Be Unshakable
Build Rock-Solid Confidence Through Action
Misconceptions About Confidence
How can you be unshakable?
How can you build rock solid confidence?
This is one of the core topics that people come to see me for as a coach.
To build confidence, to build self trust, and to overcome self doubt.
This is something I've also personally dealt with. I've also overcome imposter syndrome, or at least learned to deal with it.
In this article, let’s breakthrough some of the core misconceptions and how to actually build self-confidence.
The Confidence Misconceptions
There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to confidence. One of the misconceptions are the fact that we believe confidence is an innate trait.
We think this is something that some people seem to just have. You might see someone speak on a stage or an influencer or celebrity and you just think they're naturally confident.
If you think of people like Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robbins, it's natural to believe they were somehow confident in and of itself without any external input. We might think of ourselves as not confident, as a deficiency, wonder: ‘Why is it that I'm not more confident and how could I suddenly become it?’
There are fast hacks online that don’t help when you use things like affirmations, like “I’m confident, I’m strong, I can do this.” If you don’t have tangible proof, your brain will think, but I’m not. It will find proofs to prove you’re not. Even though you’re using affirmations or journaling, your brain doesn’t see it as true and tangible.
The Core misconceptions:
Confidence is not an innate trait reserved for a lucky few.
Affirmations without proof do not create lasting confidence.
Comparing yourself to others can reinforce self-doubt.
Building Confidence Through Action
The way to pivot from this misconception and turn confidence into reality is to give your brain proof. And the way you give your brain proof is by taking action. The more action you can add up, the more your brain will see evidence.
If you build self trust by taking small actions consistently, you’ll become more confident in one area and this will translate into others.
For instance, if you build confidence by going regularly to the gym, you may be more confident running your company because you learned self trust from exercising.
Confidence comes from action, momentum, and giving your brain proof that what you’re doing is leading somewhere.
Thinking, reframing, and learning passively won’t give you real outcomes. The gap is the actions you take.
When I started speaking on stages, I didn’t feel confident. But I practiced. I joined Toastmasters. I started the podcast, recorded many episodes, interviewed people, ran workshops.
The more actions you take, the more your brain believes you are capable.
It’s natural to have imposter syndrome and fear when you do something new. Your brain has no evidence it will work, so it gives you fear to prevent action. That’s why it’s important to start small. If it’s public speaking, stand up for yourself in a meeting first. If it’s exercise, start with a five-minute workout.
As you build physically, you become stronger mentally. Mental strength makes it easier to overcome resistance when taking actions outside your comfort zone. Confidence comes from your mastery of discomfort.
Key actions to build confidence:
Take small, consistent actions to give your brain tangible proof.
Break larger challenges into manageable steps to reduce fear.
Repeat actions often to normalise discomfort.
Use physical training to strengthen both body and mind.
Tracking Progress And Mastering Discomfort
Your job is to seek evidence that you can do it, and you find that by taking action. Show up once, then again. Take a micro action, then a bolder one.
There’s no comparison: the aim is to compare yourself to where you were before.
Actions and baby steps are important, but so is tracking your progress.
I put in place a tracking system in my business where I track every single win and progress. I keep screenshots, comments, and small things because I want to see that things are moving forward.
When you don’t see progress, your brain feels discouraged and your confidence diminishes. So track each step, reward, and action to prove to your brain that it’s working out.
Core strategies for sustaining confidence:
Track every win and piece of progress.
Focus on your own journey instead of comparing with others.
Accept that fear will still appear; act alongside it.
Remember confidence is the mastery of discomfort.
Confident people aren’t born confident, they’re made confident because they put in the work and the reps. You will have ups and downs, doubts, and fluctuations. Tracking your actions and milestones, even the smallest ones, builds confidence and self trust.
Fear doesn’t disappear. If you wait for fear to go away before starting, you’ll wait a long time. Part of building confidence is knowing fear is by your side and taking action anyway. As you do, the fear diminishes because you realise you survived and can do it again.
Thank you for reading,
Enjoy the journey,
Katie
This article is based on a transcript from my podcast episode. To listen to the podcast episode, check out this link.