The Simple Mind is a newsletter to help you reduce overthinking and boost self-confidence.

Today, I’m doing a training on self-confidence. I start these sessions by sharing why self-confidence is important for leaders and their teams. It inspired this week's edition.

Why should you care about self-confidence?

Let’s dive in!

Reading time: 3min.

Self-confidence is about how you experience life

People often think self-confidence is about gathering the courage to do something scary.

The truth is, most underconfident people I know are overachievers, they do the scary things.

But, on top of the courage needed to overcome the challenge, they also need to fight their inner resistance.

It’s exhausting.

Quieter mind = more energy

How lovely would it be to overcome a challenge without fighting against yourself?

Think for a second about your latest challenges.

Where did most resistance come from, the actual situation, or your mind?

Yup, we make a big fuss and in the end, overcoming the challenge is the “easy” part. When we lack self-confidence, in the face of something new, we create inner resistance, the inner resistance creates noise and sucks energy out of us.

We basically make our lives harder and that’s why it matters.

Energy + quiet = clarity

Let’s say you had insomnia, and we’re in a super busy coffee shop. The sound of the expresso machine is going on and off, a loud person is on a Zoom call next to us, and a baby’s crying on the other side of the room.

If I ask you a strategic question, will you be able to think clearly?
(If your answer is yes, please share your secret with me)

Now imagine all of that happening in your mind.

When your mind is loud, and you have low energy, it’s harder for you to think clearly, which means you potentially make wrong or unoptimized decisions.

Clarity = focus on the right thing

When we lack self-confidence (and mental clarity), a common pitfall is to trade wanting to bring value for wanting to prove our value.

It’s two different objectives and focusing on the latter can be costly, I am talking actual money.

Focusing on proving your worth, instead of focusing on creating value is not sustainable. It’s a trap we can all fall into and it’s ok if it happens… if we catch ourselves on time.

The more mental clarity, the better our ability to catch ourselves when it happens.

Whether you own a company or work in a corporation, if you or someone on your team lacks self-confidence, the inner noise of imposter syndrome will likely get in the way of good decision-making.

NB: Imposter syndrome is the voice in our head telling us we’re not good enough, basically the voice of low self-confidence.

One nudge for you

Identify one area, it can be something small, where you want to feel more confident.

• What price are you paying for not trusting yourself more in this area?

• What’s your payout for not being confident? (can’t fail, get to stay in comfort zone…)

Define 4 little stake challenges to help you increase your self-confidence relating to this area.
ie. If you want to increase your confidence as a public speaker:
- record and rewatch yourself speaking
- Sign up for a public speaking or theatre class
- Speak first in meetings when you can (and it’s relevant)
- Take the lead on a presentation

One recap for you

Strengthening your self-confidence matters because it will:

1. Increase energy to overcome challenges (vs constant inner fights)

2. Quiet the mind (vs inner noise)

3. Bring clarity (vs wrong focus)

4. Improve decision-making (vs trying to prove your worth)

5. Increase financial outcomes (vs costly mistakes)

And these are quite helpful for good leadership. Coincidence?

As always, I appreciate you for reading,

O.

If you’re new here, welcome! I’m Orianne, I share weekly tools to help you reduce overthinking and boost your self-confidence.

A bit more about me: I am a mindset coach. I coach brilliant humans who perform very well but want to improve their relationship with themselves (their minds). I am a chocolate addict, live by the beach, and always read several books at the same time (currently Surrounded by idiots and L’influence de l’odeur des croissants chauds sur la bonté humaine).

If you enjoyed this newsletter, you can read the previous editions and subscribe here. If you’re ready for coaching you can book an intro call.