Do you find that sometimes the blindingly obvious is so easy to miss? I do, and sometimes all it takes is for one person to say it out loud, or to read a brilliant article or a great quote and in that moment your perspective totally shifts, as you realise the blindingly obvious.
This happened to me recently. I was chatting to my dad about people giving me advice about my business. I said I was concerned because I didn’t think they really got what I’m trying to achieve. I said that I was worried their comments would knock my confidence and make me question everything I was doing. I mean, I have my own gremlin sat on my shoulder making me doubt myself every now and again – I don’t need another one.
My dad turned round to me and said, “Carrie, if all of your mentors agreed with your ideas all of the time, there would be no point in them being your mentors. If people don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve, work harder to show them. They will force you to make sure everything you do is well thought out.” – so obvious, but I hadn’t even considered this point of view.
My dad then went on to say, “Not everyone is always going to agree with you or like your ideas” (very true, again, I’d forgotten this) “it’s your choice whether or not you let someone knock your confidence.” – this was the really blindingly obvious part that made me completely change my attitude. I’d been allowing people to knock my confidence – when someone didn’t get my ideas, I let it affect how I felt, I let it make me feel unsure about what I was doing. Just by my dad saying that to me made me realise that I had the ability within me to stay confident no matter what people said to me – it was my choice how I let it affect me and so from that moment on I decided that I wasn’t going to allow people to take my confidence away, I was going to be stronger than ever before.
Words are powerful little things, aren’t they?
