"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." - Arnold H. Glasow.

Love that Statement! Confidence is this ten letter word that can make a 10x difference in your leadership. Confidence can be very slippery. It can be hard to grab and hard to maintain. It is quite fascinating how even the world’s best athletes in their respective sports can struggle with confidence. Here are three principles on how you can gain and properly manage your confidence.

I. Confidence Comes From Competence.

The obsessive pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and skills is a powerful confidence booster. It is the behind the scenes work ethic that leads to poetry in motion when the lights and the camera are on. In the world of preaching, H.B. Charles says it this way, “Sweat in your studies and you will be relaxed in the pulpit, but be relaxed in your studies and you will sweat in the pulpit.” When you put in the hard work to expand your knowledge and skill set that will help fortify your confidence. The late Kobe Bryant did that by working out three times a day. All that work made him very confident on the court. The truth is that in this day and age of accessibility to books, podcasts, YouTube and coaching there is no excuse.

II. Confidence Comes From Your Circle.

Jim Rohn famously said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." Your inner circle is vastly important to your formation. There are three circles in your life that you should manage. The bullseye is your inner circle, the second ring is your community and the outer ring is the crowd. You should be very careful who you allow and do not allow in your inner circle. Promote and demote people through your circles with much caution and wisdom.

III. Confidence Comes From Your Covenant.

In the Biblical world covenant is a monumental word. The covenant God has made with us is unbreakable, unshakeable and unamendable. In the word of leadership, confidence can be built on what covenants (commitments) you make with yourself. What covenants have you made to your family? What covenants have you made to your team? Resilience is a major component of confidence. Pressing through the hard times because of the commitments you made to yourself and others marks all the difference. When you start with the fact that you will not quit, it leads you to great discovery which then gives birth to confidence.