Episode 30 – Be Confident but Not Really Sure

Renata Porter

This week’s podcast is about a statement that I read that’s been on a post-it note on my desk for quite some time.

Be confident, but not really sure.

 

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:04 Introduction

This is The Your Sports Resource Podcast, where each week you’ll learn actionable strategies that you can implement. So the operations of your club support your coaching staff and the direction of your organization. We are committed to excellence in youth sports leadership. Let’s get started.

00:00:29

Hello everyone and welcome to the Your Sports Resource podcast. It’s the week after Thanksgiving and I’m home for the rest of the year.

00:00:38

And while we’re busy here, it’s nice to be home for a bit so I can relax and kind of catch up. OK, so today, I wanted to talk to you about a statement that I read a while back.

00:00:49

And I can’t even remember where I read it. It’s just been on a post-it note on my desk for quite a while. Anyhow, the statement was or is, “be confident but not really sure.”

00:01:03

I know my younger self would have asked. You know, what in the heck are they on about but older me appreciates what it’s saying?

00:01:13

I personally have led my life, maybe egotistically but confident in what I’m doing, but I’ve also never felt like. If I didn’t get it right, things would be horrible, I just figured I’d muscle through it right until I did make it right.

00:01:28

So, to me this silly statement means you know get after it and have a growth mindset. That if you’re wrong then you can learn and correct it, or at least you know what the heck to do next time, because you’ve learned that lesson, right?

00:01:42

So, I know a lot of people who get spun out and overthinking everything that it all has to align with the stars before the first step can be taken.

00:01:52

I also know quite a few people who just kind of March ahead confidently and could be standing in a pile of poo, but will do everything in their power to convince you that they’re standing in a field of daisies, right? So, be confident but not really sure.

00:02:09

I think it’s just such a great statement, so I’d like to tell you, you know, a little story.

00:02:15

When I moved to New Zealand. Our whole family moved over there during the downturn in 2008. I was having a really hard time finding a job.

00:02:28

I have been working at Microsoft as a project manager and what was then called the Microsoft Services University. Essentially, we brought in all the new hires in certain fields across the world into Redmond to learn the Microsoft way, right?

00:02:45

So, if you think about it. Typically, those who are hired at Microsoft are all type A right and you’re thrusting them into a highly collaborative culture so that’s why Microsoft felt they needed this type of program.

00:03:00

They needed training on how to share and listen, right? So basically, like they’re four years old. But anyhow, when I got my first call back in New Zealand, it was for a coordinator at Auckland Council as a Project Coordinator on a technical project.

00:03:19

They assumed that you know, hey, she worked at Microsoft, so she knows the technology industry, right?

00:03:25

And nothing could be further from the truth, really. I was just bringing people in from all over the world and ensuring they got to where they needed to go right so it’s more logistics and training than it was anything to do with technology.

00:03:40

On top of that I hadn’t worked for almost a year while I had some temp gigs in and out right but not truly immersed in a full-time role.

00:03:49

So, I interviewed and I felt I did a horrible job, I thought it just went poorly, but they seemed to like me, or apparently they couldn’t find anyone else for the job.

00:04:01

Anyway, I you know they offer me the role and I had to seriously talk myself up to not feel like a failure every day. I was horribly unprepared and overwhelmed.

00:04:14

Right, just being really out of that environment for almost a year and not being from the technology field, it was just. It was a lot.

00:04:25

It was a lot but what I did is I just kept learning and kept asking questions and I you know really somehow made it through.

00:04:34

Did I have doubts every day? Absolutely, right! But I just confidently stepped into it, said I can handle it day by day.

00:04:41 

Not only that, I kept working my way up until my last role for working for someone else was the director of Information Services at a university.

00:04:51

You know who would have thought? I still tell people I’m the least technical IT leader. You would have ever met, right? I guess what I’m trying to say is that even if you feel like you can’t do the job or this task or this piece of work, do it anyhow.

00:05:07

Muster up the strength to give it a shot or kind of the fake it until you make it. Learn, ask questions, give yourself space to make mistakes and learn from those.

00:05:18

I feel like. You know, all of us could benefit from taking more chances instead of letting opportunities pass us by. You know whether you feel your excuses are valid or you’re just making excuses because you’re terrified. It doesn’t really matter.

00:05:34

I think that we could all do ourselves a little bit better by taking on those opportunities, you know. And then. If you’re the type of person that you feel like, you have to have it all figured out that you know all the T’s must be crossed. All the I’s are dotted and everything must align perfectly, you know.

00:05:52

You tend to get stuck in that discovery phase and you never make it out right. You end up doing, you know. Talking about gun ados right?

00:06:03

And that’s something my dad used to always say. I don’t want to hear you’re gonna dos either. Do it or shut up about it, right?

00:06:10

Maybe if you’re this type of person and try to work through how you can fake that confidence until you learn the job. And be OK with you know everything doesn’t align, but it will come together.

00:06:23

Have confidence in that you know have confidence that or just resolve yourself to give yourself space that not everything’s perfect, and it’s OK to make mistakes and learn.

00:06:36  

So today’s episode was a short one, but I wanted to share with you that statement. You know, maybe write it down on a post it note and put it in your bathroom mirror or your desk. Your fridge, wherever you’re going to see it right, or maybe everywhere.

00:06:48  

So, the statement again is “be confident but not really sure.”

00:06:52  

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00:07:01

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00:07:11  

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00:07:19  

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00:07:35  

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00:07:46 

Go to the website, http://www.yoursportsresource.com and you’ll see the virtual services up in the menu. Click on that and just find out more.

00:07:55  

There’s also a form that you can fill out if you’re interested in talking to me about it all right.

00:07:59 

Thank you for listening. Please subscribe and rate and review this podcast and more can hear what we have to say and remember you can always find more at www.yoursportsresource.com.

00:08:09  

Thanks for spending time with me.