Brainwashing for Confidence

My mom brainwashed me to be confident.

She told me over and over that I was great and destined for great things.

And it worked.

To this day, when I lose or make a mistake, I get mad, but I always wind up where my mother left me:

“You’re great. All you need is more practice.”

And it turns out, more often than not, that’s true.

If you practice, you get better and achieve what you couldn’t, which builds more confidence.

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Think you’re great and you become so.

When I graduated from college, I was brimming with confidence.

I legitimately thought that I would make a billion dollars within a couple of years.

That did not happen and it led to some of the darkest days of my entire life.

Never mind a billion dollars, it took me 3 years to even get profitable.

But if my mom hadn’t instilled that confidence I would’ve given up.

When I failed, and I did often, I wouldn’t have a reason to try again, because instead of thinking that I just needed more practice, I’d reach the conclusion that I wasn’t destined to be great.

In the end, I made it.

I am successful. I am great.

But this isn’t what this post is about.

This post is about you and your kids.

I was lucky to have a parent brainwash me.

My dad took the opposite approach but my mom always used to say “he loves you so much and when you’re not around he always brags about you.”

I don’t know if it’s true, but it worked.

You need to give your kids confidence.

The world is cruel and you won’t always be around to pick them up when they fall.

Tell them they’re great.

Tell them to tell themselves they’re great.

Tell them that they can do anything they put their mind to.

And it’ll be true.

And you?

If you don’t have that confidence yourself, start today.

Tell yourself your great and then start acting like you are.

Take more risks, learn new skills, and when you fall, pick yourself right back up because you’re great and you just stumbled on the way to the world recognizing that.

And eventually, if you stick with it, you’ll discover it was true all along.

You just needed to believe at the beginning.

I believe in you, your kids, your dreams.

Make it happen, all it takes is to try.

I know from experience.