There's no free ride.

If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win. Carl Lewis

The negative negativity of lack of confidence. It erodes all efforts to succeed, to build, to create, to shine. Like acid corroding the container that holds it together, lack of self-confidence eats away at us from the inside out.

I know.

Been there. Done that. Worn the t-shirt. In fact, I probably designed it in the process!

That was then. This is now.

Financier and publisher, Malcolm Forbes once said, "Too many people over-value what they are not and undervalue what they are."

In my 'now' state, I am learning to release devaluing who I am as I place my value in what I have, can do, can accomplish when I turn up for me, in all my human imperfections and focus on what is possible -- not what appears to be impossible!

It's all in our perceptions.

Possible. Impossible.

Fifty years ago, surfing the Internet, finding quotes, researching articles on self-esteem and self-confidence, would have been conceived as 'impossible'.

Today, when my Internet connection is down, I'm irate. I've come to rely on this technology to carry me out into the world giving and receiving information, insight, connections. I''ve come to believe it will always be there!

What is impossible to one man, is just a new idea to be explored to another.

My belief in what I can do, my belief in my talents, gifts, abilities -- that's what makes the difference. If I believe I can't write a blog every morning, I can't. -- Just as Henry Ford said long ago, "Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you're right."

Without the confidence that I can write a blog every morning -- and then the self-discipline to get up and do it, I would be setting myself up to prove myself right in my belief, I can't do it.

Instead, I let my confidence shine. I sit down every morning, trust in the process of writing, of letting the muse awaken beneath my fingertips and let my fingers fly. Some mornings, I don't know what I'm going to write about. I can't let my self-doubt stop me. If I never sat at the keyboard, no words would appear on the screen. Because I trust in the process, believe the words will appear, and have the confidence to sit down in front of a blank screen, I write this blog every morning.

At first, writing here was scary. My lack of confidence in my writing ability, plus my fear I would have nothing of value to send out into cyberspace, threatened my commitment to write here every morning. In doing it, I built my writer's muscle, and my confidence. Some mornings, I'm happy with what I wrote. Other mornings, I doubt. And then someone will email or comment online, and I realize my doubt is just my inner narcissist taking a free ride on my commitment to be all I'm meant to be, freely, passionately and fearlessly.

Sometimes, to build confidence we simply have to 'do it'. In spite of our fear. In spite of our predisposition to undermine our efforts with thoughts of why we will fail, why we can't win, why 'good things never happen to us', we must, as Nike exhorts, 'do it'.

The question is: Are you letting fear block you from success? Are you willing to just do it?