Kay:

Hey there Questers, welcome in! It’s Friday, August 6th, and this is episode 415. In honor of the Olympics happening right now in Tokyo, we have a Simone Biles quote for you today. If you don’t know who Simone is, she is the most decorated American gymnast and is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most dominant female gymnasts of all time. She has a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals and helped to carry the US team and the 2015 Olympics or 2017 Olympics with great pride. We had a huge win for the US thanks to Miss Simone’s leadership.

Shi:

Simone, what an inspiring young woman, and what an inspiring quote she gives here in just six words. “Practice creates confidence, confidence empowers you.” I love that she’s tackling confidence here and really bringing this forward because most of us understand conceptually that competence is an important factor in the equation of the life that we desire but oftentimes we find it lacking or waning or something that ends up disempowering us or hurting our chances, which leads us to the question well, how do I build confidence?

Kay:

I think many people have the idea that confidence is something like your hair color or your eye color at birth. Confidence is one of those things that you either have or don’t. You have either brown eyes or you have blue eyes. You have either confidence, or you do not have confidence, but that is simply not the case. What I love that Simone is saying here is that she’s actually giving you a way to create that confidence and from somebody who has been a champion at the highest level and has had to practice a lot, I think it really speaks a lot to the credibility for somebody of her caliber to say that practice is the thing that creates confidence.

Shi:

So, when we hear that, we think, well how do I do that then? Practice creates confidence so if I’m not feeling confident in my looks how do I practice confidence there. Well, I think one of the important things is that you likely have a historical orientation on your past experiences that tends to highlight the negative things for you. That tends to remember and easily call up over and over again, the times where you haven’t felt your best, or someone said something, or you failed at a thing. What I would encourage you to do and think about is how can you shift that spotlight of your mind onto the times in your life where you did feel great, where you did achieve the thing, where you felt like you were on fire, where health was flowing through you, where vitality felt like it was a core part of your being. We’ve all been there. Even if it’s in your childhood you can remember those times. If we practice reflecting on times where we’ve done well, or we’ve looked good, or we felt good, or we achieved the thing, or we got through a hard conversation, we’ll start to realize we’ve been practicing all along and just that reflection can build confidence for you.

Kay:

So, reflecting on those things can then build that confidence to get you to take that next action. So, there is no lack of confidence too great that should stop you from moving toward your goals. The second half of this quote that I love is that Simone says that confidence empowers you. So, you do the practice to create the confidence and then confidence empowers you. It fills you with power when you’re out and about. Now I heard something recently. Simone got asked: “Simone, why don’t you smile very often?” And she said: “Smiling doesn’t win me gold medals!” I just loved the confidence that came from that. She doesn’t want to go and smile inauthentically in front of people if she doesn’t want to or have to walk down the street in that way. She’s practiced her craft so much; it’s created so much confidence and so much empowerment in her that she will not compromise her authenticity no matter what.

Shi:

I think she has practiced the same thing for so long that her confidence from that practice in a singular place can really shine so brightly and through to so many other aspects of her. But for many of us, regular non-Olympian 30 medal winners we might try new things often or switch gears when things get hard or not allow ourselves to have some compounding consistency happen over time, which gives us an ability to be empowered. So, I guess in a roundabout way, she’s also telling us to stay focused on what we’re good at and don’t quit on the thing that we love! So, to remind you of what Simone Biles tells us: “Practice creates confidence, confidence empowers you.”

Kay:

Alright everyone, a Practice Quest for you today. Today, we want you to ask yourself, what’s one thing that you’re seeking to attain greater confidence or deeper knowledge in. Then at some point over this next 48 hours on the weekend, we want you to practice that activity or skill. Practice means that more than once you’re going to engage in that activity or skill. So, the weekend is the perfect time to get intentional about it. Are you ready? Practice with us?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!