Confidence is a Tool

             What is confidence? We would all like to evolve and progress our play with more confidence in ourselves, but how? When you think of a confident person you may believe they look and sound confident, such as standing tall, upright, and with no hesitation of what they are saying or doing.

Confidence is a belief, a feeling, and an action. It is also a mental tool and resource! When you are confident, you have no doubt you can accomplish the task at hand.

            The belief aspect of confidence comes down to trusting in yourself and this trust is driven by the way you talk to yourself and others. Once you trust yourself, your body will respond accordingly; such as relaxed muscles and a steady heart rate (standing tall, upright with no hesitation). It is important to remember that gaining confidence takes repetition and repeated failures and successes. The action aspect of confidence is easy once you have the belief and feeling down. The question then becomes, how do we use our confidence? First, we must understand some of the reasons we lack confidence.

Why do we Lack Confidence?

            When we don’t have confidence, it feels like HELL and we need HELP. We lack confidence because of H. E. L. P.

1. Harsh Self-Judgment

2. Excessive Expectations

3. Lack of Experience

4. Preoccupation with Fear

            When we lack confidence we don’t feel comfortable, and we start to overthink! We start using the wrong type of H.E.L.P.

“Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence” - Aristotle

Take Away

            I challenge you to have the courage to pay attention to the way you think and talk to yourself, especially when you are in a difficult situation or trying to accomplish something new. Is it what a confident person would say, think, or even do?

            When you’re lacking confidence think of HELP

Harsh Self-Judgment- Be nice to yourself-be positive Ex. “I will get better with effort & time.”

Excessive Expectations –Are your expectations realistic? It won’t happen over night.

Lack of Experience – Do you have you the experience to have the expectations you put on yourself?

Preoccupation with Fear – Choose a positive perspective. What GOOD can come from this?

Give it a gO.

“Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.” –Doug Firebaugh

It all takes time #Patience #Persistence #Positivity # Confidence