Empower Your Career by Building More Confidence

Episode 129: Unlock the secret to career success with confidence as your guide. Do you often find yourself trapped in self-doubt or hesitating to step beyond your comfort zone? Tune in to learn how to transform that hesitance into courage and expertise. This episode of the Finance Leader Podcast reveals practical strategies for building self-belief by achieving small victories, embracing your purpose, and reshaping your habits. You’ll discover how to turn mistakes into stepping stones and grow your skills through consistent practice, especially in crucial areas like presentations. Experience the power of confidence in leadership, making decisive choices, and earning respect, all while holding yourself accountable for personal growth.

Discover the powerful connection between accountability, confidence, and success as we explore how to continuously enhance your skill set and organize your daily activities for maximum impact. By focusing on a growth mindset, you can inspire your team, share valuable insights, and stay at the cutting edge of leadership.  This episode promises to equip you with the tools and mindset needed to achieve your goals and unlock your full potential in both your personal and professional life.

Episode outline:

1. Achieve small successes,
2. Discover your purpose, and
3. Change your habits. 

Please connect with me on:

1. Instagram: stephen.mclain
2. Twitter: smclainiii
3. Facebook: stephenmclainconsultant
4. LinkedIn: stephenjmclainiii

For more resources, please visit Finance Leader Academy:  financeleaderacademy.com.

The Office of the CFO Bootcamp Training Workshop: CFO Bootcamp

Chapters

• 0:04 Building Confidence for Career Success
• 8:57 Enhancing Success Through Confidence and Accountability

Transcript

Stephen McLain: 0:04

Confidence gives you power to move beyond your comfort zone. Confidence is courage wrapped around your expertise. You know your job, you know your portfolio, you know your company and you know your industry. So why are you doubting yourself? Maybe you need a little bit of convincing to go to that next level, a little more belief in yourself so you take those necessary steps towards something amazing in your career. But maybe you are a little afraid or intimidated to do so. What's stopping you? Let's build our confidence by achieving a few small victories. Please enjoy the episode.

Stephen McLain: 0:45

Welcome to the Finance Leader Podcast, where leadership is bigger than the numbers. I am your host, Stephen McLain. This is the podcast for developing leaders in finance and accounting. Please consider following me on Twitter, facebook, instagram and LinkedIn. My usernames and the links are in this episode's show notes. Thank you.

Stephen McLain: 1:05

This is episode number 129, and I'll be talking about building confidence. President Franklin Roosevelt said Confidence thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them, it cannot live. I want to talk briefly about building confidence. I know you have a desire to do something big, to grow into a higher role and to be a better leader. You have goals. We talked about that last week. You want to grow your potential for greater responsibility. So what is it that stops you? And are you stopping yourself because of insecurity or maybe a slight fear?

Stephen McLain: 1:47

Last week, in episode 128, I talked about developing a personal accountability strategy. To help you succeed, you need a plan that ensures you're accountable to achieving what you want. How do you make that move out of your comfort zone every day and it is a daily fight with yourself and with life around you. I know I have to deal with it myself. What do you prioritize? Are you willing to commit the time and effort to chip away at your goals? Is your mindset in the right place for hard work and growth? So if you missed that episode, please go back and listen. It will really help you. Now I want to share a question that comes up a lot Now. I want to hold myself accountable. I want to win and achieve my dreams, but the work I have to do to get better will require me to do things that may give me some fear. I may have to do more presentations and show some leadership. These are hard to do sometimes, so I build up my confidence to step out there, knowing I may get some criticism.

Stephen McLain: 2:48

Where does a lack of confidence come from? Now, let's deep dive that here for just a few minutes Now. Confidence often is built in our early childhood from a variety of sources, like supportive parenting and observing others, but not all of us got that, so we have to look for confidence building exercises as adults to help us move into a growth environment that will push us into higher achievement. When you are developing yourself, you will be learning and making mistakes. Making mistakes is okay. Be strong in your mistakes. Don't cower away from them. Embrace the error and the learning opportunity, and don't let anyone see you react negatively. That is a learned skill. When something goes wrong or if you made an error, embrace it, admit it, own it and then fix it. This will make you more confident and more legitimate. Taking ownership gives you more credibility.

