One of the things I’ve discovered about really smart and successful people is that they have massive amount of self-confidence.
It would be great if all of us were born and raised to be confident, but we know that just isn’t true. I know when I was first going into business for myself in 1998, I was not 100% confident that I would be successful. I can remember one incident right before I started where I had what could probably be called a small panic attack about starting my business. I laid on a hotel bed in Southern California and was overwhelmed with FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). I’ve also made plenty of mistakes along the way that made me question my abilities. Eventually I overcame the doubts and now I overcome any fear much faster than in the past.
If you want to start your own business, share a belief with the world, or be a public speaker you are going to need to muster up your self-confidence. I’ve summarized the basics of self-confidence into three beliefs that you have to start repeating to yourself. These beliefs are going to take time to absorb and become part of your daily mindset. But if you can start adopting these new mindsets, your self-confidence will increase rapidly and dramatically.
You’ve got to have a purpose.
Have something to say to the world. A mission, a path, a massive goal, or a methodology that people need to hear. Oftentimes, I see people that want to be more self-confident or outgoing, but they have no idea what to say. They know they want the attention, but they have no idea what they’re going to teach, what they would sell, or who would buy it. Have something to say. Have a belief, a strong opinion or a contrarian view point that people are interested in listening to. When you are the kind of person that has a strong opinion, people will listen to you. You’ll feel better when you begin speaking; people will follow you and you will be considered a leader.
Don’t have much to say?
Spend time figuring out what you believe in, what things you don’t believe in, and what things you can do to help people. Then write these down in an easy-to-understand format, then find a tribe or a group of people that will follow you and have the same beliefs you have. Once you have a tribe and a group of people that will follow you, you will gain more confidence because you’ll be around similar minded people with similar understandings, goals, and destinations as you.
Kill that perfection buddy.
Understand that you are not a perfect person. I know entrepreneurs that want to be on TV more or do more public speaking, but they are absolutely terrified that they are not going to do a great job. They’re afraid they’re going to make a mistake. They’re afraid they’re going to forget something. They’re afraid they’re going to look like a fool. They’re going to trip. Oftentimes, you’ll see this when people want to run classes or do conferences. It’s very easy to sit by yourself and broadcast from a webcam. It’s much harder to go in front of a group of 5,000 people staring at you and present the same information. One of the things I tell people is that they need to understand that you and I and everybody that’s ever done anything risky is going to make a mistake. You must put yourself out there. You must understand that mistakes are part of growth. Mistakes are part of success. In order to grow something and do something right, sometimes you have to do something wrong, sometimes several times.
So, understand that you’re going to make mistakes. But, luckily, most of the time people are not going to notice your mistakes. And lastly, remember that even if you do make a mistake, people are generally going to be very understanding of it. The net result and benefit to their lives is going to out-weigh the mistake.
Someone is begging for your help.
One of the things that’s made me more self-confident is realizing that I am the answer to someone’s problem. I am the answer to someone’s prayer. Right now, you have knowledge and wisdom in your head that somebody online or in your life around you are begging to hear. They cannot wait. They are in pain, whether financially, spiritually, physically, or relationship-wise. Somebody around you is waiting for your solution and more than likely you have something in your head that would solve their problem and alleviate their pain. It may not be a major pain, it may just be like a minor itch of some sort, but it doesn’t matter. You know something. If you’re someone who’s been on this planet for a couple of decades, you have smarts and wisdom that can really benefit somebody else’s life. Once you realize that and make it your purpose to share what you know and benefit other people’s lives, you will have a lot more self-confidence. This will then wrap around back to number one, which is that you’ll have something to say.
Having self-confidence can do a lot of things for you both with business and in your personal lives. It can make you a better public speaker, a better entrepreneur, a better mother, a better father, and just a better person overall.
In our world of entrepreneurship, you’re going to have to be competent in your abilities which will lead to confidence in your craft. Not confident that you’re perfect, but confident that most of the time you’re going to have a path and a destination and the right answers for people to follow. Someone who has self-confidence is considered a leader and people will follow leaders.
If you want to be a leader in your industry, start working on your self-confidence with these three things.