CONFIDENCE IS OVER-RATED

What would you do if you felt more confident?

• Go for that promotion?

• Speak up more in meetings?

• Try out a new activity, at which you’re a complete beginner?

I relate. I think we all have stories like these.

And the truth is that most people are pooping their pants when they do any of these sorts of things, especially for the first time.

So here’s a different question:

What even is confidence?

• Is it a guarantee that things will go the way we want them to?

• A promise that we won’t be judged or criticised, or that our posts will get likes?

• Knowing we’ll be good at the thing we want to do, even although we’ve never done it before?

• An assurance that, even things don’t go the way we want, we’ll still be okay?

In reality, we don’t know what will happen.

It’s completely reasonable to not be great at something the first time we do it, or to have a racing heart as we speak up for the first time.

But the mind doesn’t like the thought of that.

What would it mean about me?

How would I handle it?

That’s too uncomfortable a thought, so… I’ll wait until I feel more confident.

I could even get busy trying to feel more confident (a great way to procrastinate on taking action).

All of this could last a lifetime.

I reckon that so much talent, intelligence and value are never expressed due to this simple misunderstanding.

Imagine if babies waited until they felt confident that they’d be good at walking, before they started trying to walk.

We can learn a lot about our true nature from babies, who haven’t succumbed to societal conditioning yet.

We do not need to feel confident in order to take action. We can take the action, however we feel, learn from what happens and then take some more action (however we feel).

If you’d love to have the freedom to do something that’s important to you, let’s chat! You could get in touch now via the contact form, or you could book a £30 one-hour session (subject to availability). Even if you don’t feel confident enough to do it!

#confidence #motivation #resilience #wellbeing