Becoming Batman: The Sure-fire way to Improve Your Confidence

The antidote to self-doubt.

Confidence: the reason why a certain rich orphan bastard can say Because I'm Batman before defeating a super powered alien in a blue suit and red underwear, and over ten million fans (myself included) will be screaming in the cinema.

Confidence is trust in your own abilities.

Confidence is knowledge of the extent of your strengths and weaknesses, and using them to your advantage.

It is having this knowledge at the back of your mind that lets you stand in a crowd of strangers with your head high;

Unafraid to ask a girl for her number,

Unafraid to be laughed at for being unable to dance because you know that although your strength may not be in dancing, there are other fields in which you shine.

So how do you develop Batman’s kind of confidence?

First step: Be a billionaire.

How do you do that in such a short amount of time?

I have an idea: Bill Gates just became recently single if you know what I mean. And Jeff Bezos is still mingling if you catch my drift…

Next step:

I want this to be a recurring thought in your head as you read this letter.

You can even say it out loud to yourself. This is the number one method to increasing your self-confidence:

The more I do, the more my confidence increases.

Say it again

THE MORE I DO, THE MORE MY CONFIDENCE INCREASES.

In all honesty, if you understand what you just said,

And you’ve already internalized it,

Then there’s no need to keep reading this letter.

I’ve made my point, and done my job of teaching you something for the day.

Everything else is shalaye.

Oh you’re still here? Alright, let’s dive in.

Do more things.

Take more action: exercise regularly, try cooking a new recipe, learn a few skills for your development, do things that make you think and act – solve problems. Better yet, solve your own problems.

When you solve your own problems yourself, over and over, in effective manner, you build the mental muscles that boost your confidence.

That’s literally how Batsy does it; that plus his bastard money.

You know this on a deep level, so why don’t you do it?

Why do you find it hard to improve your own confidence?

I have a few ideas:

Overthinking and Over-planning

Let me paint you a picture:

You’re at home and plan to start something: working out; reading more books; or that business you’ve always said you’d start.

And then you sit at home for weeks planning it out: the right work out gear you’d get; the perfect reading list so you don’t get bored; market places to source raw materials.

You mentally visualize the process, how difficult it might get: you’re working hard at the gym, getting tired, going back every day; you’re skipping some days and sleeping instead of reading; you’re having little losses in the beginning of the business due to one issue or the other.

Then you're fantasizing about months after when you’ve succeeded: you have the hottest body amongst all your friends, you’ve read 10,000 books in 1 year, your business is the most successful in Enugu and you’re still an undergraduate.

You do this for weeks, in your bed before you go to bed, in the shower, when having sex with your lover. You do this for months and then…

Months pass, maybe years and you haven’t done a thing.

Your head’s bowed in a crowd without a trust in your abilities because you never took any action. You never made the first move.

But I don’t blame you. Who am I? You’re human and this is a normal occurrence. Laziness is wired into our neurobiology.

Why don’t you ever start?

You’re Waiting for the Right Time.

You want to get the perfect gear first; you want to get plushy pillows and a good desk; and you want to raise capital.

You want to start on a new week, a new month, a new quarter or even a new year.

You can’t make up your own mind so you're waiting for the universe to be in its new season so that you can adopt it into your own.

It shouldn’t be so.

I support planning; in fact you need good planning if you want a lot of things to succeed in this life.

Planning is a good way to prepare, over-planning is simply: procrastination.

Overthinking one activity over and over again dulls the senses, you get anxious, you get scared, and as a result you never do it.

There is a myth that there is a perfect time to do something. I want to dispel that myth.

It may be true for some technical things like cooking or mechanics.

But when it comes to your growth, something that requires you to move and adapt and change, there will never be a perfect time.

This is true if you’re starting a business, having a child or handling any other kind of challenge. If you were ready for it, then it wouldn’t be growth.

– James Clear

So what do you do? Wear some old clothes and start working out today;

Start reading the first interesting book you find even if it’s on your phone, do it today;

Start doing market research to see if your business idea is profitable in the first place.

Do it today!

Overthinking and planning hasn’t done anything for your confidence, but action will.

You’re Scared of Failing

Please fail. I encourage you to fail. A child who started walking and never wobbled once would be considered creepy. Don’t be a creepy child.

Fail so you train your mental muscles and learn from your mistakes.

Fail so you can be confident to tell whoever comes after you, I tried that, it doesn’t work; this is what works.

Fail so that you get used to it.

Fail so you can try new things without fear.

THE SOLUTION

The antidote to self-doubt is action.

The more you do, the more your confidence will increase.

It doesn’t matter if you're learning how to cook or how to build a jet.

If your brain finds it difficult and finally achieves it, it will grow in mental strength. Do you ever wonder why you feel confident in yourself after a good work out? It’s the endorphins released in your brain because you worked hard at something and achieved it.

You’ve developed the mental strength that will change your attitude towards other things.

Because you’ve learned that you’re person who does difficult things. In the face of challenges, you find yourself not complaining but thinking of a way out. It’s instinct. You’re a problem solver now. You’re confident.

Not because you like to work,

But because you know now that difficult doesn’t mean impossible.

The only reason I can say I’m a fucking good writer is because I write tirelessly.

I’ve done it over a hundred times and I am still doing it.

My ability to say this is confidence.

Have I done everything I said I’d do before I die? Not even half.

Have I done more than one thing I said I’d do? Fuck yes.

And what has that done for me? Well I'm not scared to be called a writer anymore because I know I'm not a fraud.

And that confidence penetrates into other parts of my life.

So yes: the antidote to a lack of self-confidence is to do the fucking work.

It's been real.

And remember,

THE MORE YOU DO, THE MORE YOUR CONFIDENCE WILL INCREASE.

If you enjoyed this letter and you haven't subscribed, please do.

We’ll talk again next week.

Till then,

Stay easy,

Dave.

P.S: This is coming on a Thursday morning instead of a Wednesday because of poor planning and I had to take care of myself.

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