Confidence Troubles

Running head: Confidence Troubles

Confidence Troubles

Mitchell Woods

Cal State University Fullerton

Confidence Troubles

Self-esteem is a primary characteristic in fundamental communication. Unfortunately many people, including myself, lack greatly in this department when it comes down to certain instances. Public speech is something that often plagues many people. It is one thing to be nonchalant and laid back when speaking with your friends and family, but in a professional environment the whole mood and interpretations of things changes. It all comes down to one thing, the amount of self-esteem that you have and are willing to exert. Self-esteem is a critical factor in many instances in life, including finding decent employment.

Finding a decent job is a rather difficult thing to do. It is imperative to find a job that is both fun and rewarding. Once the job is found, there is still the application process as well as the interview. The interview portion of the application process is usually the most difficult for people, myself included. Personally I have been is search for a good job for a little while now, and it is quite difficult to find a job that both works with my schedule, one that will interest me, and one that will help prepare me for my future long-term career. Recently I have applied to Allstate Insurance and the job itself is perfect. The hours for the job are optimum, and the position would prepare me for my future career. There is only one small problem; I have a lack of confidence in my speaking ability. I become extremely nervous when having to call a person to whom I have never spoken to before. It has been a week or more since I have turned in my application and have not heard from them yet, I know that I must call them and speak with them about the position; I just cannot bring myself to do this.

In this sense I believe I would fall under the category of an ineffective communicator. "Ineffective communicators often operate in an unthinking "default" mode." (Beebe, Beebe, and Ivy, 2007) I relate myself to this because when it comes to the point of speaking to someone that I have never spoken to before, or speaking on an unfamiliar topic, I have a tendency to drift away from the main point of the conversation or topic; or simply just freeze up. A similar situation happened when speaking to my now girlfriend for the first time. It always takes so much courage to make that first phone call, even if you know the person is interested, you still want to make the perfect impression. Obviously if the chemistry is there after the initial awkwardness everything falls into place and the conversation will flow, but it is that lack of self-esteem that just tears you up. This sense of emptiness where self-esteem should come in can