Being able to con someone into doing something is a pretty cool trick. What if we could take that, take the evil part out of it, and use it for good? What if we could con ourselves? That would be a great skill to have, I think that could be really useful. There are some things that I just need to be tricked into doing, especially when my motivation is down or my confidence is low. In times like that I have needed to be tricked or conned into turning things around.

Through these experiences, I have found ways that I can con myself, and others, into more confidence, and I’m excited to teach you how I do this. If we look at the first three letters of the word CONFIDENCE, we have CON. My tips for you today fit within these letters, forming an acronym. I like acronyms because they are fun and easy to remember. I need as many tricks as I can get to remind myself of things, so acronyms work well for me.

So, CON stands for Care, Obey and Nice. When you show someone you care, give them a task that they can obey, and a way to be nice to someone else, it’s going to boost their confidence. You can con others, or yourself, into more confidence, so let’s use this particular con in a happy, nice, friendly way. Let’s CON ourselves and others into confidence! 

Caring

You start this con by caring. You show you care as you say positive words. Words of affirmation. Words of encouragement and love. “I knew you could do it! You’ve got this! You’re so amazing! You’ve done it before, and I know you can do it again.” Words of affirmation show that you care for yourself or those that you work with. 

Obey

Isn’t it so hard to obey sometimes? It is so hard to obey even our own internal rules or desires. Sometimes it’s hard to get ourselves to do something that we’re obligated to do, or something that we even want to do. It can be hard, but when we simplify things and identify a task that’s completely within our capability to complete, then we find it easier to obey. Find something that’s easy to obey and do it! You’re gonna feel much better as you accomplish even a small task.

Nice 

When you do something nice for someone else your confidence goes up. You receive an automatic increase of confidence when you do something nice for someone else. 

So, con yourself or others through caring, obedience, and being nice. 

See It In Practice

I have a story, to help demonstrate how this works. When my kids were young, in elementary school, I used to go and volunteer in their classes doing math flashcards with the first and second graders. It was so fun. It was so fun! And I felt like what I was doing was making a difference. The kids would come in one at a time and they’d sit down and I would look them in the eye, say hello to them with a smile, and get out the flash cards. I’d show them that I had confidence that they could do it, and that they could learn it. If they couldn’t do it yet I expressed to them that I knew that they could learn it.

After showing them I cared through words, I then gave them the small task of obeying something that they could do. I would ask them to give the answers to the flashcards. If they couldn’t do it the first time, I would help them to do it the second time, or the third. And if they needed help, that was okay because they could do it even with some help sometimes.

And then, as they finished the task, I would have them go find their friend that would come and do flashcards with me next. I gave them a task, like a simple job, to do something nice for someone else. They would go get someone for me. I would ask them to serve, because service is a guaranteed confidence booster! 

The World Needs More Confidence

It can be fun, not hard, to con yourself or someone else into more confidence. This world needs more confidence. We need to have more confidence in ourselves, in others and in the goodness that is in this world.