“Science Says Overconfidence is Key to Success”

pulled from this article at Inc.

Make success a must-have.  Have bright, big goals.  Shrug off your failures.  Ignore the naysayers.  Value courage above security.

“So that’s how it’s done.  One question remains: How do you know when you’re successfully overconfident?  Easy.  You won’t know you’re overconfident; you’ll just feel like it’s plain, old self-confidence… even when you’re preparing to move mountains.”

Reading this article gave me goosebumps as each point seemed to relate to something very factual that I have either already learned or already experienced.

doing what I love and feeling fortunate to do so

Jumping off a ledge to chase your passion is incredibly frightening.  When I jumped, I was 23 and felt pretty invincible.  Then, The Crash happened and that forced me to really evaluate what I wanted in life.  I knew I wanted to make a difference, I knew that the ideas created for Nine13sports were totally different and most importantly, I knew that it would be hard work but was something that could be built from the ground up.

It’s easy to see in hindsight how I wound up as executive director of the organization.  I had a great team to get the organization off the ground, but it’s clear why it took transitioning without them to really grow.  We had so many internal conflicts and created so many issues that made it harder to operate than it had to be, along with very different operating styles and goals.  With the changes and spinning off the programs, it created a breath of much needed fresh air and allowed me to operate the organization as a lean and nimble machine.

And that path has created so many amazing things.  A year ago, I never thought I’d be involved with the business school over at Butler.  I never thought I’d be consulting on a project out in Portland, Oregon.  I never expected to be discussing the possibility of speaking at a trade show in Vegas in September.  This path of things is just crazy to me and if there’s one thing I learned in the last year it’s that you truly have no idea what your path is.  All you can do is live, laugh, love, be true, be reckless, be good and be yourself and be prepared for anything.

It always sorts, always.  Especially when you’re confident.  And especially when you’re backing up that confidence with success.

Cheers,

-th