Confidence is key: 3 ways on how to never lose your competitive edge

When it comes to your success, craft, or anything you want to accomplish in life, there are fewer things more pivotal than having confidence.

Think of all the finer things in life: goods that are done well, services that are provided at a high quality, and even the greatest talents you’ll come across in sports — behind each lie a spirit of confidence.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not money or looks that get women; although they help, it’s the confidence those things provide and empower men with that attractiveness.

You can be without fame, fortune or physical form, and if you walk with the walk of a man who believes in himself, you’ll be more inclined to attract the women you’ve always wanted. Much is the same with anything you’re going for.

The principal of confidence is foolproof. However, confidence is also a concept that seems to have earned a bad reputation over the years.

Maybe it’s due to those who have too much of it or maybe its due to the insecurities of those who are well without, but somewhere along the line we as a society has steered away from owning and confiding in our strengths.

I, however, am of the belief that we should double down on confidence. Whoever complained about cockiness except those who have nothing to be cocky about?

Without a competitive edge, we lack killer instinct, and without a killer instinct, we don’t execute our dreams.

The beauty of walking in confidence is that it usually comes from hard work, it can sharpen others who aren’t confident, and it makes one undaunted by failure.

We’re at our best when we operate in confidence and once we break its negative stigma, we’ll see just how far it takes us.

Fall back on your work

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So, we know that confidence crucial to one’s ultimate success, but how do we maintain it and never lose it? How do we gain it, and if it does escape us, how do we build it up in times of insecurity? The answer to all of the questions above is work.

No one can say shit to you when you know you work harder than them. The work you put in will always be your catch-all and, if anything, should inspire you to work harder.

When I think of Muhammad Ali, I not only see the greatest boxer of all-time but I see the biggest trash talker and one of the most dedicated workers of his craft. That, in turn, gives him the license to talk off the cuff.

The same goes for Jay-Z. He didn’t come out the gates saying he was the greatest rapper alive. It was on the Black Album, after years of successful albums and tours and building an empire. The work inspired the talk, and that will always be the case in whichever field you’re in.

Work harder than the man beside you and no one will be able to tell you a damn thing.

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Keep an encouraging circle

Once you realize the power and the sustainability confidence breeds, it’s going to be something that you’ll never want to lose. However, we’re human; meaning there will be inevitable moments of weakness and doubt.

That’s why it’s imperative to keep a circle around that encourages your confidence and enables you to do what you need to do in order to maintain your confidence at a high level.

Most of us have friends from childhood, work, or from a time in life where we had different views than we do now that are counterintuitive and detrimental to the direction we’re trying to go.

It’s not like they’re bad people or even mean us harm, but they also do not make us any better. These are the friends we must distance ourselves from.

Rather, if we want to be at our best and to be the most confident possible, it’s only right to be surrounded by people who will push us towards greatness.

When we have people around us who exude confidence and who influence us to be confident, it’ll be a trait that’s hard to shake and easier to recreate.

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Be unafraid to fail

The worst thing that can happen to us is only the worst thing that can happen to us until it actually happens. Once it concludes, however, we’ll often times look back and almost laugh at even seeing it as difficult.

Once the anxiety of failure is cast away, we’re then positioned to be able to try anything, take more risk and to attack any challenge. If confidence is something you’re lacking or something you’re looking to regain, void yourself of the fear of failing and start doing.

Sometimes all it takes is a leap into the unknown for us to see we’re capable of doing things we had no idea we’re capable of doing. But we will and can never do so when we fear the outcome.

You don’t realize how valuable confidence is until you’re without it. It’s like having the powers sucked out of you. Often times when professional athletes come back from a major injury they’re not the same; not because they’re not healed but because they’re not confident in their limbs yet.  It’s the athletes who return with a short memory who have the best success stories.

As you journey into your next venture, go with confidence. Challenge yourself to exude, gather and embody confidence and see how far it’ll get you.

Do what it takes to deserve the merit of confidence, instill confidence in others and move without fear — you’ll see just how far you’ll go.