Transcriber: Gia Hwang Reviewer: Carol Wang
In the fall of 2019,
I asked 120 college freshmen what they thought about themselves.
80% said they felt less worthy than others
and 85% said they didn’t believe in their own abilities.
And in the last six months, my team and I, Rise Up For You,
we asked over 2,000 working professionals
what their top challenge was in the workplace today.
A whopping 57% said their top challenge was competence,
and 82% wrote down a challenge
that was directly correlated to competence,
such as imposter syndrome, not feeling enough, self-doubt,
and of course, the perfectionist mindset.
And these challenges are the factors that affect our behavior,
the ability to take action, and most importantly how we show up.
Today, there are many challenges we face in this world as people,
but the greatest tragedy we continue to see is wasted human potential
due to a lack of confidence and connection with one self.
It has paralyzed one generation after another,
and continues to get passed down
to today’s youth and future generations to come.
You see, over time, the term confidence
has been inaccurately redefined and minimized
to the point that many individuals today have built a false sense of confidence,
what I’d like to call micro confidence.
So let’s talk about this.
Micro confidence, what is it?
Micro confidence means you feel certain, sure, or great
in a competency or learned skill.
I’m confident in singing.
I’m confident in coding.
I’m confident in my career and my business, and so on.
But you see, that's not sustainable.
And we saw this most recently around the world when COVID-19 hit.
Many business owners, hard-working professionals, parents
lost their micro confidence,
meaning they lost their jobs, their skill was no longer needed,
they lost the external things that brought them security.
And the problem is that with that came the loss of self-worth and identity,
because you see, this whole time,
we’ve been building our self-worth and our identity of the micro competence.
External factors, things that are bound to change,
that should not define who we are,
but only enhance who we are.
Micro confidence is always changing
because it is outside of us,
and therefore dependent on multiple factors outside of your control.
But really, this whole time, we need to build our macro confidence,
a belief in your ability to learn or succeed,
a self-confidence within
that is not defined by any outside thing, person, or place.
Macro confidence is a deep inner belief that you can learn,
a growth mindset, a belief that no matter what happens around you or to you,
everything you need is within you
to change and overcome any challenges or obstacles
that you are enough and have enough within.
It is the macro confidence that says I’ll figure it out;
or it’s OK that’s not perfect.
I’ll do it anyway.
And if I fall short,
I will reflect on what happened and try again.
So, how do we move forward and make a confident shift in our society
that is so desperately needed today and for the future?
Number one, it always starts when we're young.
Educational institutions need to start making shifts
to the core curriculum starting in elementary school,
incorporating self-confidence and soft skills as major core subjects
along with technical skills.
I mean, the reality is math, history and science will only go so far
if our students don’t have the confidence to take action
and step forward with their knowledge,
if they don’t have the confidence to embrace failure, risk and the word ‘no’
without feeling less than or unworthy
when they step into their first career or profession.
To the parents, corporate leaders and educators:
Be careful which beliefs and thoughts you let out of your mouth
and into the ears of a young mind for hungry professional.
It only takes one encounter to shift them
from a dreamer and a doer to a doubter... and to you.
You were born with confidence.
When you were a baby, and you fell down,
you didn’t tell yourself, “Ahh, forget it. It looks like I wasn’t meant to walk.”
Now, you got up again, and again, and again.
But over time, society, family, people,
they put beliefs on you that made you feel small,
and in return play small.
And over time, years go by and those beliefs get cemented into your mind
even though they don't always serve you and your success.
But you have the power to shift that today, right now,
by making the conscious decision
to counter the thoughts and beliefs that are getting in your way,
and rewrite them with positive thoughts to help you move forward,
even when you’re unsure of the outcome.
And by the way, it’s OK to let fear get inthe car.
OK, you let fear get in the car,
but don’t let that sucker take the wheel,
because the second it takes the wheel,
it’s going to drive you to the wall
or make a U-turn in a direction that you do not want to go.
The greatest tragedy today is wasted human potential.
I urge us all to change the narrative, shift the story
and confidently lead the way starting with yourself first.
Thank you.