Episode 14: Five Tips to Improve Your Confidence Right Now
Confidence is a sought-after quality. Yet, it can often seem elusive. However, the good news is, confidence is not something you are born with, but rather a skill you can develop and improve, much like a physical activity such as weightlifting or rock climbing. In this podcast episode, we take a deep dive into the building blocks of self-confidence, breaking them down into manageable actions, demonstrating that self-confidence is within everyone's reach.
The journey to self-confidence begins with acceptance of our own weaknesses. Recognizing and acknowledging our imperfections is a critical step in building confidence. But what would you dare to do if you were armed with a little more self-belief? Would you climb a mountain? Launch a business? The answers to these questions help in charting our personal journey of confidence building. By using personal examples from our own journey in powerlifting, we aim to inspire you to understand that big goals start with small actions.
We also explore the concept of vulnerability in confidence building. Embracing our imperfections and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable are not only okay but are also essential parts of the process. It's important to remember that everyone has weaknesses and acknowledging them is a strength, not a failure. This acceptance can significantly boost your self-confidence.
Self-care is another cornerstone of self-confidence. It involves setting achievable goals, practicing positive self-talk, and surrounding ourselves with supportive people. Self-care is about giving yourself permission to prioritize your well-being and happiness. When we practice self-care, we create a positive environment for self-confidence to thrive. We discuss the crucial role self-care plays in fostering self-confidence, and the significant impact the people you surround yourself with can have on your journey towards self-assurance.
Building confidence is a journey, not a destination. It requires constant effort and determination. But, the effort is worth it because confidence has a significant impact on all aspects of our lives, from our careers to our relationships and overall happiness.
We also explore the importance of aligning our actions with our values. This alignment ensures that our journey towards confidence is in sync with our broader life goals. By living in alignment with our values, we build a strong foundation for our self-confidence to grow. We provide practical tips, such as creating a list of actions to take and being mindful of the people we surround ourselves with.
The podcast concludes with a teaser for the next and final episode of the season, where we discuss how to make this the best year yet. So, join us for a genuine conversation about building the confidence you deserve.
Remember, self-confidence is not a trait you're born with. It's a skill you can develop and improve, regardless of where you are in life. By acknowledging our weaknesses, practicing self-care, and surrounding ourselves with supportive people, we can all conquer our mountains and achieve our goals. Let's embark on this journey together!
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Jess: 0:02
Hello, friends, and welcome to Sturdy Girl, a podcast focused on strength, not size, where you'll hear conversations around healthy body image, cultivating confidence and being a resilient human in both body and mind. Sturdy Girl is the podcast where we shift the focus away from your appearance and on to living the big, rad life you deserve. Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 14 of Sturdy Girl. I'm your host, jess Heiss, joined by my friend, megan. Hello, we are going to chat about three things that you can do right now to improve your confidence. Before we get started and kind of delve into the meat of this, I wanted to just review episode five, which was all about what confidence is. So if you haven't listened to episode five, I will link this in the show notes. But essentially, confidence is a skill. It's domain specific rather than just a general thing Confidence in social situations, confidence at cooking, confidence in verbal communication, confidence in deadlifting it's not just overall confidence. In that episode two we talked about the definition of confidence as the willingness to try, but another definition of confidence that I really enjoyed it's from a book called the Confident Mind by Dr Nate Zinser. He defines it as the feeling that you can do something or that you know something so well that you don't have to think about how to do it when you're doing it. That skill or knowledge is in you, it's part of you and it will come out when needed, if you let it. I love it. So, the doing without the thinking, yeah, practicing a skill, because confidence is a skill so much that you don't have active brain power to do it.
Megan: 1:43
It's like a repetitive behavior that you're learning Exactly.
