I have been working with several clients lately, helping them build and enhance their confidence. My ambitious clients are striving to level up their leadership game, communicate their needs effectively, and speak up and advocate for themselves. While I work with them on their mindset, limiting beliefs, and building the necessary skills, I have realized there is a missing element that I stumbled upon through a recent experience. Let me explain.
Part of my work involves building a wider audience, creating brand awareness, and seeking partnerships for my coaching business, Thiyah. However, I’ve been struggling with procrastination. I know that I need to take action, but I find myself getting swamped by other tasks or putting it off entirely. With it came complimentary feelings of guilt, not doing enough, and being hard on myself for not getting to it. And not to mention, it’s very hard to rest when I know that there is still work pending. This pattern was negatively affecting my confidence in my ability to achieve my goals.
However, last week I had a burst of energy, and I decided to break this pattern and do something that felt more authentic to me – start this newsletter. I didn’t let my mind convince me of reasons why this is not a good idea and literally acted on my impulse. While this wasn’t on my to-do list, it served the same goal of reaching a wider audience. In that moment, I received newfound confidence in my ability to achieve my goals.
This experience made me reflect on my clients and made me realize that sometimes confidence is seen before it is felt.
Confidence is about pushing yourself to outdo your own expectations and surprising yourself by reacting differently to a situation than you have before. It is about taking that risk and raising your hand in a meeting when every cell in your body is nervous about doing so or asking for 1:1 time with your colleague or co-worker to discuss the thing you have been putting off for so long because you want to avoid confrontation.
We build confidence in these little moments. These small moments remind us that we don’t have to live life in just one way. It’s a promise that we can do better, bigger things if we choose to surprise ourselves.
Lessons I am walking away with:
- Procrastination is information, lean into what about the task are you avoiding
- You will always have more energy when you do something authentic to you
- Confidence is not an end result but rather a series of small moments.
