How to Boost Your Confidence!
We recently asked the photographers inside our Beyond Natural Light Facebook group what the most stressful thing is about being a photographer. We got over 130 replies to that question, and an overwhelming number of them had to do with not feeling confident as an artist and as a business owner.
I myself have struggled with confidence throughout my career, so on this episode, I'm sharing what I've learned over the past 23 years in business about gaining confidence and kicking the stress that comes with not having it to the curb.
HIGHLIGHTS
Struggling with confidence is a very common problem for artists and especially for women.
We worry that our work isn't good enough, our prices are too high, we'll make a mistake, our clients won't like what we've created for them, we're "not doing it right", etc. We become so practiced at exercising the “self doubt” muscle, that it becomes strong. What you give your energy to grows, and because we're constantly exercise self doubt, we become really good at believing that we are not good enough.
What we believe has a direct impact on the actions we take. When we believe that what we want just isn't possible for us, we are less likely to succeed. This lack of confidence is a big deal, and it keeps a lot of very talented people from having the photography career that they want.
Let's talk about it! If you struggle with confidence, how do you get over it? Well, I have discovered that the way to build confidence is through action.
Confidence is a muscle.
You must exercise your confidence to build it up, and you do that through action. Continuously doing things that move you in the direction you want to go in builds self trust. Self trust builds confidence.
The more you take action and see the results, the more you trust yourself and the more confidence you gain. This is why I always say that being in business for yourself is like being in therapy! Being in business gives you the opportunity to take action every day towards what you want, exercise that muscle and gain self trust and confidence.
The problem is, most artists don't know which actions to take!
It's like if you want to get in shape, you start going to the gym. You walk in, see all the equipment and feel overwhelmed, so you just walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes and call it a day.
When you don’t know what to do or what order to do it in, you fall back on doing something you already know how to do, and then you get frustrated because you don't get the result you want. People do this in business all the time! It is the root of the confidence problem.
You know you're a good photographer and love doing it. Then you get started and don't know what to do or what order to do it in, so you fall back on doing what you've always done and stay stuck in the exact same place.
Because you are not taking action and don't even know what actions you need to take, you start questioning yourself. Are you really good enough to do this? Do you have what it takes? Your confidences plummets. Because our brains often confuse emotions with facts, this lack of confidence feeds itself. We begin to think it's real and tell ourselves that what we want is not possible for us, we can't have it and it will never work. We exercise the self-doubt muscle, so it gets stronger.
Does this resonate?
Let's go back to that gym analogy. What if you went to the gym and signed up with a trainer when you start feeling overwhelmed? What if you told the trainer your goals and had them show you which pieces of equipment you needed to use and how to use them?
What if that same trainer worked with you each week, giving you guidance and support as you learned? You would probably have a completely different experience!
My guess is, you would start seeing results, which boosts your motivation, and you'd quickly get to the point where you would walk into that gym without the trainer, full of confidence because you'd know exactly what you need to exercise and practice to get the results you want.
The same thing is true in business. When you know what you steps you need to take and you take them, you will start having wins. Even little wins build confidence! You start to exercise the confidence muscle instead of the self-doubt muscle. Feeling confident motivates you to take more action, and now you're in a cycle of growth instead of a cycle of stress and frustration.
Action builds confidence, and confidence builds success.
This is why I see so many people come into the Six-Figure Studio, my group coaching program, stressed out and full of self doubt, struggling to make their businesses work, and then graduate the program successful—meeting their goals and full of confidence. That's because I'm like the trainer at the gym. I know what actions they need to take and the order they need to take them. I have a specific framework for them to follow, and my team and I are there to help them along the way.
Remember, the way to build confidence is by taking action. Confidence is a muscle. You have to exercise it, and if you want training and help and support along the way, you can check out the Six-Figure Studio here!