Jess: 1:46
And oftentimes when we start working on a particular skill, there's a lot of resistance to doing that thing and there's a lot of focus, thought and mental brain power that goes into it. Let's say you want to gain more confidence in your deadlift and you want to start lifting with a barbell because you've only ever lifted with, say, dumbbells. There's resistance there to trying. There's maybe fear there to trying to doing something new. But the more that you do it, the less resistance there is, the more you practice deadlifting. But not advocating for seven days a week of lifting Like I have to lift seven days a week. No, just saying like the more we practice, the more consistent we are at doing the thing, the better we get at it, the less active brain power it takes to execute. It reminds me. So Megan and I go way back as in like. Megan was my first friend when I moved to Portland, like 14 years ago, and we used to rock climb. But there was also a slack line in the gyms that we used to climb in and I loved. When my arms and hands were so burnt out from climbing I'd go slackline, yep, and I freaking loved it, but I was terrible at it.
Megan: 2:51
Oh goodness, my balance is so bad.
Jess: 2:53
Same, but the more that I practiced, it was all I could do at first to stand up on it and you're wobbling and the line is like just weighing back and forth and you get smacked in the butthole. so many times and eventually you get your first step and then your second, and then I got to the point where I could walk forwards and backwards across the whole slackline. I could sit down and stand back up while probably having this conversation. Like you, build that skill and, yeah, it was terrifying the first time you get slapped on the ass.
Megan: 3:17
There's no pretty way to fall off a slackline, no.
Jess: 3:20
I'm just gonna throw it out. That's why there's padded floor underneath, exactly.
Megan: 3:23
I feel like every time I fell off, I was like wow, hope no one's on, pride takes a hit.
Jess: 3:28
It's fine, but that skill piece, the amount of brain power that it took when you first start and you're really wobbly and you're really scared. There's the fear there, there's resistance to trying. The more you do it, the less resistance there is, the more skill is built. And then going back to, like Dr Zinser's definition, confidence is being able to do something, trusting yourself that you can do it and then not having the active brain power, it just you've had that repetitive motion enough.
Megan: 3:52
This reminds me kind of something I've had to practice in the past of like CBT, like cognitive behavioral therapy. Yeah, it's kind of retraining your brain in certain triggers that you have. Yeah to different response.
Jess: 4:04
Yeah, you know exactly so knowing that confidence as a skill, knowing that it takes practice. What can we do to improve our confidence, like right now, let's talk about it. So I guess I'll say kind of a preface before we jump into the five things we want to hone in on. I want you to take a second like actually listen to these questions and maybe pause this episode and take a full 60 seconds to think and consider this. What does self confidence look like to you? What does it feel like? Because confidence looks different and feels different to everyone. How will you know that you've reached a satisfactory level of self confidence? How will you know when you've quote unquote made it so that you're confident out of skill, like deadlifting? How do you know that you're confident at deadlifting? What does it feel like? Is it when you can march up to that barbell and you have your whole routine for how to approach the barbell? Like I don't know if you've ever watched powerlifting competition, but most people in competition have some kind of like routine that they go through before they pick up that barbell.
Megan: 5:10
I do for Olympic lifting. Like I've noticed when I record myself, it's just second nature. You do something with your foot, you do like a little pattern.
