The Introvert Leader

Confidence Isn't What You Think It Is

• Austin Hopkins

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In this episode, I give you an exclusive sneak peek into my Confident Leader Blueprint course dropping in September. Confidence is not being the smartest. It's not having the most experience, and it's certainly not something you are born with. It's inside you, just waiting to come to the surface. Leaders who struggle with confidence never reach their full potential. In this episode, I share my 5-stage blueprint to help you tap into your confidence.



Timestamps

2:11 – Stage 1-Know Yourself: Before you can tap into your confidence, you need to understand what your unique value is.

2:57 – Stage 2-Redefine Leadership: Authentic leadership doesn't fit any mold. So quit trying to be something you aren't.  

3:53 – Stage 3-Commit: Commit to yourself and your set of values. 

4:44 – Stage 4-Take Action: Action is what drives confidence faster than anything else. 

5:54 – Stage 5-Adapt: Reflect, reevaluate, and recover quickly when things go wrong. 


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Engage

Winning Over A Resistant Team

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I walked into my new office, which I'd be leading, and the sales team looked me up and down with the most judgmental stare I had ever felt. I was at least five years younger than most of them, and they were not happy I was going to be in their new boss. During my first meeting later that week, I told the team I wanted to try out a new sales process. The room was silent. Nobody made eye contact. Finally, the loudest person on the team said under her breath, We already tried that and it didn't work. Our clients won't like that, trust me. In that moment, I wanted to tuck my tail and walk out of the building. It felt like literally everyone in the room didn't respect me. Apparently they had already tried my great idea. I remember immediately feeling my face get red and I started rocking back and forth in my shoes. Everything inside of me felt like just agreeing with them and changing the conversation. But I waited a half second and I said, hey, would you guys mind if we just tried it and if it fails, we'll totally try something else. In that second, I did something that kind of surprised me. I met that resistance with confidence in myself and my ideas. I had the confidence to push back even when the room thought I was crazy. I wasn't born a confident leader, and it took me years to show up the way I wanted to.

The Confidence Blueprint Preview

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So I have spent the last six months developing a blueprint to help you tap into your confidence. In September, I launched the full course, but today I wanted to give you a sneak peek into the five pillars that will change how you see confidence. Maybe you aren't feeling confident enough to bring your ideas to life at work. Maybe you aren't feeling confident enough to apply for the role you deserve. Or maybe you're simply tired of trying to fit a specific mold of what you should be at work. Whether you're a people leader or an individual contributor, you're going to leave today with my confidence fundamentals. If you haven't subscribed to the show, do me a favor, click the subscribe button. This really helps me a ton. I want to keep bringing you the best career and leadership content on the internet. With that, settle in, it's time to learn something.

Stage One Know Yourself

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In this episode, I'm going to give you a breakdown of each confidence stage, and I'm even going to ask you a tough question for each. I've been hearing from people that these questions are some of the most uncomfortable yet eye-opening questions they've ever asked themselves. Stage one, know yourself. Most leaders skip this entirely, and then they get surprised when people don't want to follow them. So what is it? Before you can show up with confidence, you gotta figure out what makes you valuable. Not what you think you should be, but what you actually are as a human being. And here's why it matters. People want to follow authentic leaders. Authenticity comes from knowing your style and leaning into it. The easiest way to figure out your unique value is to look for patterns. So here's the question I want you to ask yourself. What do people consistently recognize or compliment you on at work? And are you actually using that and how you lead or how you show up at work? Knowing yourself is stage one. And this is where most people stop. They figure out something unique about themselves, but they never move

Stage Two Redefine Leadership

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forward. They never use it because they're too scared to be different. Stage two, redefine leadership. So you have to do stuff a certain way, or you aren't a good leader. Leaders need to look and sound the right way to get taken seriously. Completely false. So what is it? Confident leadership isn't doing stuff like everybody else. It's doing stuff you believe in with conviction, even if it's weird or different from what everyone else is doing. And so this is why it matters. In the first few years of my leadership journey, I was overwhelmed with insecurity because I didn't look like the leaders around me. It's only when I learned I needed to redefine what effective leadership looked like that I felt confident in my value. I didn't need to do stuff like everybody else to be successful. It was okay that I was an introvert. It was okay that I was young. It was okay that I wasn't super aggressive and loud. So here's the question I want you to ask yourself. What leadership myth have you been trying to live up to that doesn't fit who you are? So after you redefine what your leadership can look like, it's time to draw a line in the sand.

