Bryan E. Wilson

Marietta, GA – When Confidence is cool

We all know who the cool kids in school were. I remember a guy in my school was just “cool”. I won’t mention his name, I will just call him “Howie”.

Howie had an older brother, who was also cool. Everyone know who Howie was. The teachers all knew him and candidly respected him and the girls all swooned when he walked down the hall. Younger guys like me wanted to be just like him. The coaches wanted Howie on the team roster. Not because Howie was the best player on the team but because the team just performed better with him on the field or court. He lifted the confidence of the best players to up their game.

Years later I understood why Howie was so cool. He had a confidence about him that gave him a certain authority. An air of invincibility that followed him. It was a trait that was learned and practiced. We all have an area in our life where we can practice and acquire confidence in something that will define us. Malcolm Gladwell referred to the 10,000-hour rule where anything that we commit 10,000 hours to will make us an expert in whatever the area of concentration is. Want to be an awesome, world-class musician? It’s easy. Just surround yourself with a compatible peer group and commit 10,000 hours or 5 years of your life.

In business we call this person a Subject Matter Expert or “SME”. What would you like to be known as an SME in? If you could be the absolute best in something, what would you like to be known for? Go ahead, dream big. Begin or complete your path to 10,000 hours now. What better time to begin? Don’t limit yourself. You can be confident and “cool” in whatever field you want. I encourage you to take that step. Just begin. Just do it.

#EncourageExcellence

Bryan