Building Confidence Workshop

• // Shut up and get up. Stop talking about the hope to be someone you are not. Stop thinking that one day you might finally feel more confident or bold or noticed. You are now; let's tone this out. You have some confidence muscles that you need to workout, because right now you are running on an endless strip that holds you in the same place every time you think about becoming a more confident you.
• // Finding confidence means choosing occasionally uncomfortable winding roads. Building your confidence starts with this:

1. Find your comfort zone. Send it out further one inch until you have pushed it to an unimaginable boundary. This advice was given to me by a speech coach that will have forever changed my life and perspective. What is your comfort zone? Perhaps, your area of expertise lies in a group of four people living under community. Maybe, your gift is leading worship on a stage, or dancing in a room full of children. Identify the place that you can excel and champion yourself to move outside of that. Confident people have simply extended their range of comfort and continuously stretch beyond. My journey began very similarly. I was always terrified of people, never wanting to communicate and engage with any one person that dared to attempt a conversation with me. As I got older and began my public school journey, I made a promise to myself that I would grow confidence, believing in myself to make a place of purpose from a God-given strength. Truly, I can say that God gave me a divine vigor to speak; I was horrified at the thought of connecting. I noticed then that I tapped into leadership skills which propelled me forward to lead small groups, bible studies, and eventually bigger speaking opportunities at conferences. God anointed my words like He does any gift used for His glory. As an elementary age girl, I can almost guarantee that no leader of mine would ever believe that I would speak from a stage. This is the transformative power of Christ and effective influence of positive circles surrounding you.

2. Set your goals. Do you want to lead? Do you want to influence more people? Do you want to refine your communication skills to be more effective? Decide on a clear direction to channel your energy in order to meet the confidence cornerstone you are aiming for, do not walk blindly, or you will be led by something else.

3. Just do it. No, I swear I am not promoting any company. But for real, act. Stop talking and start doing. You will never build your confidence until you do what scares you and see that you were able to do it. Think about this like any skill you had to acquire as a child, riding a bike or swimming. You never learned until you were forced to do it, and you adapted because we are a resilient people. God made us this way. I am reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These Hebrew men were thrown into a furnace for the refusal of bowing to a king. These men were faithful to their creator and their creator was faithful to them. They were not swallowed by the fire, even though the king's forces experienced the opposite. God protected them amidst impossible odds. Jesus is a king of impossibility and can do what we cannot, only to do it again. These men were resilient under the fire because the Savior gave them a power against it. Find ten seconds of crazy courage to say yes to the things that scare you and just do it. I wish I had genius words to tell you about building your confidence, but it really is a simple choice.

4. Keep doing it. You will only build confidence when you give yourself another chance to change what went wrong the first time. I heard a quote that once said, "Repetition is the mother of skill." Your skill? Confidence. Do it over again until you can walk in calmly trusting that you own the room you exist within. I do not mean owning the room with a selfish pride or arrogance, owning the room means an entrance with humility that you have been graced an opportunity to influence other people.

5. You have never arrived. The most confident people that I know refuse to buy the lie that they somehow "made it" and hold no more room to grow. The truth is, you are never done. Remember, you are extending your comfort zone, and we live in an ever-expanding universe. There will always be a place to push further; be teachable and love correction. Read more books about the topic that you want to succeed in, listen to the professionals in that area, and believe that your knowledge can keep developing

• // Harnessing confidence opens incredible doors throughout your life. Interactions change, mindsets change, and you WILL see an increased ability for you to reach your goals. You were given a name and an identity, there is no reason to feel anything less than capable. Seek, knock, and the door will be opened, according to His purpose. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33