Build Unshakable Self Confi dence

A 2-Step Process for Building Unshakable Self Confidence

BY Carmine Gallo

YOUR PERSONAL

SUCCESS GOAL: achieving what West Point psychology professor, Dr. Nate Zinsser, calls "First

Victory."

I talked to Dr. Zinsser about his new book, The Confi dent Mind. He told me that First Victory was coined by military strategist Sun Tzu. It means that you have

unshakable confi dence, a sense of certainty that you're prepared to meet the challenge

ahead.

First Victory requires confi dence and competence. It's when preparation meets the moment.

Bottom line: You can practice all you want, but if you don't believe you can do it, you'll still fail to perform your best when the pressure is on-victory starts in your head. "Your performance when it matters will always depend on whether you feel totally certain in whatever level of competence you have achieved," Zinsser says.

Achieving First Victory requires that you dedicate yourself to working on your mindset. Zinsser recommends a two-step process for building unshakable self-confi dence.

1. Retain and benefi t from your successful experiences.

Champion athletes practice under stressful conditions. For example, football teams will often pipe high-decibel stadium-like noise through the loud speakers while an NFL kicker is practicing his fi eld goals. After the kicker has successfully completed dozens, if not hundreds, of fi eld goals in practice, he can retain that experience for the big game.

The same technique applies to public speaking. I encourage speakers to practice their presentations from start to fi nish, even if they make a mistake. Keep going. And if they can practice in front of a few people, that's even better. It adds just a little stress to the rehearsal and gives them a little boost of confi dence every time they complete a practice round.

2. Release or restructure your less successful experiences.

We all make mistakes or fail to match our expectations from time to time. The secret to peak performance is to 'release' those feelings

(forgive and forget) or reframe the 'failure' into

a constructive thought.

For example, Melanie Perkins, the co-founder of Canva, once told me that her fi rst pitch deck for investors did not have the intended result to win funding. Far from considering it a failure, Perkins made note of what investors liked about her idea, which built her confi dence, and used their feedback to refi ne her pitch. It eventually worked, and today Canva is worth $40 billion.

Don't believe that unshakable belief is reserved for a lucky few who are just wired that way. According to Zinsser, confi dence is a quality that you can develop just like any other skill--through practice. www.inc.com/carmine-gallo/a-2-step-process-forbuilding-unshakable-self-confi dence.html

Carmine Gallo, Keynote Speaker and Author, 'Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get From Good To Great' @CARMINEGALLO

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