Have you ever been told that the obvious answer is probably the right one? We spend our lives looking for ways to build confidence. We waste so much time waiting for the right person and the right time to come along that we miss too much of what’s happening right in front of us. We have our eyes closed so tightly dreaming airy dreams of things that would never happen, that we can’t see obvious opportunities staring us right in the face.
Self confidence aides are great and I even recommend some helpful ones on this blog (at the link). But studying them and never putting them into practise is missing the obvious answer where building confidence is concerned.
the obvious answer lies on that first step staring you in the face
You’ll enjoy this story of the Emergency services programme I watched recently. A man called the emergency services in a panic because his baby’s legs had changed colour all of a sudden. He said he’d just removed the baby’s jeans to change his wet nappy when he found that his entire legs had turned blue. The lady who took the emergency call asked him what colour the baby’s feet were and he said they were pink. Now, if you’re like me, the mention of the word ‘jeans’ has gotten your brain juices flowing. I’m one of those mad people who talk to the TV, and the instant that word was mentioned, before any of the other details were given, I told the black box, ‘ the wet jeans are running, silly.’
As it turns out, the colour on the jeans were actually running. The panicked father was asked to rub the jeans on his arms, just to be on the safe side. And yes, his arm turned blue where the jeans touched – the very shade of blue his baby’s legs were. The anxious dad was looking for answers about the blue legs where they didn’t exist. The obvious answer was staring him in the face in the shape of blue jeans. What’s the moral of this story where building confidence is concerned?
Don’t look around to find things which are far from your grasp – things you’ve yet to understand. Doing this will always leave you frustrated. Look for the obvious answer to how you can shape your life. Most times these answers are the ones closest to you.
Consider that the chances you’re looking for in life may not be packaged in exactly the way you envisioned them. They could be standing a foot from your nose, but you’re not looking at them because the ‘wrapping’ is different from the one you imagined.
Learn to work with what you have. It’s the best way to find your way in life. Do this first and everything else will follow. See the link for a more in depth article about this.
In order to work with what you have you have to first identify what you have. It’s important to recognise your blessings because they are the only things that will lead you to the obvious answer you seek.
The obvious answer to strengthen your confidence may have some links with your past, but the answer definitely does not lie in your past. It’s all about the future. Get past your past and you’ll be able to walk forward without the heavy burdens you’ve been carrying around.
And last but certainly not least, you have to take that first step. Don’t worry about the big picture just yet. Identify what you want, where you’re going and take the first step. This is the obvious answer. The first step to your goal lies the closest to you. It’s the most obvious place to find the will to spring forward.
I’m really interested in finding out what obvious answers you’ve had to wait years to find out when they were right in front of you all along. You can answer anonymously if you like, because I’d like to collate them and use them in another article later on.
What a great topic Anne The Obvious Answer!
For me, before I set my feet on the ground each morning, I take time to be grateful for all that I have. This helps me stay grounded. In business we are always going forward, but when making it a practice to look around and count our blessings we realize we do have more than enough.
That kind of balances me, so I can work more relaxed.
Keeping “open” is also another way I can find answers right under my nose. Having a mindset that is open an not closed, lets so much information in during a day. It can be related to business, or just looking out the window. There is so much we ignore, but when taking time to really look around, there lies so many answers.
If I am “stuck” sometimes I realize that I’m going too fast. So I do the opposite action. Shut the computer off. Go wash dishes or just complete a small task. And that changes my mind set.
The answers are always within!
Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..Guest Blogger M. Farouk Radwan, MSc
I like the ‘stop action’ you give yourself, Donna. It’s good to push forward, but it’s equally important to know when to stop. This balance is quite delicate and only comes with a lot of life practise.
Anne recently posted..How To Draught Proof Your Home
I do the same when I feel like I’m stuck on something. I force myself to slowly walk away from the computer… The hardest habit to break I admit, because my mind is too much into figuring out the situation!
A good break of the outside world always clears up my mind, and let me see what could not of been seen before.
Dennis Do recently posted..Why You Should Stop Being Butt Hurt
Yes, nature definitely works for me as well. I’d love to be able to work outside, but living in England does not permit that – even when it’s meant to be summer. My dream is to one day live in a place where I can work mostly outside.
I’m surprised you don’t travel Anne! I thought you were like one of those big bloggers who get the luxury of ‘working whenever you want’ sort of deal.
I know I’m still far from there 🙁
Dennis Do recently posted..Why You Should Stop Being Butt Hurt
I wish! I try not to work too much when I’m on holiday. It’s not healthy to be working all the time.
Having said that, my next holiday is sort of a working one, so I may be able to do some work from the garden. What heaven!
Hi Anne,
This was a really interesting post and it reminded me of an engineering design principle, which is called keep is simple (KIS). This can be applied to all aspects of life. We tend to look for such complex solutions to our problems. Usually the best ones are the most simplest, and are right in front of us.
Hiten recently posted..Job Interview Confidence
I like KIS, Hiten. I’ll probably use this as a blog post sometime. Thanks for that.
Anne recently posted..Home Improvement Ideas 4 Kids
No doubt that your post was quiet interesting to read. I sometimes find myself into such situation. Trying to think in a complicated way rather than in a simple way. Anyways, thank you for sharing such a lovely post Anne.
Hi Anne,
I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon your blog and look forward to following it. I can really appreciate the concept of the Obvious Answer at this point in my life. As a result of a recent appraisal of my life, I realized that I’ve been spinning my wheels like crazy to just barely support myself for at least 5 years now. There’s hardly any part of my life that I recognize or identify w/ and I’m feeling stuck b/c I’m afraid to take my hands “off the wheel” in order to reach for a better solution. The number of unknowns are quite overwhelming at this point.
I guess to sum up, the Obvious first steps in my journey are:
1) a temporary yet lengthy deactivation of certain social media accounts (the manner in which I was using them was unhealthy)
2) granting myself permission to change my life in any way necessary to regain my health & enjoyment of life. (If I succeed I would like to assist others feeling stuck to do the same)
I Jedi. Thanks for stopping by, and for your very honest response. I know how tough it is when you feel like you’re moving as fast as you can, but nothing seems to be working. The idea is to take a step back for once and analyse the situation – something you seem to have done already.
This blog has several articles which will help you get on that path you envision. Just look around and browse for what you want in the search panel. Let me know if you’re looking for anything in particular and I can point you in the right direction.
I’m looking forward to your visits. I generally have weekly articles – going up between Thursday and Saturday of each week.
Anne recently posted..How To Draught Proof Your Home
This was great, Anne. I love that story of the panicked dad with the runny bluejeans! We so often have the answers to our lives sitting right in our laps. And then we overthink or underthink and otherwise forget to look down, at the obvious.
I think, to some extent, we have become dependent on professionals and experts. We need a scientific study to prove common sense was correct in the first place or we find it difficult to believe. That’s too bad. It’s hard to imagine our grandparent’s generation making that call.
KenWert recently posted..The Optimist Creed: Why Optimists are so Optimistic!
I totally agree, Ken. It seems with the higher technology gets, the lower our thinking abilities. We never have to think for ourselves any more. Google has all the answers, so we don’t need to ‘know’ anything for ourselves.
It’s something we can choose to embrace or not. I know where the younger generation stands on this.
The example you shared really have taken me into smiling. The father’s love indeed is unpredictable. It is always in the net about women having hysterical reactions regarding baby issues and this one proves the men on the brink of balance from their sarcastic portrayal of like “women are for the kitchen (go make sandwich) thing.” 🙂
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