The first five months of this year have been the most challenging months of my life.
My oldest son had a stroke. My youngest son has been dealing with high-level anxiety since January. And after 15 years of marriage, Monique and I have been looking at every aspect of what it means to be married to assess if we are ready for another 15 years.
Well, Monique and I are clear that we are committed to being together. And we are taking one awkward, messy step at a time into our future.
And it turns out the stroke was a one-in-a-million experience and our neurologist is confident it will never happen again. That was an incredible relief.
Anxiety on the other hand proved to be much more ongoing. If you’re reading this, you probably know that I have spent much of the past five months running my business from the kindergarten playground at my son’s school.
This has helped massively reduce his anxiety.
Last week I was in tears because it was the first time in months that he went to school without me or Monique needing to stay for the whole day.
This has been the result of a huge combination of love, energy, and support. Plus, a great therapist, some NLP and some energetic clearing. And frankly time…
For the past couple of months, I used to say to him every day, “You are building your courage muscle.”
I was really touched when he said to me one morning, “I’m building my courage muscle today, Dad.”
Confidence without action is not confidence
Confidence is a belief in one’s own abilities and skills. But it needs to be combined with audacity and courage for it to make a big difference in your life.
Audacity is the willingness to take bold risks, often disregarding normal conventions.
Courage is the ability to face fear, discomfort, uncertainty, or intimidation and act anyway. It’s about facing and overcoming what frightens or intimidates you, even in the absence of skill or certainty of success.
In essence, confidence is about self-assurance, audacity is about bold risk-taking, and courage is about facing and overcoming fear.
It takes audacity and courage to make a $100K proposal. But the people who get 100K clients make 100K proposals on a regular basis. Confidence is a result.
It takes audacity and courage to build a coaching business by invitation and referral only. But the coaches who build a word-of-mouth business ask for referrals, even if they’re afraid to. Confidence is a result.
Confident people put themselves in situations where confidence can pay off. Which is why I’m inviting you to join me on my new program, Confidence In Action:
- You’ll build the confidence to sign 100K clients…
- You’ll build the confidence to make outrageous proposals…
- You’ll build the confidence to coach clients who are more successful than you…
- You’ll build the confidence to write a newsletter, launch a podcast, make videos, run live events…
- You’ll build the confidence to connect with fascinating people, even if they intimidate you…
- You’ll build the confidence to do what scares you. On a regular basis…
Be warned: You don’t build confidence, audacity, or courage in your head. So, I will only be teaching a little theory.
This is a program about action. And you will be taking it. Even if you feel scared. Especially if you feel scared…
It takes real confidence to acknowledge that you don’t have confidence. But confidence is a result, not a requirement.
Confidence in action looks like audacity.
Confidence in action feels like courage.
My son and I have just started writing a book together, called “A Little Scary Is Good.”
The featured image for this article is a sweet photo of us holding hands before we drove home together one afternoon.
He knows I’ve got his back.
I’ve got yours, too.
And there’s nothing more attractive to clients than deep confidence…
Join me this Thursday. It’s supposed to feel a little scary.
Love. Rich