Ep. 61 -10 Minute Leadership Tactic- Importance of Confidence for Leaders & Ways to Fiercely Protect It!

As leaders as entrepreneurs, as managers, as supervisors. Not that I like supervisors much the term. And we talk about that in other videos, but it's really, really important for you to protect your confidence. Very, very important. And what does that actually mean? Well, in order to, to strive and to make good decisions and, and to do new things and to flourish and all of that stuff that goes along with,

with leadership and being at the front of the pack and those kinds of things, you really need to have a strong sense of confidence and an even stronger sense of self-belief. And that's a big currency for us as leaders. If we're not confident, if we're not sure of ourselves, if we don't have self-belief, if we feel like we suck all the time,

we won't have the energy, both energetically giving off, but also the energy and motivation to get things done and to do what's needed. As, as leaders we need as leaders to be able to speak during meetings, we need to be able to do videos. We need to be able to make those sometimes difficult decisions. We need to be able to engage with other people and initiate conversations and initiate sometimes what are difficult conversations.

And that takes a lot of confidence. So as a leader, protect that confidence, protect it as a valuable resource. In fact, it is one of your most valuable resources that you have now, how do we protect that many, many different ways, but for sure, one of the ways is to make sure that you are undertaking activities that actually build your confidence.

So maybe so it's like if you're a, if you're a really, really good defenseman in hockey, right? Play defense, don't play goal because you're going to suck at it. If you're playing defense, don't suddenly jump to center because you're going to suck at it. If you're in baseball and your, a pitcher don't turn around and be a catcher,

because you're going to suck at it. So play to your strengths, know what you're good at and do more of that. Now I'm not saying that you don't identify your weaknesses and work on them, but by golly, do not be wallowing in things that you're shitty at, because it will affect your confidence. Now, recognizing again, you want to build some build on your weaknesses as well,

right? Build those up and, and improve them for sure. But recognize that for what it is, you are entering into something that you suck at to develop, to learn that skill. And so recognize that you are going to be bad at it, and it's not directly related to your confidence. So you're going in intentionally knowing that, okay, look,

I'm, I'm doing this to get better at it. And I'm not going to be really, really good, especially early, but it's a developmental opportunity that will, that will help you maintain some of your confidence. Also keeping, knowing what you're good at and do more of that. We call it strength based leadership and strength based, you know, in coaching,

those sorts of things, figure out what you are good at and just double down on those leverage. So for me, for example, I am not a detail oriented person. I'm, I'm not, it's, it's not a skill that I have. It's not a, an attitude I have. It's not part of my personality. Really. I'm very much a strategic,

big visionary thinker kind of guy, a lot more relationship based and, and, you know, connection and, and, and the, the soft skills of leadership of which there are no such thing as soft skills. They're just skills, but I digress. So I, when I'm on an operation, when I'm leading and supporting a team like I am now,

or teaching or organizing courses or programs or anything like that, I shy away from the details. I shy away from the, the minutia of the logistics. If I can avoid it, I don't do very much spreadsheet work at all. I ask others to, to look after that on the team, things like certain budgetary, you know, work that we have to do,

of course I'm involved in it. But I recognize that for me to sit through working on a spreadsheet or an online, you know, financial program, a it's not interesting to me, B I'm not very good at it. See, it takes an awful lot of time to do that. And D for the, to our conversation, we're just having,

I'm not very good at it. And I feel like shit after I feel like I've, I feel like an idiot after I'm like, man, you know, this seems so simple on the should be so simple. So then I start that negative self-talk and then flip that around though. Something I, that I, I do enjoy a lot and that I do have some strength in is speaking public speaking.

And I enjoy that. I enjoy doing podcasts. I enjoy doing speeches and talks. I enjoy facilitation in front of a class and working with people and teaching and those sorts of things, which by all, by other accounts, people are afraid to death of public speaking, as they say, the cliche is it's, it's more fearful than death. I enjoy that.

And I'm pretty good at it. So I want to double down on those kinds of activities versus the things that I'm not very good at. So think to yourself then where else in your life reflect, where else in your life do you undertake activities that draw, but take away your confidence. Maybe it's a conversation with certain people that basically makes you feel like crap after.

And I think a lot of us have those individuals in our lives. Maybe it's those activities that you feel obligated to do, but you just, you aren't good at, and you feel like crap after and you struggle through it and you get frustrated. Maybe, maybe that's the budgeting, or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's you don't have confidence in public speaking and you actually enjoy doing the spreadsheets.

That's great, but really evaluate your life and do things that give you power that empower you, that give you strength that give you confidence. Because if you do more of those, then that will just build that confidence muscle. And that self-belief because, Oh my gosh, self-confidence self-compassion man. Oh man, we are lacking in that in a lot of areas,

particularly as we go through this prolonged issue that we're dealing with here in 2020 and 2021, there's a lot of people struggling, people that were previously flourishing and thriving and doing really well. And now just through so many circumstances are, are not feeling as comfortable and as confident as they were. And maybe that's you. So do an inventory. What are the activities that are taking away your confidence that are eroding yourself,

belief do less of those. Conversely, flipping that around. What are the activities and, and projects and, and conversations that you have that give you confidence, do more of that play to your strengths, not your weaknesses, because at the end of the day, your confidence is such a critical currency to you. As a leader, to you, as an entrepreneur,

to you, as a husband, a wife, a partner, a parent it's critical. So preserve that confidence, protect it and minimize the things that take it away. Hopefully that helps.