Self Confidence

Confidence is defined as a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances. Self confidence is defined in a very similar manner as confidence in oneself and in one's powers and abilities. Do you have a feeling or consciousness of your own powers and abilities?

Most of us will say yes, but many of us are lying, at least to a point. Are you where you want to be in life? Do you do the work you really think you should be doing? There are people who can answer both of these questions in the affirmative, but many of us cannot. For those of us who cannot, I know self confidence plays a role in us not being where we want to be or in not doing what we want to do.

How many times have you found a job you thought you would love, but failed to apply because you weren't qualified? How many times have you asked your boss for a raise and made the case for why you deserved one? How many times have you picked up extra tasks at work, not because anyone asked you or because you would be noticed, but because you could learn something new or knew you could do a great job? How many times have you continued to go after a goal when others said it was unreachable? How many times have you done something you thought was impossible? How many times have you given up?

If you are lucky, you will have people around you who have confidence in you, even when your confidence wanes. But, we can't count on this. We need to have the utmost confidence in our powers and abilities. I truly believe we are capable of doing anything. There are always going to be struggles and missteps, but these shouldn't affect our self confidence. Take the struggles and missteps as they come, learn from them and continue to move forward. We have to keep pushing towards our goals and not let the doubts creep in. It will take a lot of hard work, but we'll get there.

You just have to believe in yourself.

Easier said than done, right?

Not if you work on supplanting the doubts with encouragement and belief. When the doubts start to creep in, work on quieting them with encouragement to yourself. Train your mind to know you can do anything and once you start to believe, the doubting thoughts will occur less and less. Be bold. Be confident. Believe you can do anything. Have confidence in yourself and in your powers and abilities.

Never Stop Trying

The great thing is we get another chance each and every day. We may not get everything right every time we try, but we don't fail until we no longer try. Too many times, many think if they don't get it right the first time, then they have failed. This just isn't the case...no one is perfect. We won't get it right the first time, every time. When things don't work, we just have to get up and try again.

It's up to you. You are the only person who controls what you do. Will you keep pushing forward? Will you keep chasing you dreams? Will you blaze your own path? Will you do whatever it takes? Will you believe in yourself? Will you keep trying? You never fail until you stop trying. Never stop trying.

Start Moving

For a lot of people, the scariest question anyone can ask is "what do you really want to do?". We have so many things we would like to try and yet, we don't know which to do. We worry about failure and not actually liking what we choose and if we are going to be good enough and what the future will bring if we choose this but not that.

We hesitate and end up defaulting to what we are doing without really making a choice. There is no moving forward and we continue to bitch and moan about how we aren't happy or we aren't doing something we are passionate about. Making a choice is hard. Changing our trajectory in life is even harder. Doing nothing new is easy and takes little effort, but it doesn't lead to anything better. When this happens, the only person we can blame is ourself.

Spend some time today thinking about what you want to do. It can be within the job you have now. If you could do anything within your company, what would it be? If you don't see anything within your company, start looking outside of it. Find something you want to try and then do it. You don't have to know what will lead you to happiness, you only have to know what you want to try. If you don't like it, then you find something else to try. Keep searching and changing and doing new things. Don't be afraid of the future that will unfold based on your choices...if you are bored or unhappy now, it will be better than where you are.

Not making a choice helps no one. Once you become frustrated or bored, you are no longer able to do great work. Yes, you can get by, but who are you really helping? You don't have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. All you need to know is what things you would like to try. No one knows exactly what the future will bring, but if you have ideas, you are already ahead of many of us. If you start acting on these ideas, you will be doing something many of us only talk about. 

Really think about this. What do you really want to do? This shouldn't be a scary question, but a question your have multiple answers for and are excited to answer. We shouldn't paralyzed, but instead should jump at any opportunity to continue moving forward. Yes, you may end up thinking you would have liked it better if you didn't make the change, but this should only be a fleeting thought before deciding it is time to move forward again. Keep pushing ever forward and trying new things.

If you have been reading this blog and continue to come back, my guess is you are not the type of person who is going to stick with the same job for the rest of your life. We live in an age where most people will not stay with the same company for their career and then retire. We are doing something new and different, something our parents and their parents wouldn't understand. We are searching for what will make us feel good. We are searching for the niche where we will be able to do the most good. We are constantly changing and moving around and trying new things. We have multiple interests and talents and want to try them all out. The world is constantly changing around us and we need to change with it.

What do you really want to do? Instead of freezing when asked this question, spend enough time thinking about it to come up with multiple answers. We only get one shot at life, shouldn't we give it everything we've got? No excuses. No hesitation. Start moving.

Lead or Manage

Leader---A leader moves forward, showing others the way. They don't take charge; others follow because they have faith the leader knows where they should go. This is a big picture person, they see things others don't or can't see. A leader is not afraid to take risks and chances because they know this is the only way to continue to move forward. They may motivate and encourage others, but their main goal is movement towards their desired outcome. The day to day operations don't matter as much to them as long as these activities aren't holding them back.

Manager---A manager focuses on the day to day activities and makes sure the people are doing what they should. Managers schedule and grade and are more concerned with what is happening now. Good managers will also coach and motivate, but see this as a way to get the work of today done in a better way. Managers focus on making sure things are running as smoothly as possible and will often be the ones tapped to make tweaks and changes to the operations in hopes to improve them. People don't follow managers, but in many cases, will respect them as the authority in their day to day interactions.

In almost all situations, it isn't possible to be both a leader and a manger at the same time. Yes, both of these positions are important, but they take different mindsets to accomplish. Great companies have both, but the world is full of managers, while leaders are much more scarce. All of us are capable of doing either...both take work, but leading is much more difficult than managing. Leading takes more time, a lot more courage and the ability to focus on where we should go. The world needs more leaders...where do you want to take us?