What defines a confident person? What do all confident people have in common?
Confident people typically have clear boundaries (so they're assertive)
The can communicate very clearly
They openly express admiration, respect and appreciation
They stand up straight, maintain strong eye contact and are decisive in their body language
(One needs to be careful, however, not to confuse confidence with arrogance, which is characterised by demeaning, overwhelming, aggressive or patronising behaviour.)
Finding confidence
Becoming more confident is as simple as letting go of the fears you have and realising the potential that confident behaviour could have on your work.
For example, if you had more confidence while chairing the Monday morning meeting you might get around to the more relevant issues that you don't seem to have time for at the moment.
Letting go of fear and accepting that you will occasionally make mistakes is the key to finding your own confidence, which could be in the form of approaching that cute guy in the coffee or shop or standing up for yourself when you're unfairly assigned blame, but the point is to forget about fear of rejection or conflict and just do it.
We all make mistakes; it's part of being human. Don't let the fear of these mistakes hold you back!