Confidence

When I look at my career and my life, one thing that I think stands out is a confidence in myself. I've always had a strong belief in myself and my abilities - especially on the basketball court. But when I look at it critically, I don't think that is enough to qualify for confidence.

Simply thinking you're good enough, talented enough, or smart enough isn't confident. It's cocky. The reason I say that, is because I think you need to have that belief grounded in a bigger picture. To move from cocky to confident, you need to understand why or how your gifts allow you to be more successful than your opponent.

To achieve this, you must first understand your role within your team or organization, then embrace it. You're assigned specific tasks for a specific reason. Most of the time, it's because you possess skills or traits that will allow you to perform those tasks better than someone else.

When you are assigned a role, take a few minutes to understand what is truly required to fulfill it at the highest level. Write down the traits you think are necessary in order to be successful at the tasks assigned. This is especially helpful when you feel that the role given to you is less important than the one you would like to have. By thinking critically about why you were chosen for that specific task, you may better understand how the decision was made, and have confidence in the fact that you possess whatever is required to accomplish it.