Confidence

My close personal friends, Joe Friel and Gordon Byrn, wrote a book not too long ago about training for Ironman triathlons. One particular comment they made about confidence has been in my mind lately:

"Confidence...is easily lost, usually through our own initiative. Inside each of us is a small voice that likes to criticize. It often points out our shortcomings and limiters. Success comes in large part from merely learning to control that voice while providing constant positive feedback."

How true. I know that many times, that small voice has tripped me up. Sometimes it says skip the workout, other times it gives me a hard time for not having done a workout. It tells me to eat the crap food and then afterwards criticizes me for my lack of self-discipline. It even criticizes other people and shades my impressions of them! The sad part is that all of it is coming from within. The good part is that one can, through patient replacement of those criticisms with positive thoughts, minimize the effect.

The good book sums it up nicely: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)

So what's my point? There are entire books written about this, but my take on it all is this: you become aware of that voice, you seek to minimize it by thinking positively about yourself and others. Why the Cary Grant picture? Because that guy (at least in his movies) was the very epitome of confidence, and really having him for that "little voice" in your head would make one very, very smooth indeed.