Time and again when I’ve trained teams, I always fire off a “trick” question.

“Show of hands, please. Who would like more confidence when closing clients?”

Invariably, every hand in the room shoots up.

“Good,” I responded. “I’ve got a 10 gallon jug of confidence fluid out in my car. It’s just $10 an ounce. I’ll screw a hole in the top of your head, and pour some in. Any takers? ”

Everyone immediately gets the point: confidence is not a thing or substance.

I’m going to go out a limb here and say it’s not even a personality trait,although it certainly gives the appearance of being so.

My premise here is that confidence is, in fact, a process that a person does (usually outside of their conscious awareness) rather than something a person has.

That process is comprised of the following:

1.   Physiology. This breaks down into what you do with your posture, your breathing and your state of muscle tension/relaxation, as well as your level of proprioception or your awareness of your orientation in space.

2.   The internal imagery going on inside your noggin

3.   Your internal dialog and external dialog; what you say to yourself on the inside and the outside.

It’s that third element I’d really like to put under the microscope.

The Power Of Claim And My

Try this out as you read along.

Just say, either out loud or silently to yourself on the inside, the following phrase.

“I want more confidence closing big money clients”.

Notice any subjective sensations in your body as you say it again.

Now drop the word “want” and insert the word “claim”.

“I claim confidence in closing big money clients.”

Once again, repeat and notice the shift in body sensations.

Feels a great deal more motivating, doesn’t it?

Now watch this.

Add in the ownership word, “my”.

As in:

“I claim my confidence with my big money clients.”

Want to really spice it up?

Let’s toss in some adjectives and adverbs.

“I daily and joyously claim my amazing confidence with my big money clients.”

Now that opens up some serious neural nets for motivation, does it not?

Give it a few goes and let me know how it works for you.

As always, please comment and share; it’s always appreciated.

PR

Paul Ross

Website: www.speakerpaulross.com