Month: January 2019

How to Build Champion Confidence

~ jodiheisz ~ 2 Comments

I’ve been a martial artist for over 22 years. I’ve won Grand Champion Black Belt twice, earned my 5th Dan master black belt in KiMudo and my 1st Dan black belt in Judo. The awards and accolades are great, but there’s one thing I gained the most on my journey.

Champion confidence.

What is champion confidence?
Champion confidence is knowing who you are, why you are here, and standing strong in your beliefs, talents and abilities. You know have what it takes to win at life and create the life you desire no matter what difficulties or obstacles you face. You own it and rock it in everything you do.

You’re killin’ it.

Champion confidence is hard earned with no easy path to get there. It takes work. Lots of work. It requires commitment and dedication to working on yourself every day. Showing up with consistent practice over time is vital to growing your confidence.

It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of many accomplishments small and large over time accumulating to building yourself up to a higher level.

I used to be timid, hard on myself and never believed I could accomplish anything I wanted. It took me years of consistent effort and building my self-esteem until I was convinced I was worthy of greatness.

With my martial arts training for two decades and my deepening faith in God and myself, I found a powerful combination and training tool for building my confidence. It’s still a work in progress, but I want to share what I learned with you and hope it will help you too.

There are more ways to build confidence with a free eBook coming soon filled with more ideas and tips. But here’s short list to get you started.

1: Know Who You Are
The more you know who you are, the more faith you will have in yourself and your abilities. If you let others mold into who they want you to be, you’ll lose your identity causing distress and loss of connection to your soul. Knowing who you are and standing in your truth builds confidence helping you stick with your beliefs and values no matter what.

Take a look at Jesus. He knew who he was and never faltered from his truth. He never needed validation from anyone or created a watered-down himself to please anyone. And neither should you. Take the time to discover who you are and be strong in faith knowing your inner truth.

John 14:6 says: “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’”

2: Practice, Practice, Practice
Whatever it is you’re involved in, practice as much as you can. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel in your efforts. You’ll get the kinks out, repeated mistakes out of the way, and the repetition needed to allow your greatness shine.

During practice, create a safe place to fail. Failing is necessary to learn, grow and evolve. By creating an environment where it’s ok to fail, you’ll relax and be open to feedback.

Over time, you’ll see positive progress giving you the confidence to keep moving forward. Those little celebrations of achievements small or large gives you the fuel to drive your self-esteem upward.

“Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.” 

Ann Voskamp

3: Surround Yourself with Positive People
You become the people you hang out with. Choose people who are confident within themselves. Confident people will inspire you to be confident. They’ll be willing to point out your special gifts and help you see your inner light. Many times, other people believe in us more than ourselves. It’s helpful to have someone open our eyes to see the special uniqueness within each of us.

“Surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself!”

Zig Ziglar

4: Grow Your Faith in God
The stronger relationship you have with God, the more confident you’ll be. God loves you and cares for you deeply. Because of His love and adoration, you’ll have all you need to be confident in who you are. God can make things happen for us, send opportunities our way, and give us strength to follow through on our goals.

It wasn’t until I grew in my faith in God and studied how Christ lived, I realized I had the chops to accomplish my goals. With man, many things are impossible. But God, all things are possible. Once I understood this and God has my back in everything I do, I could relax knowing my life would be ok.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Luke 1:37

Building champion confidence gives you courage to create the life you desire. We all deserve to be confident in who we are, in our faith and beliefs and the special gifts we possess to offer humanity. Take the work on your confidence every day because you are worth it. It transforms what you think appears impossible… possible.

The Power of Words

~ jodiheisz ~ 2 Comments

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”
– Proverbs 16:24 24

When we open our mouths to speak, go on the computer to type words, or write on a piece of paper, every letter we communicate matters. Words have energy with the power to unite or polarize. Words can heal or hurt. Words can create peace or disharmony. Words can bring beauty or disturbance. 

The effect we create by the words we communicate with is our choice. Many of us already know the power of words but still respond with a knee-jerk reaction using words that are harmful causing stress or discontent. I admit I do this when I am frustrated or angry.

It feels like we don’t have control. But we do. Throughout the busyness of life, we need constant reminders the words we say or write have a ripple effect on the world. I know for me, I want to create a positive impact with everything I do, say and act. So, I need to work on this all the time.

One way to create awareness of how you speak is to notice how your body feels when you say certain words. For example, when I say things in anger directed towards another person, I feel icky and gross. Like I want to detox from the toxic junk. But when I say something loving towards another person, I feel joyful and vibrant. Like a bucket of light poured down my head filling my body with peace.

