You Are a Badass at Making Money

UP YOUR CONFIDENCE
Somewhere along the way we were taught to believe that we’re basically
screwed in the confidence department if we weren’t born with it. We look at
someone walk into a party who doesn’t know anyone there and he’s all
cracking jokes, asking everyone if he can grab them something from the
bar, chatting up the ladies, leaning against the wall, one ankle casually and
confidently crossed over the other. We look at him like I could just never,
ever be like that. I mean, who IS that guy? Meanwhile, you totally could be
like that guy, if you wanted to be. We are all born confident, some of us just
get lost along the way and buried beneath things like self-loathing and not
wanting to be like your show-off dad who totally ignored you. Or maybe
you got yelled at any time you spoke up for yourself so you decided it was
safer to hide in the shadows. Confidence, like all other pieces of your
mindset, is a muscle. So all you gots to do is exercise your confidence
muscle if you want to build it up. Here are my three favorite confidence
boosters:
1. Fake yourself out with your bod. It’s amazing what gullible creatures we are. Just like
stress (over, um, nothing) can cause your body to get sick, sometimes mortally so,
your body can trick your mind into believing things too. Which is why if you want to
feel more confident, and you hold your body as if you were confident, you feel more
confident. Stand up straight, take deep breaths, smile, walk with a strut, hold your
head high, give solid, firm handshakes . . . start with your body and your mind will
follow suit.
2. Just do it. When my niece was about fifteen she wanted to come visit me in Venice
Beach, which meant she had to fly by herself all the way across the country from New
York. She was terrified by the thought of navigating two major airports on her own—

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JFK and LAX—but her mother and I told her she’d never be alone. Her mom would
walk her up to the gate and, because she was a minor, a nice person from the airline
would get her on the plane and deliver her right to me on the other side. Easy peasy
lemon squeezy.
So she feels a bit better about it, and on the big day, as her mother is driving her to
the airport, they get stuck in really bad traffic. It’s so congested that by the time they
arrive there’s no time to park, so my sister-in-law just pulls up to the curb, shoves my
niece out of the car, and screams Run! You’re gonna miss your flight! Run! So my
niece grabs her stuff, runs inside in a panic, manages to find someone from the
airline, and gets herself on the plane.
I will never forget seeing her walk out of the gate area on the other side, head held
back, six feet taller, pulling her suitcase like she could swing it around, beat you with it,
and steal your car if she felt like it. I just navigated my way through John F. Kennedy
Airport, bitches. Out. Of. My. Way. If you desire to do something, there is a part of you
deep down that knows you’re capable or else you wouldn’t waste your time thinking
about it. Don’t wait until you’re confident—that’s like waiting until you lose the extra
five pounds before you’ll let yourself go on vacation—just do it. The more you push
yourself to do the things you’re scared to do, the stronger your confidence muscle will
become.
3. Remember you are already large, Marge. You are a spiritual being running around
Earth in a physical body. Your desires were given to you when you showed up in
human form and those desires are basically Universal Intelligence seeking expression
through you. You are here to do whatever it is that you’re feeling not so confident
about doing. Your desires are your Universal Marching Orders, and there is no wrong
outcome. If you can wrap your mind around who you really are (hint: meditate), really
wrap your mind around the fact that you are Universal Energy, and think of it often,
you will understand why you are such a big freaking deal.