Jess: 5:17
Yep, yep, exactly. For me it's like left foot, right foot, both. Screw them in place. I like have one arm than the other. There's like a mental prep that goes into that and you pick up the barbell and you stand up. What does that feel like If you've built the confidence and something to know? Like I'm freaking picking up this barbell right now, like, what does that feel like to you? So pause, think about this. If you're thinking about the area that you wanna be more confident, what does it look like? What does it feel like? Okay, so diving into five things you can do right now, from improving your confidence. Now, these aren't things that it's like, okay, I'm gonna flip this switch and suddenly I'm confident. These are things that you can practice right now to start improving your confidence. So please know this is not quick fixes here. The first thing reflect on your values. The first thing you can do right now is remind yourself of what your core values are. Now, if you're like Jessica, what the heck are core values and what does this have to do with confidence, please go back and listen to episode nine, which we will link in the show notes. That's all about core values, all about how to pick them and what those look like. Because when we can choose three to five core values, they help shape our decisions and our actions. If one of our core values is, let's say, boldness, showing up to try that barbell deadlift in a weight room, that kinda scares you is really freaking bold. Making a list of actions that support those values. So when we can fall back on, this activity aligns with the life I'm building for myself or the life I want to live. It's a lot easier to make a decision. It's a lot easier to continue showing up and practicing that skill. So think about what you want your favorite version of yourself to look and feel like. Are the things that you're working towards in alignment with that favorite version of you? It's like the bigger picture. Yeah, you're gonna have a lot easier time showing up and practicing that skill If it, like every time I say alignment, it feels so woo, and I don't you know, but like it can go that way and I know some people can kind of like pull away from that a little bit. But this is just saying are you living the way that you want to live? Because if you're just taking messy action after messy action and you don't know what direction you're going, how?
Megan: 7:21
are you living in alignment? Pure chaos, how I love to live my life.
Jess: 7:25
I mean, I'm a fan of messy action, but you know, looking at big picture is what this is.
Megan: 7:30
And it absolutely helps when you have a vision or at least some type of idea or goal that you're going for.
Jess: 7:36
Absolutely, which kind of takes us right into the next point, and that is practice showing up. This is something you can do right now to improve confidence. Taking action, waiting to feel confident before you take a risk means that you're likely to hold yourself back from trying anything.
Megan: 7:52
In my personal experience, you have to be outside of your comfort zone in order to gain the confidence that you're going to feel.
Jess: 7:59
Yeah, it's like the. Have you seen the drawing of the two circles? It's like comfort zone. And there's like yeah, it's like where the magic happens, like that's where the growth happens is outside of that.
Megan: 8:08
I mean this past year. I've pushed myself outside of my comfort zone so many times Traveling the mountain biking.
Jess: 8:15
yeah, there's so many things and that's really right. You can't read yourself into more confidence. You can't read yourself into decreasing your travel anxiety.
Megan: 8:22
No, or even when I was going to the Olympic lifting gym like the most anxiety I've ever had.
Jess: 8:29
Yeah, and you can't talk yourself into more confidence when it comes to Olympic lifting.
Megan: 8:33
No and I know how to do it. I do it at home, I do it in the regular gym. But then you go in that setting and you're like whoa, I don't know how to only lift. I don't know what you're talking about. Goodness I know.
Jess: 8:43
In order to get more confident at the thing, at Olympic lifting, at the traveling without anxiety, or with anxiety, right, since it's next to you, improving your skillet, say, mountain biking, improving your confidence in those things you have to do the thing. If it feels scary and that resistance keeps coming up, can you ask yourself why it's there. What are you afraid of? What's the worst that can happen? Now, going back to using that deadlift example, you wanna switch from dumbbell to barbell and get confident in the weight room. The more you do it, the more you'll build confidence. Why are you feeling the resistance? Are you afraid of other people watching you? Are you afraid of some old man coming to mansplain? Is it fear of doing it wrong? Is it fear of injuring yourself? What is the resistance that's coming up for you? Is it just feeling like, oh my God, I don't know how to do this and so I'm gonna be bad at it? Because I mean, that's one thing that you and I are talking about before we hit record is, as an adult, being a beginner at something. It's really hard, it really fricking sucks. We feel like, well, we're adults, so we should be good at the things that we do, versus when you're a kid. It's a lot more acceptable to fail. It's a lot more acceptable that when you start learning to ride a bike without training wheels, you're gonna fall and scrape your knees a few times and you just pick yourself back up and keep going. That's building a skill, that's building confidence, that's building resilience and decreasing the resistance to the thing.
