Hey, what's up, champion? This is your host, Neal, and I want to welcome you back to another Fire podcast today. Today we're going to be tackling a huge subject, and it's the subject of confidence. You know, I want to encourage you that confidence commands presence. In other words, specifically, confidence can command the presence of others or the attention of others. But before you ever get to that step, confidence will always require something from you. You have to be present to be confident, and you have to be willing to put in the deep work in private so that when you get out in public, you're ready to shine. Well, we're going to talk about that today. Get ready. This is your captain speaking.

We want to let you know we've been cleared for takeoff. We have clear skies today with no wind, so we are expecting a smooth and highly enjoyable flight. However, should you experience some personal turbulence, don't worry as you've chosen the right airline. As we are trained in navigating unexpected bumps, our destination today is high performance and success. Sit back, relax, get hyped, or do whatever you do. As we too are pumped for today's flight, we understand you have options when you fly, and we are grateful that you have chosen to fly with us today. We recognize by choosing to fly, Neal Reyes, you are committed to growing personal development and reaching higher than you ever have before. Enjoy today's flight, be blessed, and remember, the best is yet to come.

What's up, champion? This is your host, Neal Reyes, and.

I want to welcome you to the Executive Perspective. For years, I struggled to answer the question, what do you do for a living? Why? Because most people who ask only expect to hear one thing. I am an executive with a deep level of understanding of business, operations, leadership, and technology. I'm also the president and founder of a worldwide ministry and CEO of an executive coaching and consulting firm. My number one passion is people, and I receive significant gratitude in life from sowing into others and encouraging them as they grow to achieve their fullest potential. If you're a high performance individual like me, or you're simply ready to take your business, leadership or inner potential to the next level, then strap in because I'm locked in and all in. This is the executive perspective.

Hey, what's up, champions? This is your host, Neal Reyes, and I want to welcome you back to the Executive Perspective. Today I'm going to be speaking with you about the topic of confidence. Specifically that confidence commands presence. You know, the topic of confidence is a big, big topic, especially in the circles of high performers or people who are go getters or success driven. But even for just everyday people who are just trying to get through life, trying to make it through the work week, confidence is a massive, massive issue. You know, sometimes you meet people and it seems like confidence comes easily to them, but for others it just seems like it's non existent. And yet some of the people that you meet that you might think are the most confident individuals around you, those sometimes are the people who struggle with it the most and they've just learned how to navigate through their fears so that they can still show up as their best self and their best performance, and especially when it's needed most. Well, today we're going to tackle this conversation. You know, on this particular podcast, the Executive Perspective, we focus in three main areas. I say this in every episode, we focus on leadership, business strategy and personal development. And today's topic that we're going to be speaking about transcends all of those areas. But it's also something that I believe can touch every area of your life and, and help you no matter what stage of life you're in, whether if you're young and just going through middle school, or whether if you're a full fledged adult and you're trying to navigate the business world, it'll help you no matter who you are and no matter where you are. And so after today's podcast, when you're done listening to it, understand, are there people who you might be able to share this with who can help give them that boost or understanding and confidence? Because I'm telling you, confidence is a topic that transcends boundaries. I'm going to say that again, Confidence is a topic that transcends boundaries. It's something that in my opinion, all people need. And I will tell you that some of the best ideas that are in this world, whether if it's ideas for the next business, the next invention, the next movie script, maybe it's the next play, the screenwriting, maybe it's the next song, the next video, the next influencer who's trying to rise up. I mean, there it just goes on and on. You know, maybe it's the person who could be the best doctor in the world, especially in a specific field, but the only thing holding them back is confidence. Whether if it's the confidence to step out and do that thing, or if it's the confidence that to believe in themselves because maybe they think others won't or others can't. You know, it's possible for people, externally, in other words, people around you to have More confidence in you than you have in yourself. I'm telling you, this is a big, big conversation. And this won't be the only podcast we dedicate to the subject of confidence. And today's podcast is not going to be an exhaustive study of confidence, but it's going to be from the standpoint that confidence commands presence. And I believe it's going to help you within your life. So let's jump right into it. You know, oftentimes when people see confident people, sometimes confident people get labeled with things like with titles like arrogant or