Confidence Comes First; 3 Simple Steps to Find Yours

Confidence Comes First; 3 Simple Steps to Find Yours

Confidence is the key to taking on new challenges, meeting your goals, and achieving success. There is no doubt that hard work and perseverance also play a critical role, but confidence is the kick in the pants that we need to get the ball rolling.

During the early years, fearlessness and the ignorance of the challenges ahead often are the tools that get us started on a path to success. But as life continues, the pitfalls or outright failures remind us that we are not indestructible. Experience teaches us that not everything will be “easy.” Ultimately our own doubts, fears and negative self-talk begin to hold us back.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. Confidence to the rescue!!

Confidence Matters

Almost everything we take on without hesitation is a result of confidence. Think of any new, different, or unknown situation or project you took on without a pause – why was that? The answer is simple: you had confidence in your abilities going in.

Everyone has SOMETHING that they are confident about. The more of those things we have, the more confident we appear to the outside world.

Confidence and success go hand-in-hand.

Confidence Is a Skill

Most people believe that confidence is a gift, given out in great quantities to only the chosen few. But confidence is a skill that can be developed and improved for anyone willing to invest in the effort.

Unfortunately, like all skills, greatly improved results are not instantaneous. Instead, it takes focused effort, practice, and a willingness invest time to see significant results. However, if you are willing to make the investment, the results will transform your life in ways you can hardly imagine.

The following are three simple steps to begin developing the skill of confidence:

1. Identify your superpower(s), skills, and other talents you already have. If your first response to this idea is, “I don’t have any superpowers,” I can assure you, you are wrong. Maybe not in the “leap tall buildings” category, but we all have some area in which we are exceptional. The problem is that it comes so naturally and easily, that we don’t think of it as unique. (If you still need help figuring this one out, get our Superpower Identification Worksheet here!)

List all of the abilities, skills and talents that you have, including the areas that you already have confidence. This is not a time to be modest. You don’t have to be the “best” or the “most” for it to be on the list. If someone else appreciates it, then it should probably be on the list. The list also doesn’t have to be complete, just give yourself 15 minutes and put as many things down as come to mind.

2. Own everything that is on the list. This sounds simple enough, but it is often the point where we struggle. True confidence is belief in yourself. Not just words, but deep heartfelt belief. If you aren’t comfortable stating your ability to another person without feeling like an impostor, then you don’t own it.

Make a notation on the list of which powers you truly own and which are works in progress. For those still in progress, ask yourself why you were able to list it, but not own it. What would it take for you to fully own that particular skill or talent?

3. Add or fully own one new skill or talent every week. This step takes intention, but only requires a few minutes every day.

If you are trying to fully own an item from the list, identify it at the beginning of the week. Pay attention to any time it you utilize it within your day or someone else acknowledges it in the course of conversation. How can that activity help you more fully own this particular skill or talent? At the end of the week, test it as we did initially in step #2 until it changes status to “fully owned.”

If you fully own everything on your list, look to add something new. We often have many more skills and talents than we can initially list in the 15 minute exercise in step #1. Make the goal to note just one new item within the week. If you can fully own it, great. If not, go through the “ownership” process until it has been fully embraced.

As the list grows, so will your confidence. With confidence you will see how you can leverage the skill and talents you already possess to solve problems and achieve success in areas in which you are less familiar.

With each win your confidence will continue to grow and the process continues.

When is a time that starting with confidence ultimately led to success for you?

Perfect Harmony

When the various aspects of your life are harmonious, things seem to go more easily for you. Likewise, if something in your life falls out of step, everything else feels just slightly off. How can you make sure that in all things you strive for harmony, and to be the same and best version of yourself everywhere you go?

Tweet the image below and share with your followers how you strive to be authentic and harmonious in your life.

Seek the Good

The basic idea of karma is that what you put out into the world, you receive back in turn. A similar concept is that whatever you’re looking for, that’s what you’re going to find. How many times have you gone into a situation expecting the worst, and you find that the situation meets your expectations? What would happen if you went into a situation expecting a positive outcome (or at least, lowering your expectations in general)?

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The Power of Positive Thinking

The Power of Positive Thinking

We’re all going to have times in our lives when we have to deal with bad situations, such as death, job loss, the end of a relationship, and failures or perceived failures. How we experience these bad situations largely comes down to how we perceive them; our attitude can make a major difference. Either we rise to the challenge and push forward to fight another day, or we sink down into the negativity and find that it takes us much longer to come out on the other side.

How do you handle a challenge? Tweet the image below and share your positive thinking with others!

Be Extraordinary at Being You

Perfectionism often keeps us from actually doing anything. And it is silly to believe that we should or could be perfect at everything. But the one thing we can do better than anyone else is be ourselves. Marketing expert Sally Hogshead is all about helping brands and the individuals behind those brands discover what makes them fascinating. Click to Tweet the image below and share what makes you fascinating or where you are truly extraordinary.

Go Big and Be Bold

The gift of being our ourselves is the greatest gift we receive in our life. Each of us is unique, with the opportunity to contribute to the world in a one-of-a-kind, special sort of way. What is that way? That truly is the big question. Being timid about your contribution, whatever the environment, is never the right answer. Sure, maybe it wasn’t your big calling. But what if it was? You might be the only person who can say or do the important thing that needs to be said or done. If you are going to act, go big and be bold!