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When you know who you really are peace and knowledge shines like a star.”  KRS One – Why Is That?

Drive is our protective strength and confidence is our vulnerable strength.

I have always been driven…

In the seventh grade, Jayne Gerald and I were the only middle school age players on the Varsity and Jr Varsity basketball teams and we both started on the JV team.

As a freshmen, I beat out several upperclassmen for a coveted starting position on the Varsity Team.  My senior year, I was Player of the Year for my entire county.

In high school, I worked full time at Wendy’s, played basketball, and had a very active social life.  I was a straight “A’” student and didn’t receive my first “B” until my senior year and that was because I was bored.

My drive has allowed me to accomplish some amazing things and live out many of my dreams.  But underneath this drive, there was an ugly truth.  I have always been driven, but I wasn’t always confident.  Yes, there is a big difference between drive and confidence. 

Many of us are successful because we’re driven not because we’re confident.  At some point in our journey of success our lack of confidence is going to cause us to break and break down.

I ask many of my high achieving and highly successful clients this question….

Are you confident or are you driven?

After some moments of reflection, 100% of them have answered, they are highly driven and but not necessarily confident.

Working with some of the top influencers, athletes, and celebrities in the world, I know for sure that many highly driven people are insecure.  As the prolific lyricist KRS One would ask…Why is that?

What I’ve discovered is many of us can answer the question, “What I Do” with authority and confidence but struggle greatly with the question “Who Am I”?

Our true confidence is not experienced in what we do but in living in full ownership of who we are. 

To grow in our confidence, we must do five things:

  1. Seek God for our IDENTITY
  2. Seek God for our ONE GIFT
  3. Seek God for our PURPOSE
  4. Seek God for our PASSION
  5. Seek God for who He’s called us to SERVE

Our confidence is rooted in our identity, gift, purpose, passion, and who we serve.

I would love to hear your definition of the difference between drive and confidence.  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.  Stay tuned for part II where I share more about how our identity is key to our confidence. 

About the Author  

Sheri Riley

Sheri Riley

Empowerment Speaker, Life Strategist, Author

I am a wife, mother, daughter, and entrepreneur and we all know this is not easy, but I’ve discovered how to make it simple. As an Empowerment Speaker and Life Strategist, I work with busy individuals, like us, on how to and make choices that lead to more peace, less stress, and better clarity. My book, Exponential LivingStop Spending 100% of Your Time on 10% of Who You Are (Penguin Random House) provides practical tools and serves as the guide to help high achievers to integrate our personal desires into our life without detriment to our professional achievement. It is available now for pre-order on ExponentialLiving.com and on sale February 7, 2017.