When Your Superpower Stops Working: How to Rebuild Lost Confidence

What are you supposed to do when some core aspect of who you think you are just doesn't seem to work anymore? You know, for most of my life, I believe that I had a couple of superpowers, really abilities, that would help get me into or out of just about a situation, and that would always be there when I needed them. Lately, one of them feels like it's gone. It's not working. Maybe it's died and it has thrown my world into disarray. It's making me a person that I don't recognize and is really holding me back from all kinds of things that I want to accomplish. You know, the first of my superpowers may not be the most relatable. I'm a talker. I'm not afraid to turn on the camera or get on stage and talk without any script or preparation. I don't really have any fear. And I'm leaning into that today. Today, I'm not going to edit this. I'm just going to talk to you because that superpowerower I can still trust is there. I know that at the end of the day, it may end up sounding like a monologue, even though I have no idea what's going to come next in this video The one that is probably more relatable, though, was this belief that the my instincts were pretty good, that I could trust my gut, that I would take action when I needed to, that I'd make the decision. And lately, that just seems like it's died. I'm second guessing absolutely everything that I'm doing. I second guessed whether or not I should need to make this video or what tone I should take. And that's not who I normally was. You know, I think the confidence that I've had for most of my life came from the way way that I was raised. My parents were incredibly loving, and my dad always said such a simple phrase to me that really stuck with me, and I think became part of my core DNA, who I really was. He used to just say, you're a Harrison. Things work out for the Harrisons. And what that meant to me was that I could do just about anything It didn't matter if it was unconventional against the grain, if it was risky, that ultimately, it would work out for the best and And for the most part, it did. And it gave me confidence to do all kinds of things. But when I hit a road bump, like I have recently, when I'm trying to do something that I don't have 100% control over and it's just not working out, that confidence seems to be going away, and I am second guessing absolutely everything. I was never someone to grab onto what every single expert was telling me, but lately, I am desperate for any advice, any insights, any magic trick that's going to help me achieve the things that I want to achieve. And even worse than the experts. Maybe the cause of this insecurity or indecision that I'm experiencing right now, has been my relationship with AI. You know, before AI, you really didn't have a choice. I was too lazy to go to the library and read anyway. So I was just going to make a decision, Try something and learn from it. And, hey, I'm a Harrison. It's going to work out. But now that I have ChatGPT and Gemini and all the other tools I find myself turning to them before I take action. Even this video, a year, year and a half ago, I would have just turned on the camera and talked like I am right now, but I had to work up the nerve today to do it. I turned the ChatGPT. I asked if it was a good idea. Should I refine it? What do you think? When I didn't like its answers, I just kept opening new tabs and trying again until it told me something that I wanted to hear. And even then, I was skeptical. I took the results that ChatGPT gave me, and I gave it to Gemini. I asked it what it thought. I was trying to get a consensus before I even took action. And that is not a good way to do things. I think a lot of us are doing that now. And my fear is I've been doing it for so long now. I'm worried that I'm losing the ability to take action the way I used to. But what I'm hopeful for, because I have been through this before. I've lost my confidence once before in a drastic way. When I was in my 20s, I had a business fail. And at that point, I had dropped at a university I was not sure what I was going to do with my life. I was 28. I had never had a job except for myself, and I didn't know how I I was going to go forward. And my confidence was completely gone. I did not believe that everything was going to work out. But as soon as I had a win or two under my belt, the confidence returned because it was my natural state. My insincts returned and the next 20 years were basically me following them again. So I know it can come back. And I think what I've really learned and what I'm wanting to share with you two today, if you've been willing to sit through this little rant with me, is my dad's lesson. You know, things work out for the Harrisons. They just do. But that has nothing to do with the Harrisons. I can tell you without getting into my family history that we're not perfect It's not filled with presidents and executives. Although I am told that I think Benjamin Harrison, the president of the United States, way long ago, might be a descended some way, or I might be a descendant of his. But anyway, the reason it works out isn't because we know all the answers. That's not why things have worked out for me. The reason that things work out with that simple little saying is because that saying helped me take action. It made sure that I was always in motion, that there was always some form of momentum And I think that is the real secret. If you're stuck trying to start a business, to change your career, to do anything, to find love, it's not about a trick. There's no magic formula for any of this stuff. But if you're willing to just believe that eventually it'll work out, that eventually you'll find the answer, that eventually something good will come from all your efforts. That's where the confidence comes from, where the confidence allows you to do that, and the results come from those simple actions. So if that's where you're at, like I am, where you've been second guessing a little bit too much, relying on artificial intelligence or anything else, my advice to you is to just go out and try, to close the laptop, to stop thinking about every way that things can be done or expecting there to be one right way to do it. The only evidence that I have the good things that have happened in my life, never came from doing things the right way. I dropped out of school, as I said. I started a business. I worked somewhere and just experimented. I was willing to speak in places where I was not qualified to speak. I was willing to do things that other people just weren't willing to do. And it always eventually paid off. Not in a moment but the skills I built, the relationships, the connections. And ultimately, that as what's led me to succeed. So I'm going to try it again. I'm going to try more often to just turn on the camera without a second guessing what it is I'm supposed to say. I'm going to try not to lean into every trend And I'm going to keep building the business that I'm trying to build and offering the advice that I'm trying to offer in the most authentic way that I can, just whatever kind of comes to mind from the lessons that I've experienced, knowing that if we all do that, if we believe in ourselves, if we trust our guts, that good things will have happen And if you rely on others to tell you what it is you're supposed to do, at best, you're going to end up a carbon copy. So that's my advice for today. That's my unedited rant. That's me wishing you to chance to get started in a fly getting in my way. That's how clearly unscripted this is. If you want to watch more videos, this is me, this is the message for today.