cocky or too sure of themselves. And maybe some of those things are mixed in with these people. You know, everybody's different. But in most cases, people who carry themselves with confident I will tell, or confidence I will tell you. Confidence can be a very attractive trait to those around you. But while confidence can be very attractive to some set of people, there are other people that confidence might be a put off because it intimidates them or it concerns them or it makes them a little afraid of you. I will tell you that. You know, when people go to interviews, you know, one of the most common interview questions that's been just tossed around, it seems like, since the beginning of time, as you get to the interview and they're asking you questions around your strengths and what are you good at and things, and then they try to hit you with the sneaky one and they say, all right, tell us about your weaknesses. What do you think your greatest weakness is? I've always found that to be such an awkward conversation within interviews. And what they're trying to do is they're trying to get you to speak open about yourself. But, you know, it's very rare that people are like, oh, you know, I'm super weak in this. And most of the times it's because people don't really recognize where they might have weaknesses. Now, I'm not going to say it's not all people, but, you know, I'll tell you that I used to struggle with that because I knew that I had weaknesses, but, you know, I wasn't really sure exactly where they were or how to describe them at times. And why was that? Well, because I'm the kind of person that if I recognize a weakness in my life, I go before the Lord, I seek him for guidance, and then I go and attack that thing. I don't let that thing be a weakness for me any longer. Well, one time I was talking with a recruiter who I know, very gifted woman, very gifted recruiter. And she told me something that I will never forget. And this has been years ago that she told me this. And each time I share with others, it resonates with the people just as much as it resonated with me. She said, you know, Neal, sometimes your greatest strengths and life can also be your greatest weaknesses. Man, when she said that, that hit home to me. And what I recognize, especially for me, is I've always been a very effective communicator, but I've always been the kind of person that carries myself with confidence as well. Now, some people, confidence just seems like it comes natural to. And that certainly can happen. But confidence is something that can definitely be taught, and it's something that can definitely be learned. And it can also be caught. What do I mean by caught? Well, you are who you hang around with. And if you hang around with the right people and they're confident, you hang around them enough and you'll catch it from them as well. And sometimes you're like, well, I don't have a lot of high performing friends or I don't have, you know, maybe I live in a small town and I say, I, maybe you live in a small town. You're like, I don't really know any people. You know what? All you gotta do is turn on your phone and turn on the radio or something connected and start listening to podcasts like this or others. And as you start driving to work every day with people like in this podcast, while you start hanging out with people who are confident every day, after a while, you're gonna catch that because it's gonna rub off on you. I will tell you that some of the greatest traits you can learn or some of the greatest mentors you can have might not even be people you ever meet. But there are people that ride with you every day. There are people that you listen to every day. And their words, they speak to the core of you. They speak to your heart. And as you listen to those things and you get those things deep down on the inside of you, you begin to live out in those new ways because it resonates with you. And you start to transform and change or develop your character. You know, one of the things I say often on this podcast on every episode is that I believe in you, champion, and I believe you have greatness on the inside of you. You just have to continue to cultivate it, develop it and grow it, and get it on the outside so that others can see it as well. And then whatever that thing is that you're called to do within life, go and smash that thing, I'm not saying destroy it and make a mess of it. I'm saying go and smash that thing. Go and absolutely do your very best at it. And what you'll learn is that whatever your very best is today, three months, six months, a year, two years, three years, it doesn't matter. When you've set yourself on the trajectory of growth every day, it doesn't take very long for that. What your best was today, in just a few short months, your best has already improved and grown to something more. You know, on this podcast, I say this all the time, on this podcast, on the executive perspective, we move in one direction, and that's forward and upward. That's right. I hear people saying it with me. We move forward, forward and upward. Meaning we're moving forward and we're gaining ground. We're moving forward and upward. And I want to encourage you to continue to do that with your self development. Confidence isn't arrogance, it's alignment. When you carry it well, you don't have to chase attention. Attention will find you. I'm going to say that again. Confidence is an arrogance. It's alignment. And when you carry it well, you don't have to chase attention. Attention will find you. