The mental game is a huge part of success in life. A little bit of self-confidence can take you a long way.
Much confidence comes from relaxing and taking stumbles in stride. Focus on your successes, build on them. Certainly learn from your mistakes, but don’t define yourself by your mistakes or your past.
If you define yourself by your mistakes, if you refuse to believe in yourself, most people will take you at your self appraisal, spoken or unspoken. After all, who knows you better than you? If you decline the job of being your own cheerleader, who else is going to take the job? Sure, your mom or dad, maybe your best friend. But let’s not over work them, shall we? Let’s help them out a bit. And even they are not always going to be able to be around, so it behooves you to learn how to be a self-starter, your own mentor, your own coach.
I may not know you but I do know that you have some ability, some strength, some talent, no matter how latent or untouched. There is something about you that is special, unique, that is incredibly you. Something within you that sparkles, lights up some passion, hope, or dream. Something you can nurture and develop. It may be a weakness with the potential to be a strength. It may be that you need to search the world a bit to experience and experiment to find your calling. Not all who wander are lost. You may end up marching to a different drummer, and your path may lie down multiple forks, always taking the road less traveled over and over.
Wherever you go, enjoy the journey and relax. Whatever comes your way, you have what it takes.
Closing Quote
“The best performers are good at forgiving themselves, dropping failure from their mental bandwidth quickly so they can focus on the positive.” — Richard Ginsburg, “Whose Game is It, Anyway?”