Confidence is the key to unlocking your full potential, both in business and in life. But building unshakable self-confidence is no easy feat. Just ask TedX speaker Erika Cramer, the self-proclaimed “Queen of Confidence” who has helped thousands of people around the world to boost their self-belief. Erika recently took to the Business Blueprint stage to share her life-changing insights with members, lifting a lid on the real ‘magic’ that creates confidence. .
As Erika explains, confidence doesn’t come naturally for many people and most of us struggle with imposter syndrome. If you ask a room full of people to stand up if they lack self belief, even the people who look on the outside like they’re killing it are going to be on their feet.
After building her own business and launching a podcast that has now achieved over 3 million downloads, Erika reminds all business owners that confidence isn’t inbuilt, and acting confident doesn’t always feel good. In fact, it comes with negative feedback, criticism, embarrassment and judgement, but if you stop caring about what other people think, your inner confidence will begin to grow and every step will start to feel easier.
Building confidence is a journey, but Erica has five keys to unlock a faster pace.
5 Steps to Have Next Level Confidence
- Make Choices – Confident people are decisive. They don’t get stuck in indecision or analysis paralysis. Instead, they make choices and take action, even if it means making a few mistakes and going the wrong way from time to time.
- Have Courage – Fear is a natural part of the confidence-building process and it will leave you stuck in indecision. As a business owner, you need to embrace your fears, not run from them. As Erica asks, “Are you scared right now? Are you feeling quivers? Amazing! Keep going.”
- Create – Many business owners take mindless action and get trapped in a cycle of overwhelm and burnout, where they are exhausted but going nowhere. Cramer advises business owners to focus on creating with purpose and taking small steps to achieve their goals.
- Consider – After taking action, it’s important to reflect on the results, both positive and negative. This is where many people get stuck in a cycle of self-doubt and procrastination. But Cramer encouraged the audience to view “failures” as learning opportunities, rather than dead ends.
- Continue – The final step is to keep going, no matter what. Confident people don’t let setbacks keep them down for long. They get back up, learn from their mistakes, and continue moving forward. “Whenever you stop, you get stuck. Some people stay stuck for years,” says Erika.
“You have to go the wrong way, in order to go the right way.”
View the above as a cycle. When you come to step five, go back to step one and your confidence will grow steadily over time.
The following are Erika’s ‘homework’ assignments’ for business owners who are ready to build confidence:
- Chase your challenges. Don’t let fear hold you back — let it fuel you instead.
- Mess up and get back up. Mistakes are inevitable, so don’t be afraid to take risks.
- Reframe challenges as opportunities for growth. Every setback is a chance to build resilience.
Above all, Cramer emphasised the importance of working on yourself and not waiting for the “right time” to start.
“If you have a big and scary thing you need to achieve or do, it’s going to be hard. It’s not supposed to be easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it, and they’re not,” she says, “The real ‘magic’ of confidence is that there is no magic. It’s a matter of moving through the difficult things, one at a time. You’ll get to a point where people say ‘Oh it’s easy for you’, but the truth is you have fallen down, a lot.”
Practising confidence builds resilience, but this means a lot of hard stuff will happen to you along the way. Erika’s final message: “The difficulty you’re going through right now does not have to break you. It gets to make you.”
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