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, the alignment of who you are, the alignment of what you're called to do, the alignment of your purpose in life, the alignment of your giftings. You know, you may not even know what you're called to do in life yet. You may have not had your moment of convergence where you've discovered what your destiny or purpose in life is, but you may have started to discover some of your strengths. And you might not even know what your gift clusters are. But it starts with knowing what are you good at? What are you drawn to? What are the things you find great joy that when you do them, it doesn't even feel like work, because you do it for free if you had to, because you just love doing it. However, those things that you love doing that are really good at, those are the things that make people want to pay you even more. Because not everybody's good at those things. You're good at those things. And when you're good at something and you can help teach others how to be good of it. Whoo. Well, now you're in special company right there. These are big things that matter within life and for success. Confidence starts internally. It's not external, it's internal. I'm going to say that again. Confidence starts internally. It's not external. It's internal. In other words, confidence isn't something you go into the grocery store, you know, maybe you're doing your grocery shopping this week, and you're picking up some eggs, and you're picking up some milk and some cheese and, oh, their confidence is on sale today. Let's buy some confidence. That's just not how that works. I'm sure people wish it was that easy, but if that were the case, the world would be filled with people who had confidence, at least if they were willing to invest in it or afford it. Now, but even as I say that, there are people that even if confidence was sold at the grocery store, there were people who wouldn't find value in it and they'd never pick it up. Man, that's a sad statement right there. But the fact is, there's truth, and that resonates. Confidence always starts internally. It's not external. True confidence isn't loud, it's settled. I'm gonna say that again. True confidence, it isn't loud, it's settled. In other words, when you're confident on the inside, you don't have to be loud about things. Now, I'm not saying that people who are loud about things, that they're not confident. That's not what I'm saying. Especially. It depends on what it is they do, you know, if they're a performer or something like that, you know, and they. And whether it be, I don't know, a music. A music star, maybe they're an athlete, a professional athlete. You know, not all athletes have to be loud and outspoken, but sometimes the ones that are and celebrate the, you know, the good hits in football or the good shots or dunks in basketball or whatever it is, there's nothing wrong with that. But what I'm talking about is that true confidence inside, it doesn't have to be loud on the outside. Why? Because it's settled. In other words, you've already settled it. You're confident. And when you have confidence on the inside, it doesn't matter what people say anymore. It doesn't matter the type of critique they give you or how they put you down. I'm not saying that words can't hurt or, you know, can't be distracting at times, but when you're confident, even when someone tries to tell you something that's contrary to the truth that you know inside about your confidence, you just as you're settled with it, you keep moving on. It's built on self trust as well. Confidence is built on self trust and clarity of purpose. Man, those are big things right there. Confidence is built on self trust, you trusting yourself, and it's built on clarity of purpose. Now, when I say clarity of purpose, not necessarily talking about what's your purpose in life and your destiny. Granted, if you have that, you'll be even more confident. But what are you is what your purpose and whatever your given thing is. You know, if you have an assignment, if you're in school, maybe you're going back to college. Well, if you have a paper that's due or you have a test or something that's coming up, clarity about the purpose of that and why you need to get a good grade, confidence can come with that. You know, if you're in professional sports or something of that nature, you know, what's the end prize? Is it a medal that you're trying to win, or is it an Olympics or something like that you're in? Or are you in something like, you know, professional sport and you're trying to win a championship? Or maybe for you, you're just trying to break into the starting lineup. When you have clarity around what your purpose is, well, then all of a sudden what happens in those moments and is now confidence comes in. Here's our first leadership truth bomb of the day. You don't need to be the loudest in the room to be the one that people listen to. Whoo. That's a deep, deep, deep leadership principle right there. You don't have to be the loudest one in the room to be the one that people listen to. Man, that's a big thing right there. The next thing I have for you is presence is the byproduct of clarity. That speaks right there. Presence is the byproduct of clarity. People follow certainty, not volume. I'm going to say that again. People follow certainty, not volume. In other words, you don't need to be the loudest one chirping and talking and stuff like that. People follow certainty. When someone speaks and it's clear that they know what they're talking about, when it's clear that they're an expert in their area and that they're well informed and there's certainty in their decisions and what the right way is to go, those are people that people will follow. Those are the types of leaders people will follow. When you believe what you say, others feel it. Before you even finish your sentence, you know, there's a way to speak. And I know