Lights, Camera, Confidence! Unleashing Your Inner Hero with the CIA Formula

Dont have time to read? You can watch this video here:

This week, we’re covering the last component of the CIA formula for developing confidence: ACTION!

Over the past two weeks, we’ve covered the I for INTENTION and C for COURAGE. Today, we’re in for a special treat; putting all three components together to bring us GREATER CONFIDENCE.

But First, A Quick Recap…

The CIA formula is a cycle to UpSkill your confidence through three steps: Courage, Intention, and Action.

Intention means knowing where you want to go. At this stage, you’ve identified the areas in your life where you want to develop confidence, and have mapped out your vision for this confidence. You have identified identify specific actions to achieve this vision. (Read Part One: Intention HERE).

Courage means to be vulnerable, to have trust and self-awareness. It’s learning that we don’t want to get RID of our fears (which is impossible), but rather, have the ability to control them and not let them get in the way of our intentions. (Read Part Two: Courage HERE).

Now, for the fun part:

Lights, Camera….

ACTION!

UpSkill Key: Consistency Over Perfection.

Perfectionism will you back from taking action, causing you to miss out on learning opportunities. Forget about being perfect. Instead of striving for perfection, focus on CONSISTENCY and progress. Instead of shunning mistakes, embrace them. Mistakes are the only way that we learn. Remember that progress is about iterating, over and over again.

I read a Business Insider story recently about Percy Spencer, the man who accidentally invented the microwave. He was trying to do radar research with a vacuum tube. Not related to food, whatsoever. But during his experiments, he noticed his candy was melting in his pocket. So he decided to scratch what he was doing and run a NEW experiment; throw some corn into the machine. And boom – popcorn! And that’s how the microwave was born. The lesson here? 

You might be asking, how is this relevant to the actions I need to take to build confidence?

I’m sharing this story to invite you to take imperfect steps. You need to get STARTED to iterate and learn from your mistakes.

But I’m Afraid to Fail!

Just remember this ONE mantra: it’s always better to fail fast, fail forward, or fail to try than to fail by doing nothing at all. Failure can be a great teacher. It provides you with valuable knowledge to help you move forward.

A mindset shift that might help: see mistakes as accurate, immediate, helpful feedback, rather than failure. You NEED to make mistakes to learn, iterate, and find what works for you. Nothing gets no outcomes, but imperfect actions at least give you SOMETHING to work with. So go make mistakes! Go learn! Dip your toe in the water. You’re not going to build confidence just by thinking about it.

The PDSA Cycle: Plan, Do, Study, Act

The PDSA cycle, also known as the Deming cycle, is an iterative, four-stage problem-solving model used for improving a process or carrying out change.

Plan: Recognize an opportunity and plan a change. Do: Test the change. Carry out a small-scale study. Check: Review the test, analyze the results, and identify what you’ve learned. Act: Take action based on what you learned in the study step.

This cycle is a continuous process of learning and improving, and it can be applied to confidence-building in any area, from work, to public speaking, to dancing.

TLDR;

Building confidence is a process that requires dedication and consistency. The CIA formula uses our plans, and our INTENTIONS, and builds up the COURAGE to take ACTION. The four-step PDSA cycle is a helpful framework for taking action. 

Good luck to you on your confidence journey… remember that you got this!