How To Feel More Confident In Yourself

14 May

How To Feel More Confident In Yourself

“You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.”

— Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

The blades of two great warriors face each other. Their story so familiar, yet unique to this moment.

Their swords, catching the light of the day, shine their beauty, but their purpose is not to impress.

No, their purpose is to the carry out the will of their Masters.

For in this fight, only one man will walk away....

The two men watch each other closely, waiting for the right moment to move

A break in concentration, a change in environment…

Suddenly one of the warriors charges, swinging hit blade with only one intention...

To cut his opponent…

More than 60 times, a warrior by the name of Miyamoto Musashi walked away from these battles.

Miyamoto, a Japanese Samurai, wrote a guide for his heihō, or his path to enlightenment. It was a book based on his Zen learning and his 15+ years of fighting as a Samurai.

Growing up at a time of social change, Miyamoto became a samurai at the age of 13 and continued to learn the discipline of swordsmanship and fight until the age of 30.

Until his death in 1645, he continued to practice, believing that his heihō was more than just a way to practice swordsmanship, but a way to live life.

It’s incredible to think that while using two swords to fight rivals from other schools of samurai and swordsmanship, he would go 60 battles undefeated.

But you’re probably thinking, “what has this got to do with feeling more confident”?

We’ll get to that shortly…

Have you ever looked in the mirror and not been as proud as you want to be with how you look and feel?

It’s not an uncommon feeling. It’s not a bad thing either to want to feel more proud of yourself.

But it can really affect your confidence from day to day

And it’s not really your fault.

You see, you’re presented with so much information with how you should be looking and feeling that it can all get confusing.

And the fitness industry doesn’t help either. We give so many short term quick fix solutions, that the “get some results, lose those results” story so many of us go through, just adds to the lack of confidence and pride you might be feeling.

Think about all the diets that seem to come out each year. They’re all the “best diet guaranteed to get you results”.

And many of them do…

Until they don’t.

And then we feel like a failure, and lose confidence once again…

Back to square one, with that same thought that “nothing seems to work for me” and that lack of pride in how you look and feel...

I felt like this as well. In fact, I lacked such confidence and pride that it drove me to depression.

And I had to learn from trial and error, what worked best for me.

Luckily, I found weight training and nutrition as a way to help myself.

And it turns out, the same works for others too.

The key for me to get myself out of depression though was not short term, quick fix solutions. Instead it was discipline and focusing on the principles over a long time.

I invested in 6, 8 and 12 month training programs.

I invested in 12 month nutrition coaching programs for myself and others.

I invested in coaching programs.

And all of it helped my own confidence, but has been helping others since.

The story about Miyamoto Musashi is one of discipline and principles. In his book “The Book of Five Rings” Musashi discusses two things:

That practice and discipline are require to achieve your goal, and
You need to focus on the principles, because they always work

Musashi discuss the other schools of Samurai and how they focus on the wrong things like the size of the sword or a particular fighting stance. And he says focusing on these things is great, until you’re in a situation when they don’t work.

And that is a lot like what the fitness industry leads many people to believe.

Use diet X and training plan Y, which will work for you…

Until it doesn’t.

And that’s why with my clients, I focus of the principles of training and nutrition.

We focus on disciplined practice of the fundamental movements and training methods that work. And not just work for us, but have worked since strength training and exercise became a thing more than 50 years ago.

We follow habit based nutrition practices. Why? Because a habit will work no matter what diet you decide to follow. Habits are ingrained and automatic.

Take Brian for instance. He was training for a long time by himself. Going through the motions. Not getting leaner, not feeling confident, and not training to ensure long term balance across his body.

Now he’s corrected imbalances from previous injuries, now he’s leaner, now he talks about not wanting to be average anymore. Now he’s looking at changing professions!

Of course you can become more proud of how you look and feel by getting results that stick.

Of course it’s possible for you, despite any previous attempt you have or haven’t made.

And of course that feeling of more pride and confidence will lead to an improvement in other areas of your life.

I know because it happened to me, and it keeps happening to my clients.

If you’re interested in how you can feel more pride and confidence, click the link below and download the free guide explaining 3 things you should be doing before you even start a new diet!