Choose Action, Not Confidence

Do you need to feel confident before you take action, or do you need to take action before you feel confident? 

In this video, I will answer this question (and spoiler alert - there is only one right answer). 

If you’re reading this blog or watching this video, you probably aim to be unstoppable. And most coaches out there will tell you that you do this by building unstoppable confidence so that you can go out and do great things. 

This. is. Backwards. 

You don’t have to be confident to take action. (read that again)

That’s empowering and icky all at the same time.

In my 14 years as a coach in the personal development space, I watched countless clients make the mistake of chasing confidence BEFORE taking action. And while I can completely understand this logic, it is a dream killing mistake. 

Confidence is overrated.

While I like how it feels as much as anyone, confidence not a prerequisite to action. In fact, action IS a prerequisite to earning confidence.

Building confidence before doing something sounds good on paper, until you think it through. You can’t get confident at something before you do it. 

If you want to learn to ice skate, you’re gonna have to eat some ice before you get competent...let alone confident.

The kid is in us knew this. She wasn’t afraid to experiment - she wasn’t afraid to try new things and see if she liked them. She wasn’t afraid to suck at a musical instrument or a sport to see if it might be for her. She knew that the first time she did a cartwheel wouldn’t be stellar, and she was NOT confident the first time she did it. She was probably terrified. But she also instinctively knew that the only way to figure out how to do that cartwheel was to try.

The need to feel confident before taking action is really just perfectionism run amok. Perfectionists want to excel straight out the gate with no struggle or missteps or “charming years.” 

Confidence isn’t something you build; it’s something you earn.

You don’t build confidence in watching YouTube videos or reading self-help books or even hiring coaches like me. 

Confidence has to be earned by getting out there and taking imperfect action before you’re ready.

If you want to get confident, you have to try. You have to start. You have to act. You have to fall down seven times, and get up eight.  

So choosing action instead of confidence is a simple, proven way to radically change your life.

Here's a few ways . . .

:: obviously, you’ll get more done :) 

:: you’ll fail faster - saving so much of your precious time

:: you’ll succeed more often

:: you’ll build resilience

:: you’ll take more risks

:: you might even change the world

Your Turn :: What action are you not taking right now because you’re waiting until you feel CONFIDENT enough to start? 

Text me at (213) 214-0862 so I can help you get started!