TED Tuesday: The Skill of Self Confidence

The TED Talk that I want to share with you today is about one of my very own most powerful skills and weapons in my arsenal - Self-Confidence.

As a young woman in the business world, the (humble) confidence that I have in myself is often received with surprise. Like the thought that a female my age believes in herself is an anomaly. Right after the initial surprise come the questions people have:

How do you do talk to people so confidently?

How do you not crumble under the pressure in those big meetings?
Where did you learn so much about thing 1, thing 2 and thing 3 that you don't have any experience in?

Where did you learn what you know about Excel, and how did you become so proficient? 

My answer to those and many other questions I get is often one of the following:

1. I practice
2. I'm passionate

3. I believe in myself

I chose this TED Talk because here we are again at the first week of the month and my job is busy. In these three days I am responsible for communicating a confident, well thought and deeply analyzed story to our business partners about what the conditions of the upcoming month will look like as it relates to our shipping targets and performance. It can be a fairly intimidating task, so what do I do to get myself game-ready?

TONS of self-talk and daily affirmation. I am a firm believer that our thoughts influence our actions and that nobody will ever believe in you unless you believe in yourself. Daily self-affirmations can be done any way you'd like to do them, but here's a great example of a great one that you could follow to start your day with a smile:

Can you imagine walking through life as self-confident and proud as Jessica is? What liberation it would be to appreciate who you are, who your family is, all of your possessions, even love your haircut!!! 

There are enough people in this world who are going to doubt you and believe that you're not ready, so do yourself a favor by looking yourself in the mirror and being your own biggest supporter, motivator and cheerleader. 

Feel like you've got this covered? How about you try then to boost someone else's confidence?

You can do this by believing in them, praise them for the things that they are doing right and one of my favorites that Dr. Ivan Joseph says in this TED Talk, "catch them when they're good."

Happy Tuesday!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Welcome to December, the most magical time of the year. 

I laid in bed last night and listened to the rain tapping against my window and couldn't help but wish that it was snow. Snow in Portland means that the city shuts down and it's nearly impossible for me to drive in to work. A few more days of pajamas, house-work and time to focus on myself would be my biggest holiday miracle. #LetitSnow

And hey, before we ramble on about how much I ate, drank and slept this weekend - do things look a little different around?

You bet they do! 

I took some time out of this precious 4 days to switch from Wordpress over to Blogger, then did a quick makeover. The makeover is still in progress while I learn some HTML tricks, assign categories to old posts and re-size some photos from posts in the archives. Seriously, don't go exploring around this week - there's bad photos, missing video links and all sorts of weird things that didn't transfer right from one platform to the next. 

If you need to re-follow me on Bloglovin', you can do so using the new Social Media Links in the right sidebar or below:

Normally on Thanksgiving weekend, I feel something like this:

This time was different thanks to all clean foods and no pressure from friends and family to "eat more". 

Turkey (duh)

Paleo Mashed Sweet potatoes

Wine soaked pears

Kale + Cranberry + Pecan salad

Cranberries (no sugar added!)

One thing truly missing from the weekend was the usual homecoming of my brother (who lives in Europe) - so the house was a little quieter and there were more leftovers than usual. We are hoping that we get to see him soon in the new year.  

As far as wrapping up November went, Black Friday was a success and you'll even be proud to know that I completed my revised goal of 50 running miles - considering that I could barely move after another leg day on Wednesday (yes, I'm still stretching this morning)

Hoping that you had an amazing long weekend and that your 17 alarms were able to wake you up!

Thanks and Giving

One of the things that I like most about Thanksgiving is the fact that most everyone stops to take a moment to express gratitude.

Time and energy aren't spent fixated on wishes, wants, needs or dreams, but rather focused on being happy with what is currently in our lives. Whether you are deeply thankful for friends, family, possessions, your career, good health, free will or the fact that the internet exists - it is one of the few times a year you express your love and happiness with all those shining things you have in your wonderful life.

Be thankful and be in the spirit of giving this holiday weekend and if you decide to hit the stores for bargains, please shop safely and do your best to spread joy, cheer (and glitter!) with each step you take.

 

Oh - and let's all say these things more often.

Happy Holidays!