Do You Dare?

clarity Confidence fear of failure feelings inner critic self esteem self-doubt Thoughts

confidence inner critic self esteem thoughts

Posted: September 10, 2017

"ACTIONS INCREASE CAPABILITY AND CAPABILITY INCREASES CONFIDENCE" ~ Brooke Castillo Many of you want to feel confident. Remember you can't have a feeling without first having a thought. When you think about the feeling of confidence, what comes to mind? How is your inner critic adding her two cents to try and influence your thinking? Chances are she's doing a bang up job to help you think of yourself in a "less than" way, keeping you out of action.

Any Action Requires Risk Taking

Think about the first time you traded in your bike with training wheels and got on the "big girls" bike. Can you try and remember that initial feeling? You knew your Mom or Dad or whoever was holding onto you and that bike, would let go. You had to take a risk and trust, that you were ready. That you could do it. Back then, we were so young we truly didn't know what risk-taking was. We didn't have enough experience behind us to make risk taking mean a big deal and let fear stop us. But you rode that bike and chances are if you took a spill, you got right back on. And you rode that bike again and again and it became effortless. You felt CONFIDENT about riding that bike. It is by daring yourself to move through your fear of taking the risk, that you experienced accomplishment. And the thought of "I can ride that bike" equaled the feeling of confidence. None of us starts out as confident. We can be a great actress and fool the best of those around us in thinking we are confident, but we all had to start building up our confidence through an action.

This Week's Challenge

Choose one day this week and make it your Dare of the Day. Choose one small baby step toward stepping through something you have been putting off out of fear of risk taking. Here are some examples:

Make a recipe that you have had on your counter for weeks, wanting to try. The clincher is, to invite someone over and serve that dish to them.
Step into the gym that you've had a membership at, have been paying for, but have thought "I'll wait until I lose a few pounds" before you step inside.
You've wanted to leave work by 5 but the thought of "there's not enough time to get all my work done" overrule your work-life balance. Commit to that 5P quitting time for one day this week. Let me know if the world stopped.
That cute guy at the office who you've been thinking about asking out? Pick up a Starbucks and bring it to him (you can also choose to just ask him out).
You've wanted to attend a local MeetUp group but don't want to go at it alone? RSVP to it and show up.
You've had an unresolved conflict with someone and have been too proud to pick up the phone and initiate a conversation. Just do it!

What's your dare of the day? Take a baby step and schedule in your dare this week.!

Want Some Added Accountability?

I dare you to email me with your Dare of the Day and result(s)! drjoanne@joanneroyerphd.com Photo credit: Adam Jang on Unsplash