The Power of Confidence: Nurturing Confidence | Part II

We started talking about The Importance of Confidence last week on “Care City Weekly.” This article is a continuation [the second part].

Confidence is a superpower 

Last week [on Care City Weekly] we started talking about confidence. This week, we will be rounding up [though there’s still a lot to talk about; besides, who finishes talking or writing about any topic? Nobody].

A lot of people have stepped into greatness because they were simply confident in their “growing” abilities.

They were not yet masters of their craft, art, or profession when they started, they just understood the importance of being confident in their abilities.

This is what you must know, my dear friends.

You must be confident in yourself. And if you have discovered that you lack confidence, here are some “personal” tips that will help your confidence level grow.

• Know that you are worthy: This is important. Never look down on yourself. Never. If you are human and are alive, you are special and unique, and you have an important role to play here on planet earth. You are not useless. You have talents and gifts that can change people’s lives for the best. There’s goodness inside of you. Greatness lives inside you. You are worthy. You have the potential to be great. It all depends on you. The first step in developing confidence is knowing that you are worthy and not worthless. Thank God for science and research. Recent research in neuroplasticity has discovered that human beings can rewire their brains. So, this implies that if you die with your potential, it’s nobody’s fault but yours. You refused to do anything about releasing the hidden genius in you. The blame falls on you. You can choose to be confident. It’s not magic.

• Discover yourself: People who lack confidence don’t know what they are carrying. The disease of not knowing what you carry will prevent you from believing in yourself. How can you believe in something that’s not tangible to you? The path to self-discovery is not the same for everyone. People are built differently. But there are universal principles that you can apply to your own journey. There’s no self-discovery without work. You can’t just sit idle and wish for the goodness within you to manifest. You have got to work. And when I mean work, I mean engage yourself. Get a job, and do it diligently. If you want to take the entrepreneurial or business path, then do it with all your heart. It’s people who do things with all their hearts that get to release their potential. Through work, and interacting with other people, you will naturally discover what you can do and what you are not cut out for.

• Interact with people who are full of confidence: The confidence mindset is highly contagious. If you walk and work with a man who exudes self-confidence, in no time you will also begin to realise that you are naturally becoming more confident. If you work and walk with timid folks, their nature will rub off on you and you will begin to behave like them. It’s like staying around firewood. The longer you stay around firewood, the more it smells on you, and when you leave that environment, people around you can still smell the burnt wood all over you. That’s the way it is. If you walk with successful people, you will begin to behave like one. You will not become like them overnight, it’s not magic. What happens is that you will see how they talk, how they manage their time, how they build relationships, and how they read and learn. It’s the qualities that position them to become successful and keeps them successful that you will naturally begin to emulate if you are a person who desires to grow [and not a fool].

• Ingest materials that boost your self-confidence: Books, podcasts, videos, etc. Be hungry at all times for quality content that feeds your strength and inspires you. The media world is filled with a lot of junk. I am not saying entertainment is bad. But when it becomes too much, it becomes a poison that can kill you. If you only live for entertainment, tell me, how will you ever grow? To entertainment, add education, add learning, and build relationships. Don’t just lie on your couch all day during your free time or free days, laughing at TikTok videos, watching funny giggly reels on Instagram, or spending too much time on Netflix. Find something productive to do with that little free time you have. That’s the habit of champions. Greatness does not come on a platter of gold. You have got to put in the work.

• You are still growing: Learning is a life-long process. There’s still a lot you can add [and sometimes subtract] to your life as a creator, artist, leader, innovator, parent, or entrepreneur. When you know that there’s room for improvement, you will better understand your growing abilities, and when you make mistakes or produce work that isn’t so awesome, you will be soft on yourself and not get too hard on yourself, beating yourself up. However, what you must keep in mind is that growth and learning must keep taking place. Don’t remain in one spot, keep adding here and there, until you are refined enough to be called a master or a pro.

• A mentor can help: A good mentor can help you. A mentor who knows how to play the confidence game. Get close to them and let them know what you need from them. That’s what mentorship is all about; helping people who need help with growing. 

• Focus on what you want: Focus on what inspires you and take your gaze away from what scares or frightens you. Meditate on your wins and success. Discard your failures, you have already learned from them. Keep your wins close; those are your medals. Your failures are your scars, keep them hidden under your garment.

Without confidence, your hidden potential will never escape the Alcatraz of self-doubt and worthlessness. It’s confidence that rescues your abilities and potential from the grip of death.

Many have died with greatness buried inside them because they couldn’t take the bold step forward. The bold step forward in confidence.

Self-confidence will help you in every area of your life.

• In your relationship with everyday people.
• In your business life.
• In how you manage stressful life situations and circumstances.
• In your work life.
• In your marriage and how you relate with your children.

Confidence is one of the currencies champions need to live productive lives. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy some of the wonderful things in the world of science and technology, entertainment, governance and politics, arts and culture, you name it. Confident people are the ones who have gone ahead to change the world. You can be one! It all depends on you.

When You Fail? 

Yes. You will fail. Many times. And you will feel like giving up. That’s normal. We are humans.

Because you are a “Big Bag of Confidence”, does not mean that sometimes you won’t perform poorly, create work that isn’t so awesome, or get criticised by people who are better or not better than you.

It’s all part of the whole process.

The tough seasons in life and the unpalatable situations are meant to make you stronger.

If you get used to comfort zones, you will find out that there will be nothing to challenge you to learn and grow. And when you stop learning and growing, you limit your reach and your confidence level is reduced along the line.

There’s still a lot to write about confidence. It’s outrightly impossible to cover everything about self-confidence in one article. I hope to write more about it in the future, and I believe you have picked a thing or two from this short article.

It’s all in your hands.

The fulfilment of your destiny lies in the bold decisions you make today.

Are you ready?

Here are some articles/blog posts I enjoyed reading while writing this article. I think you will also find them interesting. Check them out:

• Use it or lose it: the science behind self-confidence | Forbes.
• Manipulating brain activity to boost confidence | Science Daily

Care City Weekly is the official newsletter of Care City that condenses all that is happening in Care City into one piece for our readers to enjoy. We also feature content from our partners and friends, as well as other reliable web sources [blogs, magazines, journals, etc]. Just for your reading pleasure.