Episode 52: Andy Molinsky On How To Build Confidence And Rise To The Challenge

"Your Very Best Ideas Will Be Crafted When You Are Vulnerable" Andy Molinsky

Andy and I talk about how to step out of our comfort zones and reach for your dreams. Andy shares his backstory of being a shy student at College. He talks about what it took to get over his fear and trepidation around speaking - whether in the classroom, at the office or on stage.

We touch on the imposter syndrome (that most of us have) and we both have similar stories when it came to trying to avoid showing up when things scared us. We discuss how we both had to learn how to step out of our comfort zones so that we could show up and do the work that we love. Andy shares wonderful tools and strategies that we can all use to move out of the imposter syndrome, and he reminds us that it's perfectly acceptable to not know everything, but it is important to keep the curiosity and willingness to learn.

Whether it’s networking, going for a job interview, delivering difficult news or being in social situations we all will have moments when we will have to reach within to take the steps and have the conversations necessary to move forward. Andy shares the reasons we it is so hard to step out of our comfort zones and he helps us demystify the “why” behind why it is so difficult to reach beyond what we know for sure.

From his book Reach - Andy reveals the five psychological roadblocks, that when left unaddressed will get in the way of us reaching our potential:

1. Authenticity
2. Likeability
3. Competence
4. Resentment
5. Morality

Andy highlights the avoidance techniques that often become so familiar to us we don’t even realize we are getting in our own way. Below are the key ways we get creative to avoid doing the things we do not look forward to doing:

1. Partial delivery
2. Substitution
3. Procrastination
4. Rationalization

We wrap the conversation up by talking about the three traits that will move us out of the stagnation, enable us to work with our fears to move our dreams off the paper and into the world.

1. Find Your Source of Conviction
2. Customization
3. Clarity