I solved the chicken & egg mystery or did I?

If you ask me what came first between the chicken 🐔 and the egg 🥚, I have no clue! But between confidence and courage, I know it's NOT confidence. 

Do you find yourself waiting to feel confident before doing that thing you always wanted to? The same thing that fills you with fear but you know it’s good for your growth?? 

Confidence takes time to build. Read on to find out what can help build confidence in taking those first steps. 🍃

There's so many times we WAIT to feel confident, to feel READY to do the "thing", which could be asking for a promotion or even raising your hand to ask a question. The thing is, confidence gets built over time as you build your skills and experience and as you DO things. To do things that we've not done before and things that fill us with fear, what we need to hone into more than confidence is courage. 

Building confidence by being courageous:

Courage is feeling and being brave, knowing that it won't be perfect and that's part of the learning and growing process. It's basically what enables us to get outside our comfort zone.

I can personally relate to this in two ways that stand out in my own experience:

• 💻 When I left my job last year, people told me "Anne you are so courageous". Nobody told me I was confident and I did NOT feel confident. I was still a coach in training and the reality is I will be forever as there's always things to learn, reflect and build upon. What I did have at the time was a level of commitment to the decision I made and courage to follow the pathway. I knew with my heart and mind in the right place, it would only be a matter of time until my skills were built and I could feel confident. This is of course a journey as there's always going to be another step to stretch and grow.

• 💃🏽 When it comes to my personal hobbies like dance if I wait for the day I feel confident to dance solo in the middle of a group, that's not going to happen right away if I keep waiting for everything to be perfect! Instead if I just honed into feeling courageous, trusting that everyone is here to support me and knowing that I am still showing up as the best version of myself today - that's what will help build my confidence faster. I did this recently in a dance masterclass when the teacher asked if there was someone wanting to do a solo and not feeling ready. I thought that's me and jumped in. Was I confident? NO. But it felt damn good to do what I could with the choreography I had just learnt. This unlocked a level for me which has also inspired others to volunteer.

We all have dreams and goals we aspire for. Sometimes we get into a spiral of not liking where we are or what we have as we have not reached our goal yet. If we really want something, then we would need do what we have not done before. 

Expecting change or results by continuing to do and be as usual will not help us reach new goals. May get lucky but do you want to just rely on luck? 🤔

The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan:

Want to achieve bigger and better goals making your future bigger than your past? The 4 C’s Formula by Dan Sullivan reminds us of how to create 10x breakthroughs and avoid the traps of complacency and courage-avoidance. 

1. 🎯Commitment

2. 🌱Courage

3. 🛠️Capability

4. 🤩Confidence

I like how commitment is the first to bring in the intention, motivation and focus on a goal. Then of course the courageous part which is all about embracing failure, being imperfect and learning in the process. The more we do this, we build our skills and capability which leads to a boost in confidence. Yes, this confidence boost can fuel further commitment and courage to keep stepping outside your comfort zone. ⚠️ Warning: this can become quite addictive and it's up to you to manage priorities and impact on what's important in your life and WHY!

So do YOU find yourself WAITING to feel confident before trying something new?

💭 What's a courageous action you can take to help you build confidence?

Hello👋🏽 Thank you for reading this far! I'm Anne, passionate about helping people grow and get addicted to living outside their comfort zone for what matters to them. I do this through coaching, sharing thoughts and most importantly leading by example in my own life. 🌱

Feeling ready to take courageous steps toward your WHAT-IFS? ✨ Reach out for a chemistry check and to see if coaching is the right fit for you: DM me on LinkedIn or email anne@unhiddenpotential.com.