Achieving anything worth doing takes a certain amount of belief.
The tough thing about belief is that it’s fundamentally innate.
No one can give you self-confidence. They can help you build it & create structures that support it, but as for whether it takes or not… that’s down to the individual.
Proper preparation is a good starting point.
Make your plan. Think through all the possibilities. Debate different approaches. Eventually, settle on the path forward.
Once you’ve done so, the decision to see that plan to its conclusion, day after day, is a choice that’s renewed daily by everyone involved.
Why this matters:
A lack of belief – or confidence, whichever term you prefer – kills more projects than almost anything else. Because once the people responsible for pushing something forward stop believing they can do so, the chances they’ll succeed are pretty much zero.
But just as low confidence blocks progress, arrogance does, too.
Delusion cuts both ways.
A team that assumes that their plans are perfect, that they can do no wrong, and that there’s no way to improve their current way of doing things is delusional.
But a team that thinks they can’t improve (because they’re not capable of changing) rests on an equally flawed foundation.
The goal isn’t to whip people into a frenzy where they stop seeing the world as it is.
We can take a more tempered approach – one where we build their confidence on the things that matter, not the arrogance-inducing extras.
It’s enough to acknowledge the following:
You may not know everything you need to know to reach your final destination when you first set out. But luckily, you don’t need to.
All you need to know is enough to get started.
Coupled with the ability to reflect, iterate and improve over time, you have everything you need to succeed.
Rather than believing in the perfection of your plan, believe in your capacity for change – to do what needs to be done, and to handle anything the journey sends your way.
The former is a accident waiting to happen.
The latter is a resilient belief you can rely on.