Megan: 10:08
I personally experience this this year with traveling so much. With traveling, I mean I can't get on plane without crying, Like that's just how I function. But doing it so much, yeah, sure, I might shed a couple tears still, but it's not the same level and you get more comfortable. And now you book a flight and you're like it's okay.
Jess: 10:25
I'm gonna keep showing up and that fear is still there.
Megan: 10:27
It's still there, but you're learning to work through it and you're learning to manage it.
Jess: 10:31
Yeah, absolutely. So you're practicing showing up, you're giving the effort, you're increasing the frequency I mean, with the amount of travel you did for races, you increase that frequency so you're showing up as the person you wanna be. You wanna be that person that can get on a plane and be like, okay, I might feel scared, I might feel this resistance, but I'm here and I'm being this person and building my confidence at being able to travel so well.
Megan: 10:54
Mm-hmm, that's huge. It was so good and I mean like then you come out the other end of it and it's crazy how confidence can like putting yourself outside of that comfort zone can work, because then you become confident in so many other things. It didn't just translate to traveling. It translated to when I was at the new destination and meeting people, and then you get through one hurdle.
Jess: 11:14
It's increasing your overall resilience to know that you can bounce back from the thing. And kind of related to that is the idea of like feeling more, which sounds terrifying, because fear of failure is like the biggest thing that keeps us from building confidence in a particular area. What if I fail? What if other people see? What if judgment? Yeah, absolutely, like we had said, that feeling never fully goes away. Oh no, the person who I'm just thinking like the first example to pop into the head is like Taylor Swift, and as much as she's performed, I will bet you there's still some level of like fear or anxiety or just that like feel, the feels before she steps out on stage, even though she's done it dozens, if not well, probably hundreds, of times at this point. Right, yeah, it's still there. Oh yeah, it's choosing how we handle it, what we do with it, and it's such a valuable skill to learn to be able to pick ourselves back up or continue showing up, keep trying, keep going after we fail. It's deciding what failure means to us, because at least failure means you're trying.
Megan: 12:15
Exactly, and that right there, perfect line. Failure means you're trying, so much.
Jess: 12:19
You're practicing the skill. Yeah, and you're never gonna get better unless you fail a few times, exactly Continuing to show up improves our resilience and it improves our ability to bounce back after we fall, which is kind of the definition of resilience. The third part to this practice showing up piece is can we recognize our weaknesses? So this sounds really crappy. We're like fail more. Also know those failures. Yeah, recognize the weaknesses. It's more just to say that if we can accept that we have strengths and we have weaknesses, if we can take stock of, like I am not great at this thing, is that a skill I want to improve right now? No, okay, side to side. If we can accept that we're imperfect, we don't need to hide those faults, hide those flaws. We've accepted them. Other people can't weaponize them. So when we talk about that fear of failure, maybe what other people think when we go into that weight room, we've already accepted that like, yeah, you know what? I don't have a lot of skill in deadlifting or with a barbell, but I'm gonna show up because I wanna learn and I wanna improve my skill and feel more confident in the weight room. You can acknowledge those weaknesses and you can decide again if you wanna work on them or not.
Megan: 13:21
Also, on that part, like don't be afraid to ask for help. If you want to improve things, let's say for lifting. If you are one of your fears, it's just, I'm gonna get injured. And I know that's a big fear. When I talk to a lot of my friends that really wanna get more toned or not toned, but just stronger and their biggest fear is like, well, I don't know what I'm doing, like what if I hurt my back? What if I hurt something? And you're like, yeah, don't be afraid to say, okay, well, maybe I wanna watch a YouTube video, maybe I want to hire a coach, maybe I want to ask for that assistance and be vulnerable with that weakness I completely agree.
