Every person is unique but we can also, broadly speaking, slot into personality types. Learning what traits you possess will help you discover how you can improve your confidence

Work through the following questions. They're designed to get you thinking about where you are now, where you might be in the future and how you could get there.

1. What sort of person are you?
2. What are your strengths?
3. What are your weaknesses?
4. What are your hopes?
5. Can you realise your dreams?
6. Further personality analysis

1. What sort of person are you?

• Are you outgoing or do you tend to be reserved?
• Can you motivate and discipline yourself? Or do you need external influences to keep you focused?
• Do you welcome change and adapt? Or do you prefer to stick with what you know?
• Do you enjoy collaborating? Or do you operate most effectively alone?

Think about these questions and consider any questions you may want to ask yourself. Understanding your personality will help you consider your strengths, weaknesses, hopes and where you could be sabotaging yourself.

2. What are your strengths?

If you're particularly adept at communicating, you could seek out more face-to-face client work. Or, if you excel with numbers, you could volunteer to spend extra time settling accounts or checking balance sheets.

Take the initiative
Don't wait for it to happen, really go for what you're good at.

3. What are your weaknesses?

Be honest
Be critical - yes, but not over-critical. Try to be balanced in your assessment. Group your weak points, don't list these (harsh) details individually. Now spend some time figuring out how you can minimise these weaknesses.

Get help
Julie-Ann Amos, author of Self-Management and Personal Effectiveness, recommends considering further training, perhaps within your company or at an evening class. Alternatively, invest in a 'how-to' book; Kogan Page publishes a very useful series, as does the Chartered Institute of Management.

Consider how your colleagues deal with the kinds of roles and responsibilities you find difficult. You may even want to ask for their view on how you can improve.

Find the time
Give yourself plenty of time to make changes. Be gentle but fair about what is really possible.

4. What are your hopes?

Envisage your perfect future

• What does it consist of?
• Who does it involve?
• How do you think, feel and look?
• What is it about this utopia that's so important to you?
• How similar is it your current life?
• What's different?

Reconcile what could be with what is
"Plan, plan, plan", says Allan Macintosh, head of the coaching consultancy, Performance-am. If your goal is a different career, plot what new skills you may need and how to attain them. If you see yourself running your own business, start doing some market research.

All this may seem daunting, but remember the ancient Chinese proverb: 'the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step'.

5. Are you preventing yourself from realising your dreams?

Beat fear and self-doubt
Do you think, 'No, I could never do that'? If so, challenge that mindset. Patricia Cleghorn, head of The Self Esteem Company, suggests you "let go of unhelpful thoughts as soon as you realise you're thinking them. So instead of saying 'I'll never be able to do this,' say 'I'm making progress with this step-by-step.'"

Gathering self-knowledge
This is the first move towards fulfilling your potential. It won't always be an easy process, but bear in mind what George Elliot said, "It is never too late to become what you might have been."

6. Further personality analysis
Try taking our personality test. It will help you pinpoint the personality category that you fit into and what it says about you.

By now you should understand a lot more about yourself, your confidence and where you want it to take you in life. You're ready for the rest of the Confidence Workshop, which will help you create an action plan.

With thanks to counsellor Lucy Crispin and Gael Lindenfield, freelance psychotherapist and author of self-help books Self Esteem, Super Confidence and The Positive Woman.