So I get that the term “extremely successful” is relative, and success means something different to everyone. But this was something I heard on (multiple) business and personal developement podcasts recently so I wanted to share (I initially heard it on one of Ed Mylett’s podcast episodes).

Essentially, it’s a combination of extreme confidence paired with humility. It’s the people who think “Why not me?” but are also humble enough to be open to learning, making mistakes, taking feedback. This really resonated with me because I think that it is so true. In order to get what you want out of life, you have to be confident enough to actually go after it. There is so much outside noise whether it’s people judging you, a market feeling oversaturated, feeling overwhelmed on where to start, etc. that if you’re not confident in who you are, what you’re capable of and what you’re meant to do it can be really discouraging. It’s easy to get into the mindset of “that will never work” or “yeah, she’s amazing but I could never do that” or “I could never figure it out” etc. But any of the successful people in the world are clearly where they are because they didn’t let that stop them from pursuing their goals. They had enough confidence to try things and to put themselves out there to get to to where they are today. They didn’t let the lack of knowledge or lack of experience get in the way; their confidence in their ability to figure it out and have the mentality of “why not me?” propels them forward.

So while they are confident enough to believe in themselves that they will figure it out, they also realize that they have a lot to learn in the process. They are humble enough to listen to others with more experience, to try different things and be okay with failing, to not think they are better than anyone else in the process. Even the most experienced people still make mistakes and are constantly learning something new. So it’s maintaining this sense of humility even after you’ve “made it” and have become successful.

This was just a really interesting perspective that I wanted to share. I think a lot of people lack self-confidence so much so that it stops them from going after what they really want in life. They end up settling for what’s in their comfort zone because they don’t have the confidence to try something new. If this is you, this is a great podcast to listen to in order to start building your confidence. I listened to it recently and there were so many good takeaways. Different than the ones I was referencing above, but the whole episode is packed with tips and the importance of building your confidence.