Jess: 13:55
Well, that's one thing. I can tell you that I am working towards mastery of powerlifting, squat, bench dead. I'm being proficient in those movement patterns. I can I get stronger, absolutely. But as far as those movement patterns pretty decently mastered, my knowledge and ability of Olympic lifting, unlike you, is very minimal. I have not practiced that skill. I am not confident in that skill. It's triple extension. If I were to want to improve that skill, I would be hiring a coach because of that lack of confidence in that skill. Oh yeah, kind of goes right into point number three for improving confidence right now and that's talking about making a list and picking a habit. So I'm gonna kind of that was like the last thing, was like asking for help or figuring out how Write a list of everything that you wish you could do, would do if you were more confident. Now, this isn't necessarily domain specific. This is like in this favorite version of me what areas am I confident in? What is confident me do? What does confident me feel like? Look like, what are all? What would I do? Making that list, rank those things from like most to least challenging and pick one thing you want to work on. So maybe that is that deadlift, getting more confident in the weight room. Can you look at that and break it down and pick one small habit that would improve and work towards improving that skill and improving your confidence? So then, going back to your point, maybe that one first thing is hiring a coach, watching a YouTube video asking for help in the gym shit. Maybe it's getting a gym membership. What is one thing that? pick that one habit, or maybe it's to decrease that resistance to the thing. It's stepping foot in the weight room and it's walking in there, maybe it's going and getting the barbell off the rack or wherever they're kept. I mean like, okay, this is what it looked like, this is what it feels like, okay, I'm good. And then you go back to whatever your normal routine is in the gym, build up those habits, build up that frequency To start building that confidence. So I guess this is two parts right. It's like make that list, make that big-ass list of what things you want to become. What would you do if you were this embodiment of confidence? What does that mean to you? What does that look like? And then pick one of those things and then think about those list of actions that we talked about in like the first step, first actionable item, towards building confidence. What are some actions that you could take to build confidence in that domain?
Megan: 16:09
I know personally, for me and the way that my brain kind of works, is making my list could have some really big things that are Completely changed the way like my life. Life changes, yeah, but other things could be really small. It could be manageable. Things that I know that I can obtain, yeah, and then I know I can get there and it can be something I can accomplish. Mm-hmm, because I think you need to have some type of I don't want to call them low-hanging fruit, but something that's like manageable.
Jess: 16:33
Yeah, breaking it down into what are small things you work towards regularly, it's more easy to succeed. Well, that's like if I were to make this list of all the things that I would do if I were a more confident person. One of those things and one of, like I say, my goals is to be a more confident powerlifter. I've been powerlifting for three years. I'm objectively strong, I would like to be stronger and knowing that there's always things to work on, but I am not confident on the platform when I go to compete. I'm out there competing against myself, but the knot there is a level of I will keep trying, but that confidence hasn't been built yet. So then, if I break that down on, like, how do I become a more confident powerlifter? It's continuing to show up, continuing to rely on the expertise of my coach, trying different things, adjusting the lifts in small ways, those kinds of things, but it's making it smaller and tangible. So, better powerlifter, okay, there's squat, bench and deadlift, and then it's like setting up the routine. Is it setting up the schedule? Is it making sure that I prioritize that movement?
Megan: 17:29
We can really break it down and it could be as something as simple, as like when I was talking about going to the Olly the gym Like the lifting gym. Sometimes it's as simple as just going in an environment that you're not comfortable with. Yeah, like if I was to sign up for a competition, you bet your butt I'd probably be in there more. I'd be in there more, not even just to be like I need the help. It would be like, okay, I'm gonna get more comfortable because exposure I don't want to feel so uncomfortable when I'm on that platform that I can't catch a weight. That's easy for me because the nerves kick in. And then it's a completely different thing. You're trying to tackle, agreed.
