Do you have the confidence or competence to change?
Well, it is nearly March and how many of us have already let go of any New Years resolutions we made? [raising my hand here].
Execution is tough isn’t it? Why? Because it calls for a change in behavior, something that not many people find it easy to do. In order for us to change behavior we need to stop doing something in favor of starting to do something new. A shift in priorities, from moving priorities that are no longer important to start doing those things are now considered important.
As we plan to stop doing something in favor of starting to do something new, there is another concept playing on our mind – having confidence that we can make the change. But, is it really a matter of having confidence to do something? Most of us would start off by saying that with more confidence we would try different things, like learning to ski, losing weight, asking for a raise, looking for a new job, changing careers.
My question for you is, what are you confident about in your life and how did you get to the point of being confident?
The answer is that you gained confidencethrough aquiring more competence. With that said, then, our efforts to change behaviors, or to pursue our dreams, by waiting for confidence to come to us means we have been waiting for the wrong reason. You have had dreams to pursue but you have held back due to the presumed lack of confidence to move ahead when all along it has really been a lack of competence that you needed to develop.
You have been waiting to gain confidence to change when in fact you should be developing the competence to change.
So where does the acquisition of competence come from? Being a life long learner. Being willing to dream big, to shift priorities. A strategy to help you Dream Big is outlined in the last section of Someday Isle, which you can find by clicking on the button on this website.
I am going to offer four steps to help you acquire the competence to gain the confidence to make the changes you seek.
- narrow your focus to 1 to 3 goals, don’t let the eyes get bigger than the stomach. One to three goals should be quite manageble and experience some success.
- identify what you can influence, what is measureable that leads to acheivement of your goal. Losing weight is your goal. The number of pounds you lose is measurable and is the indicator that you are nearing and achieving your goal.
- keep score since most people play differently when they keep score
- create an accontabilty source to keep your foucus. It is most helpful to have an accoutability buddy to urge you on, give you feedback. keep you focused on the goal.
So, let’s tie in execution of new behaviors with the acquisition of competence that will lead you to greater confidence to change in the direction you seek. Competence breeds confidence!
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I would refer you to James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s book, The Leaderhsip Challenge, and their discussion of the five practices of exemplary leadership. I drew some points made above from notes I took from a webinar on Dr. Stephen Covey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution.
