Throughout the week I am challenged with producing quality original content for the Dream Big community to read and digest.  I try to post 3-4 original posts each week focusing on observations of the world around me, especially as it relates to setting and achieving goals, daring to chase dreams and learning to expect more of oneself.

Some weeks this task can be very difficult, leaving me with posts that feel manufactured and contrived.  Other weeks ideas flow with ease which leaves me feeling proud of my work and eager for you to read my latest thoughts.  I have responded to hundreds of comments, emails and private messages over the last week ranging from words of gratitude, general comments and questions/advice about posted topics.  And one conversation continues to emerge over and over: self-belief.

I do not want to dive deep into what causes self-doubt, nor do I want to directly discuss how to improve your confidence.  I want to talk about why you should have self-confidence.

Here’s the deal: many people lose their confidence because they lose their true self.  Life has a way of straining out originality and producing a very large segment of conformists.  I have written about this idea in the past: graduate school, get job, get married, get promoted, buy house, have children, raise children, pay for children’s education, retire, die.  In a nut shell that is life for the majority of individuals.  We allow ourselves to be turned into a person that looks, talks and acts like every other person around us.

What we forget is that there is not another human being on the planet like ourselves!

You are a unique individual, a one-off, an original.
There is not another person on Earth that sees the world the way you see it, that feels the way you feel, that thinks the way you think.  You are designed to be different in every single detail, so why would you not be confident?  There’s no one else with which to compare yourself!!  Your self-confidence will be as high as you allow it to be.  And the more you discover your unique, individual self the higher your confidence will grow.

The more you compare yourself to others and their accomplishments the more your true self-confidence will dwindle.

Think about life as a company.  Successful businesses are so because different people specialize in different jobs.  Each job requires a very particular skill set and produces something necessary for the department to survive.  When combined, the skills from each individual produces an overall company product which then can be sold for profit.  There are many different jobs needed for a company to succeed: HR, accounting, sales, administrative, sales support, manufacturing, etc.  If the entire company was composed of only sales staff, then who would make the product for the sales staff to sell?  Each person contributes a unique skill set to allow the company to survive.

And so it is with you. In order for the world to be ultra-successful each individual must contribute to life according to his or her unique abilities and talents. Determine what YOU are all about, not what others want or expect you to be.  Some people spend their entire lives in sales when they really should be in design and product development. The more you see yourself as a truly unique, special INDIVIDUAL, the more your confidence will grow.

You were designed to provide this world with your gifts and talents.  That is what makes the world successful!

Stop trying to live up to what others expect of you and start living up to what you should expect of yourself.

Celebrate your individuality.  Rediscover your true self and you will find your confidence.