Stephen McLain: 3:46

To be an effective leader, you must be confident. You must display confidence. People look for a confident leader to follow and they are quickly dismissive of the leader who seems like they don't know what they are doing or can't make a timely decision. When you feel confident, you stand taller, your expressions and reactions are controlled, your speech is spot on, decisions are timelier and more accurate and people will respect you. They won't question your judgment. When you are confident, your goals are unstoppable. When you believe in yourself, you know that you can keep working on those goals and knocking them down one by one.

Stephen McLain: 4:24

I want to talk about three issues to consider when building confidence really quick. Number one find small successes wherever you can. Number two discover and live out your purpose. And finally, number three change your habits. These three areas can boost your belief in yourself as you tackle challenges. Small successes gives you confidence.

Stephen McLain: 4:46

Jump on a project or a task that can challenge you and also get the attention of senior leaders, and do it well. Put everything into it to deliver the requirements on time and to a high standard. If you must get better at presenting your numbers, then practice and try to determine what questions you may get. Be prepared to defend your numbers. When I was in the Army, we used training, repetition, even with the smallest of tasks, to get better. Every time we executed a task we got a little better. We also critiqued ourselves so we improved. If you need more experience at presenting in front of a group, you need to do more presentations to get practice. The more you do it, the better you will become, the more you practice at executing even the smallest of tasks, anything that gives you some fear. Keep practicing, keep finding opportunities to go after that. One thing.

Stephen McLain: 5:39

I talked about purpose in last week's episode. We all have a reason for our life's ambition. Now what is yours? When you go all in to achieve your purpose, it can drive your motivation and give you immense confidence. Your purpose is why you wake up in the morning. Purpose drives our motivation, which gives us confidence to step out of the comfort zone, to take on new tasks and learn new skills, to do things we would normally not do when we lacked purpose. Grasp onto the concept of purpose to drive your personal results. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Stephen McLain: 6:16

Finally, we all need to change our habits for the better, and even our morning and evening routines. I have talked about these topics in previous episodes. Our motivation is easily driven by our daily routine. Good or bad, Our habits literally have a great effect on your performance and how we feel about ourselves each day. Do your habits and routines provide the best possible outcome for you when it comes to advancing your career? Now let's wrap your abilities and the courage to step out of that comfort zone. Our responsibilities in finance and accounting can be challenging for sure. We are always being forced out of our comfort zone. We are hoping every month that the trial balance has come out right. We are hoping the projection that we did makes sense and that we have the right assumptions built in and the approved planning factors plugged in correctly. We also are validating our assumptions and the risk level we have decided on for our organization. This and more all require confidence in our abilities and in our leadership.

Stephen McLain: 7:21

Now for me, I step out of my comfort zone by doing the things that scare me to death. I believe in the concept of just do it. Do something difficult, assess your performance and then make adjustments. Little by little, you will improve and your confidence will build. Little by little, you will improve and your confidence will build. It works for me. Have no fear and leave all doubts behind you. Now for action.

Stephen McLain: 7:43

Today, do you sometimes battle confidence issues? Are you afraid to step out of your comfort zone into a new skill set that might bring out some fears or anxiety? Are you afraid of critique? Are you afraid of what people might think about you? I want you to find a few new opportunities, even small ones, to gather your confidence. Do those tasks well repetitively, then move on to more complex ones or something to really test new skills and keep building your confidence. From there let's build a winning, growth-oriented mindset. Your confidence from there. Let's build a winning, growth-oriented mindset Now.

Stephen McLain: 8:21

I first announced this last week. I have been asked to speak at an upcoming leadership development program. It's a three-week virtual training event to help you unlock critical skills so you can reach for higher roles in finance and accounting. It is called the Office of the CFO Bootcamp. Topics include the CFO Mindset, strategic Influence, change Leadership and Executive Presence and Communication. You can find more information and how to sign up at financeleaderacademycom Select Bootcamp in the top menu. I will drop a link in this episode's show notes If you are listening to this episode. Later there is a plan for additional workshops, so keep checking that link.

Stephen McLain: 8:57

Today I talked briefly about building confidence. There is a strong relationship between accountability, confidence, mindset and success. Let's continue to build our skill set and how we go about our day to give us the greatest chance of achieving our goals. I wish you the best. I hope you enjoyed the Finance Leader Podcast. You can find this episode wherever you listen to podcasts. If this episode helped you today. Please share with a colleague Until next time. You can check out more resources at financeleaderacademycom and sign up for my weekly updates so you don't miss an episode of the podcast. And now go lead your team and I'll see you next time. Thank you.