the self-confidence roller coaster

Once I got to a certain point career-wise, I thought I would always be as self-confident as the situation required. One of the things I'm learning is that as I try different things and stretch myself, my confidence needs to catch up. And the process is scary, annoying, frustrating, and a big ego downer most of the time.

I wanted to pass along a few things that have helped me deal with the uncertainty.

The Artist’s Way—Just because I work in business does not mean I’m not creative. I wept recognizing the symptoms of blocked creativity. Trying to do something differently is a creative process and learning to turn off my inner critic is, well, critical. I find myself constantly mumbling “don’t think, just do.” In fact, I’ve been drawing lately and it’s become my mantra. When I write a document, instead of rethinking, reworking and letting it sit, waiting to be perfect, I try really hard to DO not THINK. As soon as I start thinking, I’m done. I can find a 1000 reasons why it’s not right.

Not only is it important for individuals to stop second-guessing everything we do, it’s even more critical that organizations are more open to risk and even failure. It’s how we learn.

In this constantly changing, quarterly-results-oriented business world, how are we to bridge this gap?

“Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do
that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.”

—Patrick Lencioni
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

We’re going to make mistakes. We can’t avoid them. We can decide how we’re going to learn from them and move on.