Leslie’s Articles
7 Ways You Can Reconfigure Your Future in 2010
First, the words “recalculating” melodically flow from your GPS. Then sternly, like an admonishment from your second grade teacher. Who has not heard the judgmental tone in the voice of your GPS as you miss a turn she has so methodically planned for you? So your GPS is forced to configure another route on the journey to your final destination. She “recalculates”, figuratively pursing her lips together as she says with assurance, “recalculating”. And she does. Because there is always another way to get to where you are going, literally and figuratively.
What if we could all be our own GPS? Confidently, assuredly, assertively refiguring our journey. What if you were confident enough to re-calculate on your own?
Note the manner in which you use a GPS. You have to know your final destination before your GPS or Mapquest can be engaged. Your first step is to enter the destination. As wonderful a piece of technology as GPS is, it can’t work if you do not enter an end destination As you read this article, it is the first of the New Year. Do you know where you want your business to be at the end of this year? As wonderful as your business, your service, your idea, or your product is, it is handicapped if you do not know your destination.
Your GPS is confident that there is another route. Are you? Confidence is at the core of every example of leadership whether you are leading a dance partner, a team, or a company. What is confidence and where does it come from? Webster defines confidence as a state of being certain. Who am I to tell Webster, but I believe that definition falls very short of what we need on a daily basis.
You may or may not know this, but confidence plays a huge part in one’s success. Ohio’s Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, when talking about students, says, “Confidence is the most important thing”. What is confidence and where does it come from? Alan Weiss, Summit Consulting, explains it in this way, “We need to understand that confidence is based on the belief that you can help others to learn, arrogance is based on the belief that we have nothing left to learn”.
Self-confidence can be the difference between feeling unstoppable, and feeling scared out of your wits. David Brooks writing in the New York Times warns of overconfidence. He claims that 94% of college professors think they are above average, and 90% of drivers believe they are above average.
As a Communication Coach working with executives and their teams, I find a lack of self-confidence at the leadership level. Without confdence, there is no leadership. Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows.To try to exhibit leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may look good from the outside, but it is shaky at best. While the leadership community has focused on passion, communication, and empowerment, they’ve ignored this most basic element in the process.
Leaders need followers. Followers sense indecision and are hesitant to follow a tentative leader. Imagine if your GPS said, turn right at the light, no turn left, maybe you should go straight. History has shown that people will follow a horrific leader who strides confidently in a direction even when the direction is wrong. Confidence is that important. Where does an individual’s confidence come from? Where does our country’s confidence come from? Confidence comes from repeated success. The key is to have a final destination in mind and start with small successes.
Where will your final destination be in the end of 2010? Tony Crasci of the Crasci Company, Inc. had to recalculate. A builder of high-end homes, his company has weathered the downturn by becoming expert remodelers. Recently he walked into a new construction site and smelled an unfamiliar smell. Taking a deep breath he tried to recognize the vaguely familiar scent. After an 18-month hiatus from building high-end homes, the smell of new construction was the smell of the future, of confidence. He had recalculated and was prepared to stride confidently in the direction of success. In your own way, smell the wood.
You Can Exhibit Confidence in 7 ways:
Dress
Posture & Walk
Expertise
Handshake
Preparedness
Focus
Fitness
When all else fails, fake it until you make it . . . until you develop the confidence you need to get to your next level of excellence.
