You cannot learn to be confident. You can’t manifest confidence through your thoughts. Affirmations that are intended to boost confidence will not change a thing. You simply can’t pretend your way to confidence.

Why? Because confidence is earned by taking risks and taking action.

The risk in taking action is that you will face hurdles and obstacles, you will make mistakes and you may experience failure.

But only those who overcome the inherent risks of taking action and, thus, encounter hurdles, obstacles, mistakes and failure, grow. They learn what to do and what not to do. They figure it out.

Eventually, all of that figuring it out, all of that learning what to do and what not to do, leads to success.

And success builds confidence. Those who take risks, take action and succeed become confident because confidence is earned, not learned.

Everyone has superpowers. Superpowers are the strengths each one of us has that makes us unique. Let me repeat, everyone has superpowers.

You superpowers set you apart from everyone else.

Superpowers come from two places:

1. Genetics
2. Environment

Genetics

Everyone has unique DNA, unique genes. We are given those unique genes at birth. Given. We don’t have to work for them, buy them or build them. They are literally given to us free of charge, without any cost or effort.

Some people are just naturally gifted with genes that make them superior physically. LeBron James was born bigger and stronger than most others. I remember watching LeBron James play basketball as a senior in High School. It was a nationally televised broadcast because so many people were in awe of his superior basketball abilities. I remember watching the game with my son. We looked at each other and I said to my son, “he looks like a 25 year old man playing basketball with a bunch of 14 year olds.” LeBron was just born bigger and stronger and physically more athletic than the kids his own age.

Others are born with superior intelligence. They are just able to grasp things quicker and easier than others. Bill Gates was born smarter than others. Bill Clinton has a 156 IQ.

Some are born with creativity genes. They are born more creative than others. Steve Jobs saw things differently than others. He was obsessed with design details at a very early age and that gave birth to the Macintosh, iPod and iPhone. Nicola Tesla was born creative. He was born an inventor. He created the 60 cycle rotating magnetic field motor (alternating current motor), Tesla Coil, RADAR, ARC Lamp, radio, XRAY, Solar Engine and 40 other patented inventions that are still being studied to this day.

Still others are born with a humor gene, entertainment gene, mathematical gene, economics gene, the writer gene, the curiosity gene, the music gene, etc.

If you are alive, you were born with some genetic superpower.

Environment

The environment you were raised in gives you superpowers. Some people were raised by parents who encouraged their children to explore, to be curious, to experiment, etc. Some were raised in environments where they were taught certain habits that gave them an edge and lead to success. Others were raised in environments that fostered learning, creativity, invention, risk taking, etc. And still others were raised in environments where they came into contact with individuals who inspired them, motivated them, encouraged them.

If you are alive, you were born in an environment that gave you some superpower.

Your job is to discover exactly what your superpowers are. Some you were born with, but most likely, most of your superpowers come from your upbringing, your environment. Find them and then devote your life to strengthening them.

Don’t waste your time focusing on what you are not good at. Focus all of your energy on your genetic and environmental strengths. When you find your superpower, focus all of your energy and time to developing it.

Only when you devote your life to developing and nurturing your superpowers will you truly become happy and successful.

Everyone has an ideology. Ideology is indoctrinated thinking that you have accepted and that has become habitual.

• Teachers have an ideology.
• Union members have an ideology.
• Physicians have an ideology.
• Democrats and Republicans have their ideologies.
• Tesla employees have their ideology.
• Employees of Apple, FaceBook and Google have their specific ideologies.
• Rich people and poor people have their ideologies.

You have an ideology, whether you realize it or not.

And I have one question for you:

Is your ideology working for you?

A good ideology is one that helps you become successful in life. It indoctrinates you with thinking that leads to success. It inspires you to learn and to grow. It infuses you with motivation and a desire to achieve.

Most are not successful. And if you’re like most, your ideology is holding you back in life. It’s acting like an anchor, dragging you down and preventing you from realizing success.

Whatever career you have, you must adopt the ideology that only those at the top of your industry possess. That is why it is so important to associate with those who are successful. Their ideology infects you like a virus. And you want to become infected.

Find those at the top in your industry. Ask them to breakfast, lunch or for a few drinks after work. Start building a relationship with them. Learn their ideology. Then, adopt it.

Pursuing success is a lot like swinging from one trapeze bar to the next.

Each trapeze bar represents a goal. Success is just the process of moving from one goal to the next.

After you achieve one goal, you have to move on to the next goal. You must continuously swing from one goal to the next, as if it were a trapeze bar.

The success process requires that you relentlessly focus on moving from one bar to the next.

Successful people do everything humanly possible to keep swinging from bar to bar.

It’s not easy because every now and then you will miss the bar and fall – you will fail to achieve the goal. And failure is painful.

Those who succeed in life, however, pick themselves up, dust themselves off, figure out what went wrong, climb up the ladder and grab on to another bar.

When you pursue success, you will fail. You will miss the goal and it will hurt, emotionally and financially.

But those who eventually succeed, make a habit of learning from their failures and mistakes and get back up on the trapeze to try again. To succeed, you need to become a trapeze artist.

How far are you willing to go to achieve your goals or realize your dreams?

How much time are you willing to commit everyday to your goals or to a dream?

How much risk are you willing to take in pursuit of your goals and your dreams? By risk I mean, how much money are you willing to invest in risk in your goals and your dreams or how much debt are you willing to take on in pursuit of your goals and your dreams?

In short, what is your commitment threshold?

This is actually a trick question. You see, those who become self-made millionaires have no commitment threshold. They go all in. They will go bankrupt before they quit on their goals and their dreams.

If you have a commitment threshold it means you will likely quit at some point on your goals and dreams. Most have commitment thresholds and, as a result, most do not become self-made millionaires.