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.