Last week I announced I’ll be speaking at SHRM’s national conference. I’m presenting Powerful Leaders: Transform Your Personal Brand and Executive Presence and Defining and Communicating Your Personal Brand to Increase Your Visibility, Credibility and Career Opportunities. SHRM hosts the world’s largest HR conference. I hope you can attend.

My journey isn’t about inspiring others by elevating myself. I’m about challenging you and providing you with the insights you need to grow your confidence, courage, executive presence, and brand so that we can experience greater success– together.

Where are you in relation to where you want to be? Pause and check in with yourself.  Ask:  How are you doing? Are you at peace? Are you happy?

Do you have that nagging feeling you aren’t in the right place? Are you agitated? Do you have more questions than answers and more desire than self-will? Perhaps the frustration you feel during the day keeps you awake at night.

It’s difficult to make decisions that you know will make you uncomfortable. I know because I face those decisions every day. To get an invitation to the C-Suite, sign a significant contract, grow your ministry or land a coveted position at an organization, requires you to do something different.

Sometimes you honestly don’t know what your next step should be. Most often you perceive what to do but will not do it because you’ve convinced yourself that the risks are too high. I’ve discovered, the truth is that your confidence is too low to pursue your desires. Can you own that? By owning truth, you give yourself the power to transform it.

Over the past 25 years of my career, I’ve had the privilege to minister to people internationally, have a seat at the table in the C-Suite, sign sizable contracts, land coveted positions, and take advantage of miraculous opportunities. I did this by recognizing my internal barriers and misconceptions about people and success. And I’m still on this incredibly fun evolutionary path of checking in with myself and changing when I’m not in alignment.

You can start the mental shift by dumping internal baggage:

1. Override the notion that it won’t work. Whenever you set out to achieve a goal, you’ll have doubts. And some of your family and friends will confirm your opinions. You’ll also have experiences that will shake your confidence. Either you believe, or you don’t. Yes, it hurts when you’re on the learning curve and, you experience failures along the way. And doggone it when you put so much time and effort into a project, and the results aren’t what you expect, it’s frustrating. You’ll question yourself. “Am I overestimating my ability? Am I on the right path? Is this the right way to go?” Keep moving forward and permit yourself to learn as you go.

2. Assess your network and ask for help. Asking for help can make you feel powerless, but that’s your ego. If you’ve built a positive brand and didn’t burn bridges, people in your network will be happy to help you succeed. Everyone loves to be acknowledged for the success of others–know who’s in your network and ask them for help. Note: You can tell who will endorse you by what they say about you. Caution: Don’t ask people you’ve met in passing to vouch for you. They don’t know you, and you shouldn’t put them in an uncomfortable position.

3. Don’t compare yourself to others. I almost didn’t write my first book because when I compared myself to others, I didn’t think “I had a story.” I doubted myself, my value and ability. If I hadn’t written the first book, I wouldn’t have served over 100 clients across nine industries, written two additional books, signed two book deals, coached hundreds of clients to success and share platforms with national leaders. Success is a series of saying, Yes! to what you want.

What are you saying, “Yes” to?

S. Renee is a nationally recognized Self-Esteem, Branding, Communication, and Executive Presence Expert, Speaker, and Coach. She is author of There Is More Inside: Personal Essentials to Living a Power-Packed Life, The Bridge to Your Brand: Likability, Marketability, Credibility, Our Hearts Wonder: Prayer to Heal Your Heart and Calm Your Soul and 5 Steps to Assertiveness: How to Communicate With Confidence and Get What You Want(Callisto, 2018). She is the co-author of Self-Esteem for Dummies (Wiley, 2015). Visit her website at www.srenee.com.