Having confidence in yourself & in your creative work

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A few days ago I came across a powerful quote. It’s by Christina Grimmie: “Confidence is not ‘they will like me’. Confidence is ‘I’ll be fine if they don’t’.” It certainly is true that not everyone will like us, no matter what we do or how much time and energy we put into wanting to be liked. And this also applies to our work/our creativity. Not everyone will like it. But this should not discourage us to stop being true to ourselves when it comes to our work and beyond. A bad comment or somebody’s different opinion about something is not the end of the world, and honestly, it has nothing to do with you. Some people will love you and your work, some people will not.

And I know this can be disappointing. You are the only one who knows how much time and effort you’ve put into working on yourself and also how much time and effort you’ve put into your work. Only you know how much love and energy you’ve put into something you really care about, and somebody just comes long and simply criticises it, leaves an unnecessary comment or says it’s not good enough. The truth is: This isn’t about you. It’s merely somebody else’s perception of you/your work. And that’s fine.

We all have a different perception of the world we live in, the people we meet, the things we like and dislike. What’s important is to stay true to ourselves and to keep doing what fulfils us, what makes us happy. So, instead of worrying what others think about you, seeking approval, etc., I’d like to encourage you today to start building such a confidence within yourself, that the outside perception of you or your work will bother you less and less. Let’s start learning how to believe in ourselves and our work, that we won’t need any approval. We will simply know that our work is good enough, and if somebody doesn’t like it, oh well, it’s just their opinion that doesn’t need to stay on our minds for too long.

So, let’s begin today to start building this wonderful confidence in ourselves, like the above quote says, and start learning to be okay with whatever people think.

To assist you in this process, I’ve created a meditation I call: You Have Always Been Enough. I believe to be confident starts with self-love and knowing that you are enough. I hope this meditation will be helpful to you. You can listen to it at the link below.

With love and best wishes, 

Jana x 

My gift to you!

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Dear all,

It’s just a couple days before my brand new book, ‘Courageously Vulnerable – a path to loving and accepting your ‘imperfect’ self’, officially comes out on 22nd August 2021. As an early celebration, I’d like to share with you, my new meditation, ‘You Have Always Been Enough’, which is also included in the book.

I absolutely loved writing and recording this meditation for you. I hope it will serve you in a great way and help you realise how special, worthy and good enough you truly are. I also created a gentle background music for this meditation which sets a peaceful atmosphere and helps you relax when you listen to it.

So, sit back, relax and let my voice be your guide.

I hope you enjoy it!

With best wishes,

Jana x

Have courage, my friend

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Recently, one of my private coaching clients (who gave me a permission to use his example in this post) has landed an incredible career opportunity. I’ve been watching his personal growth and development for several months, and his progress has been a joy to be part of. He has worked so hard to get this job and got so excited when the final decision has been made that has got the position. Eager to take his career to the next level, he started planning all that was necessary. But there was one last challenge he had to face: to hand his notice to his present employer. The thought of this made him feel very edgy, uncomfortable and agitated. He has been working for the company for over a decade and a half. Also, the idea of leaving a secure job, starting from scratch again, wasn’t suddenly as appealing as when he received the good news about getting the new job.

Handing a notice is never a pleasant situation to deal with. It often involves hard feelings and discomfort. The day before handing his notice I received a phone call from him. He said that he is feeling very nervous about approaching his current manager and he is not sure if he can do this. I advised him that this is completely normal and I helped him to centre back to the present moment by encouraging him to take a few, deep breaths. Then, we could carry on with our conversation.

I reminded him how much work he has done on himself up to this point and how proud I was of him. When I started coaching him, one of the things he wanted to work on was to take steps towards changing his career. At his current job, he felt demotivated, unappreciated, always going the extra mile, but never feeling valued or acknowledged for his great work and efforts. However, when something went wrong, his manager would call him to the office almost immediately to see what’s going on. (I want to point out here that the latter happened very rarely).

My client was very worried how his manager is going to react to the news about handing his notice. I encouraged him to do what he does best, to be his beautiful self and to stand in his power. I also reminded him to always put himself first, something he has rarely done for himself for all these years in this company. Now is the time to finally embrace everything he had worked so hard for and claim it fully. He began feeling better and said to me, that’s exactly what he is going to do. He got so caught up in the circle of worry how his notice is going be received and completely forgot why he is actually leaving the company in the first place. Sometimes we how to remind ourselves all the reasons why we are doing what we are doing before we take the big step to make a change. The excuses and thoughts such as: ‘It wasn’t that bad after all’, ‘I should maybe give it another year’, ‘I should just stay put and see what happens’ will be entering our minds. This is perfectly normal.

To cut long story short, my client has successfully handed his notice. They were some hard feelings involved and the manager has tried to change his mind and acknowledged him for his hard work in the end, but it was too late. Now he feels that so much weight has been lifted off his shoulders and he is finally ready to start a new venture he worked so hard for and he truly deserves.

The moral of this story is to always put yourself first, to always follow your dreams and to listen to your inner wisdom. When you feel like you need to do something, change something, be somewhere else or let go of something, it’s time to act and explore new venues and think of new options. You can absolutely face any challenge you face if you have the willingness to put in some work and step out of your comfort zone. Have courage, my friend.