Dictionary.com defines confidence as meaning:
1. full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:
- belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance:
And doubt is defined this way:
- to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
- to distrust.
- to be uncertain about something; be undecided in opinion or belief.
Confidence and doubt: while the dictionary may not categorize these two words as being antonyms, in my day job as both a personal and business coach I hear many clients lamenting not having the confidence in themselves and their abilities they so richly desire, while at the same time, sheepishly admitting they are riddled with doubt and uncertainty.
In fact, I can say with absolute confidence that lack of confidence is cited as the number one barrier standing between where they are today and where they would like to be by more of my clients than all other reasons collectively.
Our emotions rule the quality of our lives and it is those very emotions – how we feel in each waking moment – that guide and determine what we do and how we do it.
Our sentiments determine our levels of energy and passion and the seriousness of the commitment we make to every task we undertake.
And confidence is nothing more than an emotion. It is a feeling deep within us that tells us in no uncertain terms that we can, that we are and that we will.
It is the feeling that enables us to overcome fear with determination, replaces anxiety with conviction and allows us to just “know that we know” even when all evidence is not yet in.
Most importantly, confidence is the absence of doubt and doubt is the greatest thief of happiness, the largest barrier to success and the greatest creator of fear and uncertainty we will ever encounter.
Doubt is the cancer that rips through our very being and robs us of the strength to even try because it raises our fear of failure to unmanageable heights. It continuously raises our risk aversion levels to the point where would become too paralyzed by doubt to even try.
If both doubt and confidence are feelings, and feelings are the catalysts from which we fuel our activities then getting past our doubt and filling ourselves with confidence must, out of sheer necessity, rank among the greatest, and most pressing priorities of our lives.
We cannot get our bodies into top physical shape and sustain those levels of conditioning by working out a couple of times a year. To attain these results we need to consistently train our bodies.
And those who take the time and make the effort to do so will all attest to how much their lives are improved by their making these efforts.
The same is true for confidence to rein supreme. We must train and condition our minds and brains to produce the feelings, and accompanying energy levels we desire.
The old adage, “energy flows to where our attention goes” is a commanding prompt that when we focus on feeling confident, remember those times when we had these feelings, and mentally project powerful states of confidence into our future, it won’t take long before these powerful feelings become our new normal and those haunting feelings of doubt are relegated to their rightful place in our history.
What we are focusing on right is our complete reality in this moment and as we focus on magnificent feelings of power and confidence those very feelings permeate our entire bodies and when confidence reigns supreme, we rule.
And just as with our physical bodies, we can’t play at this and wish for powerful and long-term, sustainable results.
We must work out at this often, and with the same or even greater intensity that we apply to a physical training.
When confidence banishes doubt, magic begins to happen and, let’s face it, who doesn’t want a little extra magic in their lives?
Till we read again.
