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Daring Greatly

Written by Laurie McDonnell (Workforce Specialist, Southern Region)

These two powerful words, dare greatly, were uttered many years ago by Theodore Roosevelt in his, “Citizenship in a Republic” speech on April 23rd, 1910.  They were reinvigorated recently by research professor and author, Brene Brown, when she wrote a book with those words as its title.
 
As someone who has taught Building Confidence classes for years, I find these words inspiring.  They are not saying: Succeed Greatly or Achieve Greatly, they are simply encouraging us to dare greatly.  To dare is defined as: “to be sufficiently courageous to….” That’s right.  Give it a try.  To dare is to have the courage to take a risk even when you don’t know if you will succeed.
 

Setting Achievable Goals

 
This concept of daring greatly is foundational to building confidence.  One of the most accessible confidence building tools is goal-setting.  It sounds too simple, but it isn’t.

 
Setting achievable goals for ourselves and working toward them can build our confidence reliably.  Why? We see tangible evidence of our ability to take risks and get things done.  A key component to this strategy is being sure that one’s goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.  Timeliness is especially key for measuring personal outcomes.

 
Are there areas of your life where you might like to set a new goal or perhaps even dare greatly?  How might these two small words help you build your confidence?  If you would like to explore this topic in greater depth, consider joining the upcoming Building Confidence class being offered in South Portland starting Thursday, May 4th.  In the words of Roosevelt, let’s “spend ourselves in a worthy cause!”