People ask me all the time how they can develop proper tools of self-confidence. Allow me to save you a few steps. THERE IS NO BETTER TOOL OF SELF CONFIDENCE THAN COMING UP WITH A REALISTIC PLAN OF ACTION AND THEN FOLLOWING THROUGH ON IT, OVER A PERIOD OF MONTHS AND YEARS. This is the best psychotherapy in the world. The sense of serenity, joy and happiness that comes, over time, from following through on your goals is unmatched by anything else.
Is becoming a businessperson your goal? You can feel joy even as you start your business by doing work for free (or below-market rates), knowing that you’re already pursuing your goal of owning your own business. Your goal is to be a doctor? You can feel joy even as you go through medical school, knowing you’re already on the path of your lifelong ambition. You want to be a writer? The joy should come primarily from writing. An excellent parent? You can also feel joy as you raise your child in a healthy way, consistent with your values and principles. Action, it is true, must arise from the right ideas. But if you already have the right ideas, then get to work acting on them!
NOTE: See “Grow Up America!” available for sale at Amazon.com, local bookstores, and elsewhere on this site for the blueprints of a healthy individual and society.