Want to Grow Your Courage? First, Be Scared.

You can’t be courageous and comfortable.

Courage, confidence, and fearlessness. These three buzz words get bandied about almost interchangeably. Yet, they each require a different mindset and skillset. To be successful and live life to its fullest, you need to practice all three. But which one matters most?

Confidence means to trust in the reliability of someone or something. Self-confidence stems from self-trust: you trust your innate abilities, your experience, your capacity to learn and grow, etc. Confidence comes from experience. You have experience with your own self. Yet if you focus on your failures and weaknesses, you can forget your strengths and successes and erode your self-confidence.

Recently, I coached a client who wants to take his skills into a new industry. “I feel so intimidated in the interviews,” he said, “because I’m not as well versed in this field as the one I’m coming from.”

“Isn’t that the point?” I countered. “You’ll be doing a similar job, but you are ready to branch out into a new arena. Have confidence in your skills and experience even though the environment might be different.”

“You’re right,” he said. “I can learn the industry. I’m excited to learn the industry. And I do have confidence in my skill set. I am good at what I do.”