How to find your confidence and courage

By Kerry Riley, Wellness and AVN Practice Growth Expert

As humans we are constantly bombarded with messages that we aren’t good enough. We always need to work harder, work faster, do more, be more, be slimmer, be taller, be prettier. And as accountants, there always seems to be someone more successful than you.

When actually everything you are right now is good enough. You just need to show up thinking it.

Change should be born out of necessity not out of other people’s opinions of you. That includes the voice inside your head that is telling you that you are not good enough.

We have turned into a world where we believe the negative far more than believing the amazing possibilities of the positive. The voice inside our head has turned into a bully and it’s time to take the bully down.

How to find your confidence and courage

Let’s start:

1. At the end of every day write down 5 things that made you confident and courageous today. And do the same tomorrow and the day after and the day after. Until you are only thinking about the amazing confident thing have you have done today.
2. Give yourself permission. We can allow our mind to get in the way, but we can also override negative thoughts. Our thoughts aren’t facts. They’re just something for you to observe and then make the decision to believe or override with a positive thought.
3. Time is the only thing you can’t get more of – so find it in the time you have. When people say they don’t have time for themselves, they do. They just choose to prioritise something else. Whether it’s an hour early in the morning or later in the evening, delegating or splitting tasks, find it and then stick to it. This is really important because this will give you time to learn, to have fun, to do the things you always dreamed of.
4. Say no. NO – just 2 letters. When someone asks you to commit to something or take on more tasks STOP!  Be confident and ask yourself – does this help me get where I want to be?
5. Make being brave a habit. The fear of what might happen can cause nothing to happen. Instead of moving forward with your life and goals, you retreat to your safe space and avoid change. The words brave and courage are often linked because brave comes from fear while courage means doing something even though it scares you.

Be the accountant you want to be, not the accountant you think you should be.

So embrace your life, the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s the only one you have so don’t aim for perfection – aim for positivity!