this from experience because I speak on stages and I'm against guest speaker. In addition to all the things I Do here. Guest speaking is at the core of what I do. And as I'm out speaking, what I can tell you is that even before you finish a sentence, people are already believing in what you say when you say it with confidence. In other words, when you believe what you say first, it's easier for others to believe it. If you don't believe what you say, well, then you say it. Your tone doesn't support that you believe it. How many times have you heard someone say what they meant to be a statement, but it comes out across like a question? That's because they don't believe in what they're saying. They haven't caught up to that yet. They don't have the confidence of it. But when you believe what you say, others will feel it even before you finish speaking. Man, that's a big deal right there. Here's another leadership truth bomb for you. Confidence speaks before you even open your mouth. It's felt, not forced. I'm going to say that again. Confidence speaks before you open your mouth. It's felt, it's not forced. You know, you can't force someone to think you're confident. You can't force someone to believe in you. You can't force someone to think that you're authentic or that you understand what you're talking about or that you know it. You can't force those things. That's something that is fake felt by people when they hear you, when they see you. You know, and oftentimes confidence, it speaks before you even open your mouth, meaning that it's also carried on your nonverbal communication, Meaning what's your trajectory of your posture look like? Are you slouched and hungover? What I mean by hungover? Not like we're hungover. I'm talking like are you slouched and leaning over? You know, are you upright? Are you, is your back straight? Is your head held up? Or are you making eye contact with people? Are you scared in your eye contact, looking at the corner, looking all nervous, fidgeting with your hands? You know those types of things. Those things speak real loud, especially in the realm of leadership. The next thing I want to talk to you about is you can appear confident even before you feel confident. Now, sometimes a statement that comes up with people is like, fake it till you make it. Brother man, I have never ever been someone who ascribes to that type of concept. I just don't. If that's you and that's when your core beliefs. I'm not putting you down. More power to you. But just for me, that's something that doesn't resonate. That's something I would never be able to say from on stage or on the microphone and truly sound like I believe it, because I just don't. In fact, when I fight did say it, I'd say it more almost jokingly around. And again, it's not putting anybody down. That's just not something that resonates with me. However, there is truth though, that you can appear confident even before you feel confident. What would be an example of that? Well, you know, if you have to give a public speech of some sort in front of a group of people, you can prepare and prepare and prepare and prepare. And you might know that content inside and out. The speech or the material that you're hearing me speak on. It might even be over something that you're a world renowned expert on top of your field. Ain't nobody better than you. But if you have lack of confidence of speaking in front of crowds of people, all that confidence can just go out the window. Even though you know that material better than anyone else, you're the man or you're the woman in that situation, you're the one that they wanted to pay to come speak. But if you're not confident in speaking in front of people, that doesn't show up. But there's a way where you can appear confident even before you feel confident. And it's not fake it until you make it. But when you go on stage, there are things you can do to prep yourself so that when you go out there, you know, you might be sweating bullets on the inside, your nerves and butterflies, they might just be doing somersaults inside your body, but on the outside, you're cool as a cucumber, calm, cool and collective. And when you get done, no one might even know that you were nervous like that. You might have, but not them because you showed up with the appearance of confidence. This is a big, big deal right here. Here's some things that can help you with that. Posture, eye contact, tone of your voice and clarity, those different things, those can project confidence even before you even fully feel confident. But as you do those things and you get rolling well with momentum, the confidence builds. So just step in there and do it. Be confident enough to at least step out and do it. And as you keep moving forward, the confidence will come. The other thing too is sometimes there are people who I coach and people who I get to mentor and who are close to me and they're starting channels or they're recording videos and they have these great ideas, but they feel like they got to record the same video 10, 12 different times because they made one little mistake in the video. And I always tell them, hey, just record it, edit it, and pop it out. And don't be looking for perfection. Just get the thing out. The fact is, in today's day and age, the more authentic you sound, the more organic it is anyways. Or the more organic you sound, I should say, the more authentic it is anyways. Just put it out there. They're like, well, I don't feel real confident how I speak, so I'm not ready to record in front of camera. And I'm like, hey, it's about putting in the reps. You got to get in front of the camera and turn it on and start speaking. And you know, your first two videos, they may not come out