The future, no one knows how it will go, but we have all kinds of expectations about the future. Even if you consciously do not want to think about the future, you can still think about the direction in which things are moving in general. For example, you then think about the future of Dutch society and view the future separately from yourself.
What makes you feel confident about the future now
Almost every few months you read something in the news about consumer and business confidence in the future. This is measured monthly by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Here they only look at the financial situation. They ask a large group of people questions about the last year's financial situation, the year ahead and whether people think now is a good time to make a big purchase, such as a house or car. Then they look at the percentage of that group of people who are positive and who are negative and from that they make some kind of calculation.
The question of whether it is a good time to make a big purchase is very important in this. Most people need to borrow money to buy a house and/or a car. Then you have to be confident that you can repay that loan.
So confidence is built in part by your financial situation, but CBS also really only asks about that financial situation and not confidence in, say, finding happiness or love.
For some people, money is related to this, but then again, other people find money totally unimportant. In that respect, a financial pessimist can still have faith in the future.
What determines confidence in the future
Confidence in the future, then, for many people at least, is related to their financial perspective. People with steady jobs often have confidence in the future in the sense that they are provided with a certain amount of money each month. Yet this can also make them pessimistic, if, for example, you just keep failing to get a promotion or cannot earn more at your permanent job.
So entrepreneurs and small independents really don't have to be less confident in the future, as they can often have more direct influence on their income.
In addition, you can also look into the future in general. This is done, for example, by reading the news. In it you do not only read how the economy is doing. In fact, you also read how society is doing. How is education, healthcare, safety and you name it.
Therefore, the news you read also has a great impact on the confidence you have in the future of society. The newspaper you read therefore has a great deal of influence on the confidence you have in the future of the world. For example, people who read the Telegraph seem to be less positive about it than people who read Trouw.
What determines confidence in one's own future?
As for trusting your own future, most people are generally positive about it. Even if they are negative about society's future.
If you are about to take a risk about your future, such as buying a home, you may become more negative again. If you are forced by circumstances to think consciously about your future, you often become more cautious about making decisions and the people you trust. Even if you are currently positive, you are aware that things don't always turn out the way you expect.
For confidence in the future of your personal life, the following are important:
- Family connections.
- Work.
- Health.
- Trust that other people are doing the "right" thing.
For confidence in the future, and these factors, it's best to look at Maslow's pyramid. He laid out sometime in the first half of the last century what people need to achieve their best. Everyone knows that doesn't happen overnight.
He points out that you must have a good foundation. A (t)home, nutrition and good health. Then you at least have the basis to work on your own projects. You also need a social circle, such as your family, who can offer you help. Your family's ties to you are therefore also important. For example, if you have a supportive family, this can help your development tremendously, but if you have a family with problems, such as alcoholism or the like, it is difficult to develop yourself the way you want because you have to solve all those family problems first. So trusting your family and other people in your social circle is important.
Poor health, no job and no family can therefore make you feel a bit hopeless about your future. What will become of you?
What can you do if you lack confidence in the future?
If you have no faith in the future in general, in society, you can at least start reading different news. People like to read and hear news that is in line with their own views. If you are pessimistic you secretly want to hear pessimistic news that confirms your views.
By very consciously reading news from other sources as well, your view may already be shifting slightly. There are also people who no longer read the news at all and rely on the people around them.
Confidence in Health
Let's keep the confidence closest to ourselves the strongest. In the Netherlands, chances are very good that you have a roof over your head and money to eat. Maybe not everything you want, but enough to take care of yourself.
Confidence in your health can be improved quite easily through healthy eating and regular exercise. In addition, exercise also produces substances that make you feel happy, something that is also good for your confidence in the future.
Do you suffer a little from hypochondria, such as having been sick once in the past? Then a hypnotist can help you improve your beliefs about your health.
Besides, measuring is knowing! So if you feel that something is not right, dram with your doctor until at least an examination is performed that goes beyond some tapping on the abdomen or something similar. That's the best way to restore your sense of confidence.
Trust your family/friends
Do you feel that your connection with your family and/or friends could be better? Then speak to them intentionally. Reserve 1 day a week to meet with family or friends. You can also focus on a few people so you can deepen the bond with them.
To develop a good friendship, you must have spent a minimum of 200 hours together.
You then have to do something other than work. So even that nice colleague you might want to become friends with needs to see you outside of work.
If you find it exciting to meet with people, a hypnotherapist can help you remove that block. This can be done, for example, with visualizations about such a friendly interaction and hypnotic suggestions about your self-esteem and your social skills.
Confidence in work
Unemployment, an underpaid job or just getting by as a self-employed person; all of these can hurt your confidence in the future when it comes to work. One way to restore your confidence is to boost your self-esteem. This already allows you to see everything in a more positive light. A hypnotist can help you with this.
Another way to boost your confidence in work is to polish your skills. You can do this fairly free of charge by reading a book in your field. If you don't have the money for that, you can go to the library for this. (You can also read at the library if you don't actually have a subscription to a library either.)
If you are nervous about going to the library or working on your skills at all or feel that you shouldn't, a hypnotist can also help you with this. Your beliefs that are blocking you are then examined, for example, with a Socratic Conversation and then the hypnotist can use other techniques to ensure that you gain confidence in your own ability of self-development.
Trusting strangers
This is actually about your sense of security. How much confidence do you have that if something happens to you, people around you will help you. This sense of confidence is mostly influenced by the news you read.
Still, you yourself can set a good example by helping people when something happens to them. Someone who drops groceries you can help pick everything up. Someone in distress you can at least help by calling 911 so that you don't become the person in distress and you don't have to jump in. As far as I'm concerned, these are all ways to accumulate karma points and then you get it back when you are in need.
In addition, you can influence it by very specifically pointing out someone and telling them what to do. Suppose you've just been in a car accident? Then stop 1 car and tell the person to call 911 if someone is hurt. Or if you are being harassed on the street "You there with the red sweater, call the police!" This increases the chances of intervention.
After all, people often do what other people do. When 1 person starts helping, more follow. But the longer it takes for someone to help, the smaller that chance becomes.
Want to learn more about mental techniques to improve your confidence in the future? Then come to aHypnosis Institute Netherlands event.
Sources:
https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.2017.35.1.66
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA494889937&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=1524833X&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1&isAnonymousEntry=true
https://www.scientias.nl/een-goede-vriend-krijgen-kost-je-ongeveer-200-uur/
Book: Persuasion, Cialdini.
