Average thinking and actions lead to average results. They also lead to moderate levels of confidence. It would be nice to have confidence without doing anything to merit feelings of confidence, but that’s a tough trick to pull off. You can take a few simple steps and feel like a deserving recipient of all the confidence you’ll ever need.

 Raise your standards and gain higher levels of confidence:

1.  Set your sights higher. Instead of shooting for a new job with a 15% raise, what about a 30% raise? Rather than starting a side business and adding $1,000/month to your income, what if your goal was to replace your current income with your sideline business idea?

• One of the keys to more success and confidence is raising your standards. Most people never rise above mediocrity because that level of achievement is comfortable. It isn’t too difficult, and life is pleasant enough at that level—demand more of yourself and life.

2.  Double everything. One way to raise your standards is to double everything. Whether you’re talking about increasing your income, making a certain number of cold calls each week, or approaching strangers to work on your social skills, double your first instinct.

• Avoid the mistake of doing just enough. Go above and beyond. Don’t be pleasantly surprised by your success. Instead, set big enough goals and do enough to achieve them that you’re shocked if you fail.

3.  Use the idea of overwhelming force to ensure your success. The military often applies this technique. If a situation calls for one thousand soldiers, five tanks, and three helicopters, they might send three thousand soldiers, fifteen tanks, and ten helicopters. Victory is all but assured.

• If you need to exercise three times each week to reach your weight loss goal, hit the gym five times per week.
  
• Do you need to approach ten potential clients each week to reach your income goal? Approach at least twenty instead.
  
• Make it impossible to fail. Put in enough effort that success is practically guaranteed.

4.  When you set big goals and take massive action, you feel in control of your life. This type of behavior leads to confidence. Imagine setting a big goal and going above and beyond the activity requirements to ensure that goal is achieved. Imagine how good that would feel.

• What do most people do instead? They make plans to run on the treadmill for thirty minutes but convince themselves it’s okay to quit after twenty minutes.
  
  They make plans to call five potential clients each day but only call two.