There is one word that presents the largest barrier standing between where we are today and the lives we want for ourselves.

So powerful is the impact of this word on our very being that it can weaken our performance, narrow our beliefs around possibilities and even, in extreme moments, cause temporary paralysis of our ability.

We have all, I am sure, fallen victim to the massive influence this word has on us and I have yet to meet anyone who cannot instantly remember an occasion when the absence of the power of this word has left them feeling ashamed and embarrassed.

It is difficult to accept one word can so profoundly influence the direction our lives take and yet the force of its power is evident wherever we look and cannot be argued.

That word is confidence.

Dictionary.com defines confidence as:

1. full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:

2. belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance:

It also tells us the antonym of confidence is mistrust and I must respectfully disagree.

In my opinion, the opposite of confidence is doubt and self-doubt is that seemingly unscalable hurdle blocking our entrance to the life of our dreams.

One of the most powerful and life changing lessons for all of us is the one in which we learn and except without argument or debate that “Everything we believe to be true is true … until it isn’t.”

Confidence is the undeniable belief that we can and doubt is the equally powerful belief that we can’t.

Sadly it is our self-doubt – a believe that we can’t – that all too often prevents us from even trying and when we do try, that sense of doubt can often prove so powerful as to lower the quality of what we truly are capable of delivering.

The sad part about doubt is that along with the statement, “Everything we believe to be true is true … until it isn’t,” is the fact that we human beings are little more than walking, talking opinions dressed up as facts.

In other words we naïvely take what we believe to be true and convert it into irrefutable, indisputable, inarguable fact agreed upon by all.

Both doubt and confidence reside in our heads and nowhere else. We all too often point to the past as justification for our doubt, let’s be very clear on one thing: The past does not, never has and never will equal the future unless we give it permission to do so.

If you accept that everything you believe to be true … until it isn’t, and if you also accept the dictionary definition of confidence being a belief, then it is but a short step to boost our confidence not only by what we do but by putting intense focus into what we believe to be true of ourselves and our capabilities.

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you believe you can or you think you can’t you are right” and in the wisdom of those words lies the solution to overcoming the absence of confidence and replacing it with certainty.

Doubt is nothing more than a belief that causes our lives to sink to levels we don’t want.

Most of our beliefs have no set basis in fact and, that being the case, we can with relative ease create powerful new beliefs that will enable us to allow our confidence to soar because the moment it does so do we.

And as we all know, “Life sinks or soars – the choice is yours.”

Someone should write a book about that.

Till we read again.