Confidence - it's not what you think

Jay and I spent the majority of this past week attending one of Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Academy.  If you’re not familiar with Brendon and his work and research, you owe it to yourself to check him out.  He is The Big Gun in the world of personal development but he is also unique in that his authenticity and genuine care for people comes through in everything he does.

One big take away I was reminded of was this thing called CONFIDENCE.  I have had a struggle maintaining confidence when I move into any area that even slightly feels unfamiliar or vulnerable.  (Ahem…You may recall one of my earlier posts about hiding in high school locker…)

Brendon teaches a different meaning that can change everything. Commonly accepted meaning sounds something like, “unwavering belief in oneself or what one is doing.” Ironically enough, it seems that the blowhards and smoke blowers are the ones that have the most confidence.  Confidence and expertise appear to be inversely related but I digress. 

Brendon’s meaning is this: Confidence is the trust in your ability to figure things out.   That’s it.  It is both simple and profound.

Confidence is having trust in your ability to figure things out.

I can be confident not because I have all the answers.  I can be confident not because I’m doing the “fake it till I make it” Bovine Scattology.  I can be confident not just because of my successes.  (That can be easily derailed as there are far more failures than successes!)

Think of all the things that you’ve already figured out.  From how to walk, to figuring out how to navigate the internet. None of the skills you have acquired are because it was endowed to you.  You are a genius at figuring things out and you didn’t even know it! 

That current conundrum?  The difficult decision?  Have confidence, my friends.  I know you can figure it out.