boost your confidence (write a "hard things" resume)

Confidence comes from two beliefs.

First, the belief in your value and worth. See the innate value of your life to best develop this belief.

(Of course, you could derive worth from love or achievement. But you're also of worth outside all that 💕)

Second, confidence comes from the belief in your abilities and competence.

To develop this belief, you have to do hard things. Because as Nat Eliason puts it, "our self-image is composed of historical evidence of our abilities."

Nat goes on to say:

The more hard things you push yourself to do, the more competent you will see yourself to be. If you can run marathons or throw double your body weight over your head, the sleep deprivation from a newborn is only a mild irritant. If you can excel at organic chemistry or econometrics, onboarding for a new finance job will be a breeze.

I'd add though, it's not enough to do hard things to feel competent in the present. You also have to remember you did them!

So, today I wrote a resume of the "hard things" I've accomplished.

Here's a few bullets:

• I'm proud of my growing tolerance for discomfort, from the running, meditation and cold showers in the last year.
• I'm proud of my resourcefulness, from finding ways to make money in high school to get a Macbook, to weathering challenges in starting Quickapply.
• I'm proud of my work ethic especially in the times I was discouraged, like recruiting seasons in school, or recruiting to break into product management.

You should try this too.

Even after writing a few bullets I felt far more capable.

Catalog your resume of "hard things" and seize more confidence in your life 💪