The Power of Focus - Confidence and Stepping Into Fear

Strategy number six from our series on The Power of Focus is "Building Confidence and Eliminating Fear". Fear is usually the result on our imaginations creating outcomes ahead of time that don't reflect the true "facts" of a situation. Unfinished business is also a confidence stealer and can create negative actions. Building confidence can only be accomplished through action. Eliminating unfinished business, learning to get something done and stepping into fear is the pathway to freedom for winning.

No one is born confident. Confidence is acquired through deliberate action and a commitment to continuous improvement. We all have FUD or fear, doubt and unbelief to deal with at various levels in our lives. Step into the fear and "do the thing".

You experience abundance and freedom you need to deal with the FUD in your life. Fear breeds uncertainty and doubt and can spiral into an unhealthy approach to dealing with your life challenges.

What challenges, weights or unfinished business is lingering in your life because of fear? The longer you allow this things to linger and grow the more negative momentum you may be building and the more overwhelmed you will feel. You move from denial and indifference to confrontation. That is, confrontation of issues before you and simply step into you fear.

You will discover that usually there is nothing to fear and that you simply need to reign in an imagination gone wild with negative outcomes and just take action. Many issues loom larger than they really are and your imagination can actively work overtime in blowing your situations out of proportion when compared to the facts.
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Uncertain outcomes should not be the genesis of fear. Rather, it should be a cause to activate faith. Faith and belief in an expected outcome will empower you to step into your fear and faith bridges the gap between fear and confidence. 

The greatest way to build confidence is to act. Step-by-step you will build what I call a "series of wins" or history of achievement and accomplishment which boosts your confidence and trust in yourself. You will build confidence in the reality that you can get do whatever you need to do to succeed. Confidence is not a mystery. Confidence is acting with certainty.

Overcoming fear starts with simply asking yourself the question "what do I really fear?". Ask this of yourself routinely and address your answers with the follow up question of "what can I do to overcome this?" By doing this you are creating a strategic plan to attack your fears using self-knowledge as a key weapon.

Here are six confidence building strategies: 

1. Remind yourself of something you did well. Do something daily that will demonstrate an act of faith towards your goals and dreams and against fear is a confidence builder. Start small if you have to. Small victories lead to bigger ones. 

2. Read inspirational bios and autobiographies. This goes a long way to feeding your need to succeed. You can build a picture of inspiration and possibility in your mind that can get your imagination working for you and not against you. Replace images of fear with pictures of possibilities.

3. Be Thankful. Being thankful reminds you of what is right in your life and keeps your energy and focus on the good that is in you and around you no matter how challenging a situation you might be facing at the moment.

4. Build excellent support around you. Create a circle of people that will support you dreams and speak words that refresh you and remind you of your value, worth and potential. Team work makes the dream work. You need a support system for your success. No one is an island and success doesn't happen in vacuum. You cannot succeed alone. Build a dream team and start living your best life now!

5. Act now on your short-term goals. Tackle key unfinished business and objectives to accomplishment. Act on your goals. Getting things done is a great confidence builder. Do something daily that moves you closer to finishing a project, fulfilling a goal, expanding a relationship. You will begin it eliminate fear, failure and doubt. You will break free of guilt and break into confidence...one step at a time.

6. Do something for yourself weekly. This is big. Most people don't spend enough time celebrating themselves for the good they do and the tasks they get done. Be good to yourself and celebrate your weekly accomplishments. You deserve it! 

The road to confidence is paved with weekly victories and triumphs. Learn to applaud and celebrate your victories and your wins.

You will begin to build greater confidence by tackling unfinished business, stepping into your fear and creating those small victories. You don't have to do it all once. Take that first step to getting something done or finished and you will be well on your way to building unstoppable confidence that is focused for success and winning.