Rodney Koop
Contributing Writer
The New Flat Rate

I am a mudder and a hill climber.  Using my winch to get me out of a mud bog or up a hill is common for me.  The reason is that I love to commit to the thrill of overcoming obstacles, and when I miss I use the equipment necessary to get myself and my machine out of a bind. But when I hit my target, which is most of the time, I get to enjoy the thrill of success.   I believe in making my ATV (all-terrain vehicle) Polaris Sportsman 550 to be precise, prove every day that it is capable of taking the punishment and standing up with me to the challenges during my rides.

Some think that confidence is something you are born with, or a product of your environment, sort of a first child or middle child thing.   No doubt that when you struggle to not be controlled or manipulated by your siblings it teaches some levels of confidence and we truly are a product of our environments. It’s nice to have those around us giving us encouragement and constantly telling us just how great and wonderful we really are, but I’m guessing that most of us did not grow up like that.

In the woods when someone makes a weak attempt at climbing a steep hill and falls off the machine my friend Craig would always say, “Now there is a lack of full commitment.” You can see this over and over in tangible activities that require you hitting full force.   Any weak attempt at jumping over 13 school busses on your motorcycle would be disastrous.  Hit that ramp at full speed, full commitment, go big or go home.

What if you find that you don’t have the confidence to give your job, your career, your business, your work day the full commitment that would give you the edge to succeed at a greater level?  Have you ever had to make a phone call or do a sales presentation or give a quote maybe to a business or homeowner when you didn’t feel like you had the confidence required? Or how about this?  I can remember many times giving a price for a new hvac or electrical system and being so desperate for money that I blew the sale… being desperate often left me with little or no confidence.

I’ve been listening to a book on Audible by Mel Robbins called “The 5 Second Rule”. I recommend it. She attacks self-confidence with commitment, and gives herself 5 seconds to get going every time any decision needs to be made. We’ve all heard that ‘starting is 90{938cd9e8dae860e800efc538277d4f7684e6f6981618ba70d1c34357a53c2e1f} of the battle’. Mel takes that seriously. Mel’s premise is to stop thinking and start doing, using something like a shotgun start, for which she created the 5 second rule. check it out if you can.

Can you change your confidence? Of course you can, every motivational guru makes that point over and over again.  Would you like more confidence? Then start with full commitment.  Next time you are thinking, “I need to do that!” Immediately start doing it.  You will be amazed at how fast your confidence builds because you will become someone who gets things done. You will also have a lot more completed tasks and that’s got to be a good thing.