You ever wonder what confidence is?
Well, I was wondering that exact same thing today, so I went and looked up the definition of confidence in the dictionary. This is what I found:
- Full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing
- Belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities
- Trust or faith in a person or thing
- A feeling of assurance, especially self-assurance
- The state or quality of being certain
In other words, confidence is a feeling you get when you learn to trust and believe in yourself.
But how do you learn how to trust and believe in yourself?
Is that something you can buy, get or take from other people?
NO!
Confidence is something you have to build on your own, and the only way to build confidence in yourself is to TAKE ACTION!
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to play a sport, you have to actually practice that sport.
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to sing, you have to actually practice singing.
If you want to gain confidence in your ability to make money, you have to actually do the work it takes to make money.
Of course taking action and DOING these things that you want to do when you don’t have any confidence in your ability to do them well is tough.
The weird and wacky truth, however, is that if you’re willing to first be really bad at something and keep practicing even when you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll soon gain UNSHAKABLE self-confidence.
By just taking action toward your dreams, you’ll learn how to trust and believe in yourself.
Personally, I want to build confidence in my ability to write novels, so I’m going to go practice my writing.
What about you? What action can you take RIGHT NOW to help you build your self-confidence?
Great. Now go DO it!
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
Your Mission: Find a Way to DO What You Dream Today
I did it! I hit my target today! I wrote 3,225 words and finished a very bad rough draft of the first half of my novel. And now that I have written something every day this week, I am gaining confidence in my ability to write.
I’m also gaining confidence in my ability to set and achieve my goals. That confidence is coming from taking a little bit of action every day toward my dreams.
It’s that taking action part that has always been a weakness of mine. You see, I have been a much better Dreamer than a Doer. I like to spend my time dreaming about what is possible and making plans to bring those dreams to life.
That is fun because I know and believe I am capable of making all my dreams come true. (By the way, YOU are capable of making your dreams come true, too!)
Actually doing something about those plans is another story. Which doesn’t really make much sense. I mean, I love to write, but I have gotten good at finding excuses to keep me from writing. Weird.
I guess I’m afraid that if I actually act on my plans, I might not be as successful as I dream about being. I might not live up to my own expectations and end up disappointed in myself.
Or I might look foolish to my family and friends for trying something and not getting the great results I want.
If I have a dream but don’t do anything about it, I can’t fail, right?
WRONG! Failing is in not even trying. As long as I am taking action toward my dreams, I am succeeding. Just like you succeed when you take action toward your dreams.
So am I going to let those silly fears keep me from being myself? Am I going to let those silly doubts keep me from doing what I love to do?
Nope. I’m going to do what I did this week. I’m going to keep dreaming about writing my second novel, and I’m going to keep doing something about that dream.
I’m going to be a Dream Doer every single day.
What about you? What little thing did you do today to bring you closer to your big dream?
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
After hosting the Children Into Champions Tele-Contest last month and listening to all the great advice from the Champion Contestants, I learned something about myself I’ve been a little too ashamed to admit to you until today.
I’m still scared to tell you because it’s so embarrassing, but it’s time to swallow my pride and just admit the truth…I’m not a Champion Dream Doer!
I know what it takes to be a Champion Dream Doer because I have been before. I did publish a novel, which was a big dream come true for me. Since then, however, I’ve been living like a coward, not a champion.
Here’s what I mean.
After my novel became an Amazon bestseller in June 2008, I started writing the sequel.
I worked on that sequel every day for months. I was doing something about my dream of being a writer.
But something nagged me as I wrote. I envisioned this exciting, action-packed, adventure-filled story. Only somewhere between the story I saw in my mind and the words I typed on the computer, the action and adventure turned into dull and boring.
I got frustrated with myself and my writing because I wasn’t willing to write a bad draft first. I wanted to write a great sequel, but I knew the draft I was writing was far from great. So I set it aside for almost an entire year.
That doesn’t mean I quit or gave up or forgot about it. I set it aside knowing I would one day sit down and finish the story I started.
Which is why I kept thinking about my story even though I wasn’t actually writing any words to it.
When I finally did sit down and start writing again this past fall, I scrapped what I had already written and started over. I didn’t get very far before I realized something important was missing: confidence.
