Your confidence or lack of it is a clinching factor in your ride up the corporate ladder. Thumb through our guide to up your confidence quotient. By Sunita Chellam Tejus

You have a meeting with a group of seniors to discuss ideas for a new project. The meeting is scheduled to begin in 10 minutes. In this situation, which reaction best describes you? Cold feet, disguised nervousness, or equanimity? If it's the first two, you need to pull yourself together and make a concerted effort to shake off your reticence. Rashmi Pote, course director at the Mumbai-based Avion Academy finishing school, says: "It's very important to work on your self-confidence. If you want to get people to believe in you, you need to believe in yourself first. The universal fact is that confidence breeds confidence." Keep in mind that wallflowers usually have just one place - on the wall. Livewires leap around many places - and usually make people sit up and take notice. Unfair as it may seem, in any situation, the winner is always the one with the most confidence. Whether you're a chronic wallflower or sporadic self-doubter, you need some confidence boosters from time to time.

Here are some workable tips that will help you leap ahead.

Feel Good When You Want

When your confidence needs a boost, think of things that make you feel good. These could be memories of good times, achievements, friends or even beautiful pictures. Make it a practice to recall them whenever your self-esteem dips. Making pleasant associations is effective because emotions tend to 'attach' themselves to memories. This will help you develop an enduring sense of self-confidence and you will feel good more often.