No Is Free

It’s a curious notion how rejection is free.

It costs nothing to be told no. There are zero consequences to passersby doing what they’re labeled to do – pass by.

So it goes with hitchhiking or publishing a novel or booking a gig, all it takes is one person to ask you on board and the confidence begins to build.

Perhaps, though, picking yourself up, self-publishing and organizing an event to play at is more beneficial to one’s confidence than waiting to be picked.

After all, picking yourself is free too.

 

Stay Positive & Don’t Wait For A Yes

What Are You Doing It For?

Core Values

A lot of things get done throughout the work day merely because someone was too scared to say STOP or lacked the confidence to ask why they were assigned to do what they were.

From an employee stand point, every task is an opportunity to reaffirm what you’re doing it for. It’s why company culture, company goals, and, most importantly, the company message is so vital to know and understand.

Often times, when one is doing a task one deems unnecessary, they still have a legitimate purpose for doing it when they know why the company is in existence (its core value).

But not every company shares its why. Not every company inspires their employers to be part of their movement. In fact, not every company is moving.

So we must fall back on our own values. We must ask why. We must understand what we are doing this or that for… and appreciate it.

From a manager’s perspective, if employees aren’t asking why, if they’re not seeking out work that matters, then it’s an indicator of a larger company problem.

Do work that matters or be the company culture changer. They need you.

 

Stay Positive & Ask, Know, Care

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Let Your Work Speak For You

Let Your Work Speak For You

Boats in a row at sunset.

I’ve made the mistake a few times of talking about being confident. It’s never taken very well.

The solution was and is simple. I shut my mouth and let my work speak instead. The solution solves a lot of other issues as well. Instead of saying a task done one way is better than another. Just do it. Show it. Prove it.

Instead of delegating difficult work or simply assigning something you can do better to someone else, switch it up. Take on the work that matters and hand over  the work that doesn’t speak much for you.

Do it your way when work is assigned to you. If you’re concerned that your way will be too off what is expected, make both creations and see which sells better. The best way to let your work speak for itself, after all, is to put it side-by-side with a second option.

It’s just a fact people will listen to your work more than they will listen to you talk about it.

 

Stay Positive & Accept It And Leverage The Knowledge

Photo credit to friend, Kirby Wright, whose work speaks for him

You Need A Sexy Website Revamp

The design of your site isn’t as important to those who view it as it is to those who provide the content on it.

That’s the truth.

You can have a really ugly website your market audience still uses. You might think it has an extravagantly negative impact on their experience and if you could just have a sexy website revamp, you would attract more customers/readers/clients/subscribers. That’s just not the truth.

An ugly, but usable website doesn’t have that large of a negative impact on a customer (unless well designed websites are what you’re selling).

The real negative impact is on you and the team who stands behind the brand, the business, the blog.

How can you be comfortable publishing a professional and well-thought-out article on a website that looks janky? How confident can you be answering the phone and talking to people who got the number from your hideous website?

Yes, design to a degree matters to your target audience, but never as much as it matters to those contributing content on it.

 

Stay Positive & Your Site Doesn’t Just Showcase Your Brand, It Builds The Confidence Of All Those Behind It

Static Confidence Is Key To Success

Everything about success entails confidence. It takes courage to tackle a piece of complexity and render it simply for others. It takes spirit and tenacity to stay in it for the long run, the long-haul. You can read every step-by-step guide to becoming an author, the next greatest blogger, an entrepreneur, an artist of any sort, but what each guide fails to explain is each step requires confidence before you take it. You may have every skill mastered to move on to the next step (if you are reading this, you likely do), but no one moves forward in ability without confidence.

From the wise words of Anna Deavere Smith, “confidence is a static state, determination is active.” Confidence is like a water pack you carry on your back while you chase your dreams, except, the closer you get to your dream, the more confidence you need, the heavier the pack gets. Whatever you do, do not drop the pack. It takes confidence to not move backward too.

Confidence makes you compelling and influential. It sends a signal to all those around you that you are an asset to the group (a group you may or may not be part of). Confidence is nothing you talk about or brag about, it’s what other people attribute to you.

The part about confidence no one talks about is mettle and moxie; the willpower centers of loss, the excitement of failure, the determination to get off the ground, knees scathed, and start running at the same pace you were. Moreover, it is the brashness to move forward after the “safety guaranteed” label is removed.

Returning to the step-by-step guide analysis, it’s worth reiterating you do not need to complete a step to have confidence to take the next. You can be void of skill to take the next step, but still take it – powered by confidence. For some, it may still be successful. For others, failure will ensue and you must use the mettle and moxie legs of confidence to either retry that step or move up on a different step. Confidence is a choice. Always is.

 

Stay Positive & While You’re Being Dynamic, Check To Make Sure You Still Have Your Confidence Pack

 

Don’t Change, Run With It

Complicated ColorsI love painting. I’m super optimistic. And a lot more weird than you. I run with it.

Instead of being less weird/more normal, I justify my weirdness. I profess we’re all weird, I write that the weird is what sells most and the weird (the vulnerability being weird requires) makes us a more successful society.

Instead of lowering expectations, letting go of my confidence and settling on someone else’s “reality,” I defy the naysayer. I isolate the Debbie-downer. I raise the bar even higher to create a new reality and I’m happy to bring .

My SO can vouch for me that I have a problem with putting too many colors into my paintings. Instead of learning how to paint with just a couple of colors, I’m learning how to paint with them all.

You don’t need to change, what you need to do is run with it. Run with your odd way of thinking, run with your risk-taking, run with what the critics hate on. If you’re looking to stand out, looking for success, looking for something that’s very rewarding, you can’t just walk with it, you’ve got to run with it.

 

Stay Positive & Please Don’t Change

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Initiating Scared

Scared, Change Your LifeIt’s really quite simple. Just come up with a way to change something in your life, large or small. Are you going to drink more water each day this year? Are you planning to make a big move later this year? Are you wanting to write more on your blog this year?

There’s a lot you can do that is easy this year, but nothing is easier than initiating scared, so why not do it?

Do something easy so you can focus more on doing something that’s difficult, say, perhaps, overcoming scared?

By doing something easy, you create more time to focus on setting your expectations for the difficult, on building confidence for the difficult, on actually doing the difficult.

 

Stay Positive, But Not Scared

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