Finding Your Confidence

We might like to believe otherwise, but the reality is that things don’t always go smoothly. Whether you’re just starting out, or have been in business for decades, no matter how successful you are or what you do, there are surprises waiting around the corner, obstacles for you to overcome, and problems to solve. So what do you do about it?

When you first run into difficulty, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. How am I supposed to deal with these problems? Sure, those super-successful CEO’s and business icons do it all the time, but they must have something special that makes it easy, right? It’s not a challenge for them, but it’s way too much for me to handle.

You might think that—but you’d be wrong.

It’s not that successful people have some secret gene that makes it easy for them to deal with challenges. They have the same doubts, the same anxieties, and the same fears—especially when they ran into their own first obstacles. The thing that makes them successful is that they choose to deal with reality, tackle their problems, and look for solutions. And the more you do it, the more comfortable you get.

Note that I didn’t say it gets easier. It’s still challenging, uncomfortable, and takes a lot of hard work, thinking, and teamwork to solve these problems. But you get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You can accept it for what it is and move forward to solutions instead of dwelling on the simple fact of having problems. It’s a conscious decision, one that you have to make every day and every time you face obstacles.

So the next time you find yourself in a tough situation, don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t feel inadequate, that you’re not as capable as other people of figuring things out. Step up to the challenge. Meet it head on. And challenge yourself to find a solution.