During our play date last month, my friend Laurel Englehardt showed me the piece of paper she had been utilizing to clean her brayer…it was spectacular! I told her it would be a fabulous background, so she handed it to me. When I read this quote from Vince Lombardi, I knew this background was the right one to use to express his words:
Confidence is contagious. So is the lack of confidence.
– Vince Lombardi 1970
If you have to catch something from someone, instead of it being the flu, catch their confidence. Being around confident people, those who make decisions and proceed no matter what, can change our attitude and outlook. You know these people, the ones when you make a suggestion, start the car and open the door for you to jump in! They are excited, confidence, ready to move AND are excited that you will be on the journey with them. Confident people are not always the first to speak, yet when they do they have thought out their response AND are ready to discuss it with enthusiasm and conviction. They have a belief that things will work out AND if things don’t work out, there is always a viable plan B.
How do these people gain confidence? The ones I know try, fail, try again and absorb the learning. They are willing to risk and do, maybe even do it over, so next time an idea needs effort they have experience and knowledge to help them be successful. When they get knocked down – and they do – they get back up wiser and stronger, ready to try again. I knew. woman who lacked confidence at work. She never shared her ideas, she always agreed with the prevailing opinion in the room, and she quietly acquiesced in every meeting. When I spoke up and gave my opinion, she would ask me later how I had the courage to do that. I told her, “I was looking for a job when I found this one…if they wanted me to be quiet and not question their ideas, they hired the wrong gal. If they don’t want me to think, then why am I here?” She laughed. She told me many months later that she was always afraid of losing her job, so she played it safe. It made her feel bad about herself. We then talked through that fear, she slowly realized that she was compromising who she was and what she believed out of fear. Next meeting she voiced an opinion, and no one balked at it…she smiled…and I thought Vince Lombardi would have been proud of her.
Confidence is indeed contagious…so is the lack of confidence. We choose everyday how we want to present ourselves, and that choice has consequences. We can be confident, even if we are trembling inside. We can share our ideas and risk being rejected. We can do it knowing that there is a chance people will like what we say! We will get knocked down, and we will then get right back up – smarter, wiser and more experienced for our next time at bat. The best way to build your confidence it to keep doing, learning, and doing more. Failure is not fatal unless you choose for it to be. The best people I know are really great at failing, they do it all the time…which has made them VERY wise! That’s why I hang out with confident people…it is indeed contagious! Never fear failure, embrace it, learn from it, and move forward in confidence.
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