Jess: 18:02
I love that just being able to break this down of like confidence that oftentimes feels like this big and intangible thing and it's just trying to make it smaller and manageable and kind of along those lines when talking about, like you said, low hanging fruit, going into our fourth thing you can do right now to improve your confidence and that is practicing self-care. Now we're not talking bubble baths and manicures. Well, I mean, I got a man. I'm like there is something to be said about having really girly nails and then going and chalking up and like ripping really heavy Weight off the floor and just feeling like an absolute badass. That aside, this type of self-care we're talking about in context of like low hanging fruit is looking at your biofeedback, is taking good care of you. This is more along the lines of are you well fed, are you well hydrated? Have you slept enough? Are you recovered? Are you eating foods that nourish and satisfy your body? These important things. Because if we are not managing that self-care piece both those physical biofeedback, but then also the mental side Are you managing the amount of social time or alone time, like tuning into what you need? Is it practicing that mindfulness, without being woo right, being able to take a deep breath and be present and take stock of how am I feeling, how am I doing, what do I need that mindfulness piece? Practicing gratitude, managing your physical being, managing your mental well-being, because research shows that your self-confidence and self-care are often very closely linked. I mean, I hate to be cliche, but you can't pour from an empty cup. You're trying to build confidence in a certain area, but you're not sleeping while you're not eating, while you are not managing like your mental health and well-being, it's really hard to then focus your energy on improving confidence in an area if you don't feel good on your body. I mean that objectively, I'm not saying like if you don't feel good about your appearance, that's a whole different thing. That's saying like the biofeedback pieces of energy levels, sleep digestion, yeah, just overall healthy, trying to know yourself, being able to tune back in and practice those self-care pieces. Yeah.
Megan: 20:03
I think that going to therapy has kind of helped me separate some things in self-care, where I don't try to tie goals to them or accomplishments to my self-care, and I think that's important. You know that might be different for other people, but that's very important for me. I think about it too is like when people used to get those giant jugs of water and they'd like put, like I have to drink this per day, and like when you start to attach a goal to it, I mean it's good to have goals, but like yeah, Putting practice self-care on your to-do list to be able to check it off.
Jess: 20:31
Yes exactly it's being able to say, like you know, what do I need at the end of the day to unwind, and holding those maybe it's 10 or 15 minutes really sacred of eye journal to brain dump from the day I read, if for no other reason than a joieman. Instead of I need to read this nonfiction book because it's going to enrich my life and make me a better person. It's. I really freaking love this fantasy book, which I did do. I spent like way too long reading this weekend and I absolutely loved it. I have no regrets, but what are those self-care pieces that help you to unwind? To come? I'm just like come back to center. That also sounds woo, but it's not. It's just saying, like, how do you get to know yourself and tune into what you need? But like, like back to your point. Though you and I both are action takers, doers, it's taking that time to assess what we really need before just continuing to do and be productive and check things off the list, because that's something I've always struggled with is separating the two being productive and taking care of myself. That rest is just as important as productivity. Yeah, absolutely Okay. Last thing, fifth and final thing to improve your confidence right now is taking stock of who you surround yourself with. Megan and I, before we hit record, we always kind of review the show notes and we had 12 things that we wanted to include to improve self-confidence and I was like, dude, help me bring this more manageable what things are most important?
Megan: 21:50
And this one we circled back to like five or six times because it is so important you know it's cliche that you become like the five people you surround yourself with but it's true, it's so true, and you know, we've talked about this before and especially as you grow and as you change and as you get out of your comfort zone and become more confident in things and your personality might change, your goals might change, where you are might change, and maybe that is going to be separate from some of the past relationships that you've had or friendships that you've held on to, and I think, taking the time to recognize that and I'm not saying dump your friends, absolutely not. I'm just saying that you know, take notice of who you're putting stock into.
Jess: 22:28
Yeah, our time is a precious resource and it's finite and, like who we spend our time around, helps or hinders our goal. So taking a moment to recognize like this person they're supportive of your goals or your lifestyle. I think about like my late teens and the people that I surrounded myself with then, and it was like the short lived partying phase where the whole life was about partying and drinking and very different values, because, honestly, I'm pretty sure they're still in a partying phase even in their mid thirties. There's a reason why they're not people I surround myself with, yeah, and it's not to say they're bad people. We just have different goals, different values, different focuses, and that's our point here. Pay attention to the people that you spend time around, and it's not even to say that those are the people that you know. Megan, you're going to surround yourself with only mountain biking friends and only Olympic lifting.
