Increase Your Confidence and Transform Your Life Through Intention Setting.

Are you feeling scared to put yourself back ‘out there’…?

Are you starting to question your ability to function? I know I am. Maintaining physical, emotional and mental health against the ever shifting backdrop of our work/life situation is tough especially if you are working from home and spending way too much time looking at the computer or phone screen.

We’re stuck inside and away from our normal routine, our contacts and the things that make us who and what we are, or so we believe.

Our ‘normality’ has been challenged and we are having to get used to the idea of a ‘new normal’ - which itself is continually evolving, which we don’t really understand and have no control over.

It is natural that we begin to question everything — who we are, what we do and why. If we are sitting around with possibly no clear goals or direction — having lost sight of whatever those were some time back - we’re losing confidence in ourselves and our ability to perform at a higher level. It makes us question if we will ever be able to do x,y or z again but we will most definitely have to get ourselves back in the saddle and push on.

We might be feeling scared to put ourselves back out there, which is fueled by the uncertainty of not knowing what’s going to happen next.

People we know are losing income, experiencing pay cuts and being laid off. Others are stuck in different places, running out of money, stranded away from home and family. Many have suffered illness and loss. It’s taking its toll on our mental, physical and emotional health.

It is quite normal for us to feel a dip in confidence and even some anxiety when we think about the enormity of all this but we have to allow ourselves space to accept how we feel and to prepare. Going out, getting dressed up for work, meeting and socialising with people, meeting targets, switching our brains back on certainly all feels a bit overwhelming when it is usually our self-confidence which we rely on to help us function and lead us to success — our ability to perform at a certain level and achieve for fulfillment and happiness.

So, perhaps we should get started now by working with ourselves at a deeper level of connection:

• We need to meet our own fear, spend time with it, understand it, accept it, thank it for showing us where we needed to pay more attention and then let it go so that we can focus on moving ourselves forward through creating the new positive and fulfilling intentions and outcomes for things we desire.

In order to be able to increase our self-confidence:

• We need to be kind to ourselves and be good to our bodies. We can set the intention to keep our bodies and minds as positive and active as we can by doing one or two simple things each day which make us feel good about ourselves and move us in the direction of our goals.

Since it takes two weeks to create a new habit, by now, it’s safe to say we have all created new habits for ourselves which are probably not as healthy or fulfilling as our old ones. It’s time to wake up and shake it up. Tune in to what your body and your mind is craving now and provide it:

• If its to put on some music and have a crazy dance session — do it.
• If it’s to eat raw vegetables and a whole packet of dates — do that too!

Your body knows what it wants, if you just listen it will tell you. I’ve personally been eating too much bread, cakes, biscuits and other types of food which I know are not good for me but I’ve justified it by telling myself “oh well, it doesn’t matter.” I know that’s a lie and an excuse for poor behavior and self-sabotage.

Even if we feel down every now and again on this emotional roller coaster, we can still find the drive to keep going; we’re still moving ourselves forward albeit at some lesser level. We’re getting through this and by working to keep ourselves confident, strong and healthy we’re keeping our dreams on track.

To make our lives fulfilling we need to have goals and dreams — a purpose. We naturally equate fulfillment with happiness and success. This is why we always need to feel like we are working meaningfully towards achieving ‘something’ and is why we create our own action plans for success which consist of smaller focused goals.

More than ever our intention setting must be positive, meaningful and serve our purpose so, keeping it simple, I invite you to:

• Set yourself ONE goal today which feels the most important thing to you and will be your main focus eg. don’t eat any biscuits, do 30 minutes of exercise, spend no more than 2hrs on Netflix…
• Set yourself ONE goal that you will work on every day over the next week and which will help to raise your confidence levels eg. get dressed to go out/to work, read a book [200–400 pages], write a short story [3000–5000 words], take a 2hr break each day away from the screen and start a new project…
• Set yourself ONE goal that you will work on over the next month which is a step towards a new dream or something you have always wanted to achieve “but never had the time” eg. write a book, run a marathon, plant a vegetable garden ….

Alongside this positive intention ‘goal-setting' you also need to:

• Be generous, patient, tolerant and kind — mostly with yourself but also with others.
• Be grateful every day for having this precious human body and the opportunities that brings.
• Use every day to self-generate the energy and motivation you need to walk your path with confidence always moving forward to achieve your goals and dreams.

If you do every thing with positivity and intention you will feel more liberated and more in control.

Knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it are the keys to increasing your self-confidence and setting and pursuing clear, meaningful goals and identifying a purpose will help you to create a more fulfilled life.

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