Are you a "non-believer"?

From Lolly Daskal's 13 Personality Traits that can keep you from success, "The nonbeliever isn't built for faith, and can never see the possibility of his or her own success--another self-fulfilling prophecy."

As a big baseball fan, I am always in awe of the successful major league player.  When interviewed about their success, most highly successful players will tell you that they can see their success happen before it actually does.  Whether it is seeing a vision of themselves throwing strikes or hitting a ball, they have an idea of what their success looks like.  It is a confidence in what they can accomplish. It is also a confidence in their growth and success over time.  Many of these highly skilled and highly successful professionals knew at an early age that they were destined to be successful. 

In education, like any business, we have to imagine what success looks like before we can achieve it.  We need to believe in ourselves, our colleagues, and the system as a whole in order for us to get things done. Confidence can be a tricky thing.  Too much confidence can be seen as "cocky" behavior and can deter others from leading with us or following our lead.  It can also prevent us from seeing the big picture...(Seeing the forest through the trees idea).  Too little confidence can be seen as insecurity, or even as a lack of knowledge.  There is a fine line between too much and not enough confidence.

Identifying what you stand for and how you live your life on a daily basis is the place to start.  In my case, I am an educator that believes wholeheartedly that all students can be successful.  This success can only be achieved if the system is set up for their success.  That is where educators come in.  An organization must do everything in its power to insure the success of all students.  As an administrator, I must believe that I have the ability to influence the system to enable it to do what it needs to for every student.  My purpose each day is to continue to believe in that ideal.

I am also a fan of @leadershipfreak and the many blog posts Here.

12 Ways to find your Confidence:

Finding confidence:

1. Reflect on and embrace your beliefs.
2. Reject cocky behaviors. When you feel like pushing others away, pull in, for example.
3. Focus on giving more than getting.
4. Accept your strengths and weaknesses.
5. Develop experience.
6. Adopt a learners attitude.
7. Admit mistakes without excuse and commit to improve.
8. Hold your ground, kindly.
9. Separate performance from intrinsic value.
10. Smile.
11. Plan. Develop first responses to unanticipated questions. Say, “I’m not sure of the answer, let me get back to you,” for example.
12. Share insecurities with friends. Bringing insecurities into the light often weakens them.

Follow me @brian_seligman