Not so confident
Confidence isn't a pre-requisite
“You seem so confident.”
I squirm whenever I hear a variation of those words. It’s obvious that there’s a gap between my self-perception and how others perceive me.
Confident is not high on the list of words I’d use to describe myself. Neither is it at the top of my list of attributes that builders and creators should cultivate.
In my humble opinion, confidence is overrated. I see lack of confidence used as an excuse far too often.
People seem to think that confidence is a pre-requisite for doing whatever it is they want to do. In reality, you build confidence by starting the process.
Confidence will come. Here are three traits—that also happen to start with the letter c (yay, alliteration!)—I’d focus on developing instead.
Commitment
I’ve come to the conclusion that what people perceive as me being confident is really just me being committed. When I decide to do something, whether it’s writing this newsletter or launching a coaching program, I’m committed to its success. That means I choose to do things that make me enormously uncomfortable.
I hate sales cycles. Self-promotion makes me gag. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it has made me feel physically ill on more than one occasion. This whole book selling journey, which involves both self-promotion and asking other people to help me promote, is going to be a nausea-inducing ride.
As queasy as I may feel, I know that part of being committed to the success of anything that requires another human’s involvement is talking about it—and talking about it often. So that’s what I’m trying to do.
Consistency
One of my StrengthsFinder strengths is responsibility. If I say I’m going to do something, I do it.
My first podcast, Be School, came out every weekday of 2019. Still not sure how I accomplished that one, tbh. I’ve sent out Inner Workout’s Self-Care Sunday newsletter every Sunday for three years.
With experience, I’ve learned to narrow my commitments. All projects don’t need to last forever. I’ve committed to publishing The Process Report, for example, once a week through June of next year. Maybe I’ll keep going after the fact. Maybe I’ll wind it down and allow it to be a beautiful time capsule of this season of my life. We’ll see.
One last thing: you can be infrequent and consistent.
An annual output is still consistent.
A quarterly output is consistent.
A monthly output is consistent, too.
Don’t let your attempts to do something more frequently undermine your ability to be consistent.
Communication
For those of you thinking, “But Taylor, don’t you quit stuff and pivot pretty regularly?”
Yes, yes I do.
I’m technically on my third podcast. This is personal newsletter number two. The Inner Circle is the second iteration of a subscription offer for Inner Workout. Lord knows what iteration of business model for Inner Workout we’re on.
Pivots are inevitable if you seek alignment and growth.
When a change happens, I communicate. I tell stakeholders what’s changing and why. You’d be surprised how willing people are to stick with you if you just tell them what’s up.
There are people on this newsletter who remember when my OG brand strategy business. There are customers who first knew Inner Workout as a mat-based practice who are now avid Inner Warmup listeners.
So much of business and creative work is about us communicating our ideas. Make sure you have ways for your community to talk back to you.
Some of my favorite ways to gather community feedback:
Surveys
IG polls
Office hours
Customer discovery interviews
There you have it. I’m not all that confident. But I am committed, consistent, and communicative. Those three traits have opened door after door for me.
Here’s what I’m currently processing and in the process of building:
How building a tech-enabled company is frankly kicking my ass
Extended mind theory (Shout out to my friend Danbee for introducing me to the concept!)
The lifestyle I want my lifestyle business to enable
The art of collaboration
LMK what you thought of this week’s report and if anything I’m currently processing strikes your fancy.