Megan: 23:17
Oh, absolutely not. And I was actually just thinking that, because I have friends and friend groups that we can share a lot of same values, but we don't like the same hobbies. I mean, that's exactly it.
Jess: 23:26
I don't Olympic lift, I don't mountain bike. No-transcript, you don't power lift.
Megan: 23:30
You're no longer a long distance runner.
Jess: 23:32
Like we have different hobbies and activities but we have similar values. Yes, and that's kind of the whole point here is having those people that are a safe space are people who have similar values. Take stock of that and it again, like Megan said, it's not, it's not a saying Did you friends dump your friends? No, it's just more along the lines of your time is important and valuable.
Megan: 23:54
Again putting stock into people that fill your cup, like and are supportive of you. And it doesn't mean they have to be yes men, like, absolutely no, but just you know how do you feel after you hang out with them?
Jess: 24:07
Exactly Like we were talking about before we hit record. There are friends that maybe you fall back on, like we've known each other since middle school yes, therefore that longevity, we should be friends and then you leave hanging out with them and you're like that person was an energy vampire and I am exhausted, and that happens consistently every time that you're around them and you're like and you get more and more in a negative headspace and it becomes hard, yeah, to be around people and then how? how hard is it to turn around and be like I'm working on being confident but I'm so drained. Going back to that, self care.
Megan: 24:37
Yeah Well, and I've noticed myself being a person in friendships where I'm like trying to be so positive then on the other end of it and then eventually you're just like we're just trying to be constructive in a way that's like not your entire world isn't doom and gloom.
Jess: 24:51
I'm trying to be supportive of you and I care about you, and then they just like poo poo on you. I don't know like what word I want to do there, but you know, yeah, your time is valuable. So five things that you can do right now to improve your confidence. So let's recap reflect on your values. Go back and listen to the episode on core values. If that's something that you want to actually apply. There is a download within that episode to that gives you a whole list of core values. So you can kind of pick three to five and see how those areas that you want to build confidence in relate to your values. Practice showing up. Practice showing up as the person that you want to be taking action, knowing that confidence in a particular area is only built by taking action. It's not reading about it. It's not talking about it. Those things can help, like enrich, but the skill is built in the action. It's taking action because you can't feel confident before you take action. You get confidence from taking action, okay, and then it's making a list. Make a list of what you would do if you were your utmost confident self, picking one area, picking one of those actions, and breaking that down into what is one habit or one thing that you can do right now, today, to start working towards that. So, like our deadlift example, can you set foot in the weight room? Can you touch a barbell? Can you YouTube how to deadlift? Can you hire a coach Like? What are those things that you can do? Practicing self care? Again, not the bubble baths, necessarily, but the deeper sense of self care how I eat today, was my breakfast more than coffee. How I hydrated, how we're covered in my. How am I feeling energy wise? How is my digest when all those biofeedback pieces and how our brains have we checked in with ourselves lately? Those pieces of self care directly contribute to our confidence. And then, lastly, paying attention to what people that you spend the most time around. Who are you spending time with? How are they helping you work towards your goals, or being supportive, or just having similar values? So those are the five things to prove your confidence, megan. We have one more episode after this. Oh, I know, episode 15. Next week is our last episode of the season and then we aren't back until mid-January. Nice little holiday break, yes. And next week's episode is going to be deep, diving into how to have the best year. Yet the year is 2024. It's our year, yes. So there's that. Have a wonderful week, friends, and we will talk to you next week. Bye, if you enjoyed this podcast episode, please feel free to follow, subscribe, like, whatever the heck you do with podcasts. As always, stay sturdy, friends, and we'll talk to you next week.