 9to5 monday to friday job as I've worked weekends since I was 13, it'd be nice to see how others live and public holidays too! my word in retail you miss so much:lol1:

Couple of tips(because I've been there) would be - to keep yourself busy doing things: organising stuff is a good way to keep motivated. It can be anything from phone contracts to car insurance etc(getting the best deals you can). Cutting the grass...doing a bit of landscaping, or anything that needs done about the house. Do it straight away when it comes into your head.

Working hard, even just for yourself, will start to give you that confidence back that you get from working hard.

If you are already doing those things then fine, but just thought I'd tell you what worked for me.

Oh and when you go for a job interview, be confident! My attitude to interviews is that I'm telling the person what I can do for them in a confident and down to earth way - I'm not asking or begging for a job. I think that attitude comes across as weak, and that's not a likeable trait.

I know what you mean about not missing retail.

I have zero confidence in myself, and despite having a degree etc. I have stuck in my very low down retail job for 10 years now. It is comfortable, I know who I'm working with, and I'm fairly good at what I do, but I don't like it. I have only stuck it out because I think little of myself, and I'm too under confident to just make a change.

I could carry on listing my failings, but you are not me, so my best advice is if you want a change go for it. Don't take the easy option of staying in this line of work if it's not what you want to do. Use this as a golden opportunity to make a change for the better, be positive and confident, and work towards a better life for yourself.

Good luck whatever happens.

I thought McDonalds were doing ok aswell.:lol1:

Seriously,good luck in whatever branch you may take.Im about to embark on a major change,career,and lifestyle wise.:thumb:

Join the Police.

We are never over-staffed. It's recession proof and the pension is great. :thumb:
Plus everyone on SN will hate you, so you can wind them up and they don't realise that you're taking the piss out of them :lol1: Plus about 95% of them who deo slag off the police on here would never pass the application process.

Or become an undertaker - they're dying out for 'em :p

And your Proffesion is keeping the undertakers in buisness.:lol1::lol1:

Been through this a few times and my wife is going through it at the moment. In our job its more down to superiors rather than self doubt. My wife has just had a new boss start and he's saying things to her like 'you dont want to be here do you?' and 'you dont react quick enough'. When she has asked for examples to back up these comments he cant give them to her.
She has held 7 management positions in the last 7 years and has always moved on to better things due to her reputation being what it is but now she is thinking she is s**t.
Other than knocking this idiot out I have to tell her to keep her chin up and ride the storm..

Funny you should say that because my current superior is actually a good friend of mine who openly told me he took the job because he couldn't get sales and now he is telling me how to sell:Whatever_ the hyprocrisy of it all makes me doubt my own sanity in life:lol1:

Its quite normal to have a bit of self doubt, at times it is a good thing because it might make you think a bit before making a decision instead of rushing into it.

The main point I think is that you never know how good you might be at something for the first time until you try it. So have a go, you will probably be a lot better than you think.

Les