The Tribune

By MICHELLE MILLER

SO you say you’re finally going to kick the habit of impulsive spending, but do you have the confidence? This time for sure, you say, you will meet your goal to lose that weight, but do you have the confidence? Yes, we’ve all heard you say many times that you’re going to get out of that unhealthy relationship, but do you have the confidence?

And what about the numerous times you’ve talked about stepping up to live a better quality of life? But do you have the confidence?

Having the confidence is the key to making real life changes. Sadly, it is a quality that a vast number of folks remain without. This lack of confidence holds them back from taking the steps to change the game.

Confidence, an enriching commodity, is quite possibly one of the most attractive qualities you can possess. Without it, you stay stuck playing small; risking very little and gaining even less.

Living life on your own terms demands strong inner confidence. This is critical.

The greatest battle you will fight is the battle to be yourself. It is impossible to be yourself without confidence.

So how do you build confidence? First of all, you must build it – you cannot buy it. Begin by expanding your understanding of confidence. See it as a quality that must be cultivated from within; sprouting from your self-value and self-love. It speaks to your willingness to trust your own voice, taking the risk to share your ideas and point of view.

I submit that confidence is the cement into which we pour the pillars of our inner strength. It is the result of not just believing in ourselves, but believing that we have something worth believing in.

To get there takes having clarity about who you are and the unique qualities you possess. Clarity precedes confidence.

Your clarity is the path to inner liberation. It enables you to emancipate your confidence and unleash your ball of possibility. If you remain unclear about who you are, you also will remain unclear about your sense of confidence.

Perhaps you are of the view that confidence is the result of the accumulation of stuff. No, it is not.

Believing that having more stuff will somehow produce confidence traps you in the infamous rat race. You chase more and more stuff, only to find that after achieving all the stuff money can buy confidence is still absent.

No amount of gizmos or gadgets can give you a shortcut to confidence. You must do the work step by step to become a confident individual. Through self-discovery, you begin to appreciate that you are the change that you want to see in the world.

As such, you show up in all areas of your life with your confidence in tack. You no longer look for it to come from some job title or other external means. You master the ability to “cut ties with all the lies you’ve been living in” and break free from the prison of the past.

Leader to leader, confidence gives you personal authority to live a life less ordinary; becoming fully engaged and empowered to say “Yes, I do have the confidence”.

Make today the day that you build the confidence to live the life that you love.

What do you think?

• Please send your comments via e-mal to coaching242@yahoo.com or to PO Box CB-13060; call 429-6770 or visit www.michellemmiller.com.

Michelle M Miller is a certified life coach, leadership expert and creator of “Speak Fearlessly”.