Today we’re exploring “calm confidence” in the face of struggle, and my 5 steps to returning to a state of calm confidence if it’s ever shaken.

Confidence is often mistaken for cockiness, but confidence is not about being bold and blindly brazen.

Today we’re talking about “Calm Confidence.” This is a deeper knowing that you’ll prevail - or be OK - no matter what. Even if you don’t know HOW you’ll figure something out or HOW you’ll cope with a situation, you’ll have faith and presence of mind that you will. It’s knowing, believing, and focusing on the notion that all human beings are infinitely creative and resourceful, and trusting yourself to navigate your options and come out ahead – or at least OK - and ready for the next round of challenges. Everyone has confidence, but we don’t always feel it in certain situations. Here are 5 steps to accessing your calm confidence, especially in situations when it would otherwise be thrown off.

1. Trigger – Allow yourself to become aware of the feelings that your confidence has been shaken. If you feel nervous, off-center, stressed or aggravated, it’s probably because your confidence has been replaced with a state of doubt. Locate a place in your body where you typically carry those feelings when your confidence is shaken. Get yourself OK with the state of NOT being confident. When you feel it, let the trigger also be an awakening to a sense of awareness, and know that you’re already half-way to a new, confident state.

2. Awareness – Allow your awareness to shift to calm confidence. Allow yourself to remember what that means – the deep knowing that even if you have doubt, you have infinite creativity and resourcefulness. You have been confident before – so you know what that feels like and can create the feeling from memory. Declare yourself confident and powerful, even verbally and out loud. Allowing this awareness will put you in a receptive mode to access the ideas, creativity, and resourcefulness that will lead to a great solution.

3. Identify – Identify the following elements of your situation:

a. What’s working? – What’s already in place that you can continue to use to leverage an ideal outcome?

b. Ideal Outcome – What is the best possible outcome? Shoot for the Bull’s Eye – even if you miss, you’re still on target!

c. What’s broken? – What’s really wrong?

d. What’s missing? – Once you’ve established what’s really wrong, you’ll identify what’s missing in order to fix it.

e. What’s next? – Decide upon your next action steps to lead to an ideal outcome. What’s your best next step?

4. Take Action – When you know what your best, next step is, you still may have to muster up this courage to take action. However, consider that such an action might simply be a natural expression of the calm confidence you created by controlling your thoughts.

5. Don’t Quit – Don’t quit until the ideal outcome is achieved, or at least a satisfactory outcome is in place, even if it’s a temporary fix as you’re working toward a long-term ideal outcome. If you don’t quit, you can’t fail!

Always explore the question: what is the ideal outcome? Frame your strategy from that mindset and you’ll find yourself more likely to operate with focus, creativity, and resourcefulness to create the ideal outcome, or at least something much better than “just getting by.” You CAN get through any situation with calm confidence and productivity.

If you’re dealing with a particular situation and you’re unsure how to tap into your calm confidence, give me a call and we’ll figure it out together. :)