very well, but who cares? Because by video three and four or video 10, 20, 30, whatever, later on, the more reps you put in, the more reputation, the more practice, the better you're going to be. And here's a hidden truth for you. Oftentimes the video that you might feel sounds the shakiest or didn't sound well, sometimes those are actually your best ones. It's just you were locked in your headspace at that point, and you got to get out of your headspace and you got to bring your heart out for others to be able to hear and see you. This is not faking it. It's practicing embodiment. In other words, you already know who you need to be. You already know what you need to do. You just need to align with that. You need to embody that, and you need to step out in confidence. That's what you need to do. And you're like, I don't know how to step out of confidence. Then just step out. Because stepping out is a form of confidence. Here's another leadership truth bomb for you today. Sometimes the appearance of confidence is the bridge that carries you to real confidence. And that speaks right there. So I'm going to say it again because I think that's a good word of encouragement. Sometimes the appearance of confidence is the bridge that carries you to real confidence. And our next thing I want to talk to you about is confidence unlocks opportunities that insecurity will always miss. Man, that is huge right there. Confidence unlocks opportunities that insecurity will always miss. You know, confident people, they get noticed. They're trusted and they're remembered. But insecure leaders, they tend to hesitate. They tend to second guess themselves. They tend to doubt their decisions or their abilities or even their knowledge. And opportunity, unfortunately, rarely waits. You're either ready or you're not ready. You know you have to spend your time in preparation so that when the opportunity comes, you're ready to do it. Because if opportunity comes knocking today, while you're listening to me right now, if you hear your doorbell ring or your phone rings or something, and you pick it up and it's that next opportunity that you've been hoping for, maybe even believing and praying for. But if you're not prepared and ready, that opportunity can sell right by you. And you can miss it only because you were too insecure to prepare and get ready for it. Remember, confidence unlocks opportunities, but insecurity will always miss. Now understand what I said in that, though. Confidence unlocks opportunities. And when you're confident and you show it in your Persona and you show up confident in what you're doing, and sometimes showing up confident in your best ways is showing up even when no one else sees you. You know, the things that you do in private are the things that will show up in public. I'm going to say that again. The things that you do in private, the preparation time that you put in private, those are the things that are going to show up in public. But if in private you're not putting in the work, then when you get the opportunity in public, you're not going to be ready for it. And insecurity is going to rule the day and you're going to miss the opportunities you don't want to miss. And here's our final leadership truth bomb for today. Confidence doesn't guarantee the door opens, but it gets you to knock. I'm going to say that again. Confidence doesn't guarantee the door opens, but it gets you to knock. In other words, it gets you to step forward, knock on the door, and step out to get the opportunity. And if no one answers the door, no problem, come back tomorrow. But keep knocking. And as you keep knocking, eventually the right doors will open. But confidence can never guarantee a door can open up. But what confidence can guarantee is that you get to knock. And if you never knock because you stay insecure, or you never knock because you're not being confident or you're not working on confidence and putting in the deep work in private, then you're never going to get the opportunities that you were called to have within this life. You're never going to get the opportunities that you were supposed to have that were meant for you. If you don't step out in confidence and at least knock on the door. But if you do those things, watch out, people, because these champions are on the rise. I want to remind you, champion, that I believe in you. I believe you have greatness living on the inside of you. You just need to continue to cultivate it, you need to grow it, and you need to groom it and bring it on the outside so that others can see it as well. And whatever that thing is that you're called to do, go out and smash it with confidence. Guys, before I let you go, I want to encourage you to swing by our website@neil Reyes.com where you can find all of our teaching resources and we have a vast amount of them. In addition to that, if you're enjoying this podcast, then do me a favor and help me by following it and leaving us a review and Podcast Land and Podcast world. That's how we help our podcast rise and get delivered to others. And I will tell you that this podcast has already taken off like wildfire. So if you're one of those people who's already left this review, thank you so much for that. In addition, that if you're catching it on somewhere else, then I want to invite you to follow it, subscribe to it, do all the things you know to do, and if this podcast is meaning something to you, then share it with someone. Because if it's benefiting you, there's a good chance it's going to benefit someone around you and that's a great way for you to show love and encourage spent to them today. Guys, until next time, I want to thank you for stopping by to grow with me. Thank you and have a blessed day.