Dylan Vs. Confidence
Believe it or not I used to be a really awkward child. If spines were made of confidence, I would have been a slug. I didn’t know how to hold an interesting conversation, especially not with someone from the opposite sex.
But over the past few years that has changed, a lot. You may be wondering how one builds up confidence and gains an ego the size of the moon. Well for me, it came down to knowing who I wanted to be. I wanted to be able to talk comfortably to big groups of people, I wanted to be able to talk with everyone, I wanted to be able to make decisions and be a leader.
Once I had that vision, I set to work the only way I knew how. I faked it, until I made it. It simply came down to me acting like I was confident until eventually, I tricked my own mind into believing that I was confident and once you believe you are confident, you are confident.
Like most things in life, you should start assuming the role before you are actually gifted it. So for me it meant putting myself out there. I opted in for everything that would help me better myself, whether that meant helping out at youth group, going on a leadership camp, going on the Spirit Of New Zealand. Every open door was a door worth going through. Public speaking was a big one; there is no easy way to learn the art other than just opening your mouth and improvising. It’s a brutal and often humiliating process, but it’s the only way to truly learn what works and what doesn’t. But all the pain is definitely worth it. I can now get up and give a speech in front of a group of people and improvise the whole thing. It’s great.
You should never stop learning and you should never stop improving yourself. I always look out for ways I can improve myself, whether it is be improving my dress sense or learning to play guitar. As long as I keep making progress, it’s alright by me.
You can be whoever you want to be. Goals are achievable. Live your life, go after what you want.
What do you want and what are you going to do about it?
