I think everyone is different in that regard. I’d say for me, when I haven’t felt confident, I’m a studier, I go to work, I feel like… One, it gets the jitters out, I’m like, “Okay, I know what it is that I’m supposed to do.” And the more I know what it is that I’m supposed to do, the more confident I feel that I’ll be able to do it, one.
But that’s me, like, I literally find that like, dig, like going into the soil and coming out, I feel more grounded, I feel more prepared. I also think it’s being really honest with myself. If the reason I don’t feel confident, it’s because I don’t really know what it is. I’m saying something, but I don’t believe it, or I’m doing something but I haven’t lived it. I think examining whether or not that’s actually the message. It’s okay, if the message is, “I’ve never done this before, so I’m taking you all on the journey of trying something new.”
Because in that authenticity, one, there are tons of lessons to be learned from you. But then secondly, I think we actually learn from connecting with humans and human experiences that are like ours. And I think sometimes there’s such a temptation for every package to have a bow on it. And I say to my team, now, “Bring me the envelope.” I don’t care if the papers are falling out, I don’t need the bow.
This is hard stuff. Like, shove it all in there and let’s have the conversation. And it’s okay, if it’s messy, and it’s okay, if it takes two more conversations. And so I think that actually helps people get more confidence when they don’t have to come to the answer in order to have the audience. And then they get the audience that appreciates the journey, and then the journey helps instill confidence.