Stage Three Commit To Non Negotiables

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Stage three, commit. It's really hard to show up the way you want when shit hits the fan, right? When you're really tested, that's when it gets tough. If you stand for nothing, you're gonna fall for anything. So what is it? Committing to a standard for how you're gonna operate separates you from everyone else. Most people just go with the flow and they figure it out as they go. And so here's why it matters. Before I had my non-negotiables, I watched people around me report fake numbers or sell products to their clients that they didn't need. I had to decide if looking worse on paper was worth my integrity. Could I handle the pressure of not looking good in the short term at a shot of being who I wanted to be in the long term? So here's what I want you to ask yourself. What is one non-negotiable you're committing to as a leader starting today? Once you commit, you have to take

Stage Four Take Action Fast

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action. Without action, you just have a cool idea. Stage four, take action. Action is what drives confidence. Without action, you're wishing stuff to happen. Dreaming doesn't make a great leader. It's the dream plus the action that makes you a confident leader. But what is that? Why is it so hard to take action? Why do we get in our head? It's because we don't want to fail. We don't want to look stupid. We're so worried about perfection versus progress. Well, guess what happens if you never take action? Your confidence stays right where it is. Growth is stagnant because there hasn't been any tests. There hasn't been any friction. Friction is where growth comes from. So here's why it matters. Taking action on your ideas is the best way to see momentum with your confidence. Without action, you have no skin in the game. Right now, you're sitting on a literal gold mine of ideas. I know you've been thinking about this idea, but you haven't tested it out yet. An idea that could make a big impact, an idea only you could think of. Will you have the confidence to finally let it out in the world? What's the worst thing that could happen? So here's what I want you to ask yourself. What idea have you been self-silencing that you could test this week?

Stage Five Adapt Under Pressure

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So action is important. That's what gets you in the game, but how you adapt to the everyday challenges determines your longevity in the game. Stage five, adapt. Staying confident when things go wrong is what separates the average leaders from the great. So what is it? What worked six months ago might not work today. Adapting and refining your leadership is essential if you want to reach the next level. And so here's why it matters. Without adapting, you stay stagnant. The problem is that your work doesn't stay the same. So why do we think we can? I remember one season where my team told me they couldn't move the revenue needle no matter what they tried. They said it was impossible. They said we've tried everything. So instead of just accepting their limitations, I decided to take it into my own hands. So I sat with each salesperson. I dissected their process and helped them rebuild it from the ground up. And guess what? Next quarter, we had our best month ever. So here's what I want you to ask yourself. When your confidence last took a hit, what was the first sign you were getting back on track? Each of these stages on its own won't make you the confident leader you want to be. But when you put them together, something special happens. You start to realize you had it in you all along. Your confidence was just waiting to come

Free Guide And Closing Reminders

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out. Okay, so before we wrap up, I want to give you something for free. I created a confident leader guide because I struggled with confidence during my leadership career. A lot of the time, I felt like I was in way over my head and I didn't have the resources to get past the tough stuff. I hated feeling helpless, so I want to make sure you don't experience that. So anytime you're feeling overwhelmed or out of your depth, you can pull out this one-page guide and immediately feel less anxiety. So to download it for free and get updates on the Confident Leader Blueprint course dropping in September, click the link in the description. I'm confident you're going to find some value. Confidence isn't about being the most skilled, it's about trusting yourself and your unique value. Showing up as your authentic self is scary at first, trust me, but it will build confidence. Once you unlock your unique value, nothing, and I mean nothing, can knock you down permanently. You'll be able to get through stuff that would make other people run and hide. So thank you for letting me give you a quick sneak peek of the confident leader blueprint. I'm so pumped to drop the full course in a few months. In the meantime, I want to say thank you so much for listening. Make it a great day.

Contributor

Austin Hopkins

Host