Another way to create awareness is to notice how you feel when someone says certain words to you. If someone says something rude or raises their voice, I feel defensive, withdrawn and anxious. Like I am not good enough feeling less than. But if someone says something kind or speaks in a soft, loving tone, I am receptive and willing to be open. It makes me worthy, energized and peaceful. I feel safe.

Think about yourself in these situations. How do they make you feel? What does it feel like in your body? Does it make you want to scream or rejoice? Does it feel painful or healing? Do you feel like you want to run and hide or jump up and down with joy?

Take time to build your awareness of how your thoughts effect your body, how you think and how it drives your actions. The deeper awareness you develop, the easier it will be to catch yourself when your thoughts are negative and not helpful to your well-being.

Not only do our words matter when speaking to the external world, but our words matter when we speak to our internal world. I believe these words matter most. Our thoughts effect our hearts resulting in how we respond to the world and the people we interact with daily.

The more positive thoughts we say about ourselves and our life, the happier and content we are. The happier and content we are, the more peace and harmony we spread to the environment we live in.

“Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”
-Philippians 4:8

Over time, we’ll deepen our awareness of the words choose to use and how they affect ourselves and others. We’ll become more confident knowing we can create beautiful music with our voices and thoughts sending positive energy of love, peace and harmony to the world around us.

Photo by Ash Edmonds on Unsplash

I Double Dare You

~ jodiheisz ~ 1 Comment

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”
C.S. Lewis

It’s the new year. Another chance to start fresh and anew hitting the reset button. Or maybe you have the burning desire to redeem yourself from last year’s epic mistakes and mishaps.

You probably have goals. Some new. Some redos from last year and the year before. Maybe your goal is to lose weight gained from the festive holidays. Or perhaps you want to devote more family time with your kids, quiet time in meditation and prayer, learning a new hobby or stepping it up a work by acquiring new skills.

These are fantastic goals to create a joyful and peaceful life. Some of these listed are mine as well.

But this year, I dare you.

I double dare you to do that “thing” you’ve always wanted to do more than anything else in the world.

But haven’t.

You stopped at the starting line because you were too scared to get up and go for it. That “thing” freaked you out so bad you ended up in a fetal position rocking back and forth crying for mommy.

No judgement here at all. Many times, I was too afraid to go for my big goal too.

Or maybe your reason for holding back is no time, not enough money, lack of knowledge or experience, no resources available, never-ending obstacles and roadblocks on your path or low self-confidence making you feel unworthy.

But here’s the truth.

These are not reasons. These are excuses pretending to be reasons. We come up with excuses because that “thing” pushes us way beyond our comfort zone. The big doozie goal requires deep change to achieve it. And that’s scary! Our natural response to change is resistance with a knee-jerk reaction saying “No, I can’t to do it because of….!”

We all do this. Including me. It’s difficult to visualize ourselves achieving a breakthrough goal because the result is far from where we are right now. But what matters most is the person we become in the process of achieving the big doozie goal.

The development occurs while you are doing the work day in and day out. Not at the end when you cross the finish line. Reaching the touchdown is the party when you celebrate and thank God for the guidance and opportunity He gave you to build strength and develop your character.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
– Proverbs 3:5-6

Last year my double dare goal was testing for 5th Dan master in KiMudo, the martial art I train in. It was a mountainous goal requiring every ounce of my ability, tenacity, perseverance and energy.

It was one of the hardest things I ever did in one year. It was scary, difficult, painful, exhausting and overwhelming.

But the journey blessed me with great rewards of self-confidence, belief and trust in myself I never would have achieved without this crazy goal.

I challenge you to tell your excuses, “Screw you!” Then kick ’em to the curb. No excuses! (pun intended).

The Bible says, “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
– 2 Chronicles 15:7.

Make 2019 the year you finally muster up the courage to do what you want. Even if it’s mustard seed size of courage. It’s a start and will grow each time you show up working towards your goal.

Do something that stretches you. Pulls you. Pushes you. Yanks your limbs. Burns in your heart. Explodes your mind. It’s gotta rock you to your core. This is your breakthrough moment catapulting you to new heights with the vision of seeing life from a wider, broader, deeper perspective.

Whatever goal or thing is daring you… go for it. You will receive blessings and rewards for walking the courageous steps towards achieving your goal.

Don’t put it off for another year. Make a commitment to do it. Start today. Don’t wait until December. Take this opportunity to walk in faith and believe you can make your dreams come true.

I double dare you.

Feature photo by Tyler McRobert on Unsplash