You see, I doubted everything I wrote. Would Alex really do this? Would Tyler really say that? Is this what the setting really looks like? Is this really what happens next? Are all the new characters really interesting enough to be in the story?
I finally got so worn out doubting my characters and my story that I stopped writing altogether. Although I love to write and know I am good at it, I’ve lost my confidence in my storytelling ability.
Without believing in this core strength of mine, I’m blocked as a writer. So the prospect of writing my second novel scares me. I want to make it bigger and better than the first book, which is why Alex and Tyler are in a whole new setting with a whole new set of friends facing a whole new major challenge.
Thinking about the story and what these characters get to experience excites me; getting the story out of my head and onto the computer terrifies me.
So it’s a good thing I’ve discovered a formula for building self-confidence. (I’ll reveal the formula on Monday.) I’ve been testing the formula in my second job as a Starbucks barista and find that it works amazingly well.
Now I’m going to apply it to my life as a writer, as an athlete and as a coach.
I’m going to build confidence in myself as a writer by taking action and letting myself write a really bad first draft of my second novel.
I’m going to build confidence in myself as an athlete by challenging myself to do something I’m not certain I’m physically capable of achieving: running a six-minute mile. I’ve never run a mile anywhere close to that fast before, but I’m curious. Is that possible for me? I won’t know until I try.
And I’m going to build confidence in myself as a coach by challenging you push yourself and live your dreams.
That’s why I’ve made some major changes for the Dream Doer League. The League now has two teams: The Dream Doer Team and The Champion Challenge Team. The objective of both teams is the same: gain unshakable self-confidence, dream unbreakable dreams and live with unstoppable success.
The standing mission for both teams is also the same: find a way to do what you dream every single day.
In other words, your mission is simply to do one little thing every day that you love to do and are passionate about. Fun, right?
For the Dream Doer Team (FREE registration opens Monday), I’ll share my Dream Doer progress with you through daily Monday-Saturday email updates and blog posts.
When I have a lousy day, I’ll tell you about it. When I have a great day, I’ll tell you about it. When I make a mistake, I’ll share it with you. When I succeed, I’ll share that with you, too. And I’ll always be sharing tips I learn as I learn them to help you gain confidence and live your dreams.
And since we’re teammates, I want to hear about your days in return. So use that comment section on the blog to share with me your successes and mistakes and ways you’re finding to live your dreams.
Since I’m your coach, you can also use the comment section on the blog to ask me your questions. I’m here to help you live your dreams, so please let me know how I can help you by communicating with me either on the blog or through email. (What I miss the most about playing sports and coaching sports is the people on my teams. Just because I’m no longer a college athlete or high school coach is no reason to give up being part of a team!)
For those of you looking for more of a challenge, I have also developed the Champion Challenge Team. (If you participated in the Children Into Champions Tele-Contest, you’re automatically upgraded to this team as your prize.)
On this team, you’ll be challenged to complete a short, specific mission each day. Then we’ll get together via telephone every Saturday to play the Champion Creator Game of the Week.
Our team project will be working together to write The Dream Doers and the Champion Challenge. In other words, I’ll seek your ideas and expertise as I write, edit and publish this second book in The Dream Doers series. This book can be great if we make writing it a team effort!
Oh, and as a team, we’ll vote on which charity we should donate the royalties to once it’s published. Plus you’ll be named as a contributing author in the published book.
Alex and Tyler have some intense challenges to face in the story, and as a member of the Champion Challenge Team, you’ll get to help them figure out a way to become Champion Dream Doers.
The best part is that you’ll learn how to be a Champion Dream Doer along the way.
Now before I can coach you, I have to first prove to myself that I remember how to be a Champion Dream Doer. So starting now, I have until noon on January 28 to write a complete draft of the entire book. (It’s going to be terrible; that’s why I’ll need you on my team to help make it great.)
When I hit that target, I’ll start allowing sign-ups for the Champion Challenge Team. Registration will close on January 30, and play will officially begin on February 1.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress and will be releasing more details about how to join the Champion Challenge Team over the next three weeks.
Until then, please enjoy being a part of the new Dream Doer Team!
So while I’m working on my really bad rough draft, what dream will you be doing something about?
Visit the blog and leave a comment to let me know.
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
P.S. If gaining self-confidence, living your dreams and being successful doesn’t interest you, please don’t join The Dream Doer Team.
