So I'm here today to share with you / six behaviors / you can start today / to increase your / confidence. // Why is it important to increase our confidence? // Well, / think of this. // How would you behave or what could you achieve / if you were 10 times / more confident? // Number one, / count yourself in. // I spoke with a woman about her first time doing sideline reporting at a nationally televised basketball game. // She was shaking in her heels, / standing courtside, / nerves / overtaking her until she heard something familiar in her headset. // We'll be on in five, / and three, two, one, / you're live. // And she performed with excellence, / the nerves / melting away. // She's an athlete, a former basketball player used to performing on the court / by the clock, / and the tactic remained true. // Counting will get you started, / and momentum will keep you going. // I have used this technique. // I've had more / uncomfortable conversations than I care to recall, but one I'll share with you today. // I vividly remember standing on the warning track of the baseball field / 45 minutes before game time, / looking at the opposing manager and his team wearing / the wrong color uniform. // I wanted to turn / and run back up to my office and hide, / but instead, / I faced him head on, / and I said in my mind, / three, two, one, go. // And I started walking towards him. // And when I arrived, / we had a very uncomfortable conversation about his team wearing the wrong color uniform. / Yes, / I had asked these grown men to change their clothes. // It was so awkward. // But / when I asked myself, / who am I and how do I behave? // The answer / was that I'm a person who's not too shy / to stand up for what I believe, / what is right, / and stand up to conflict. // Counting got me started, / and momentum kept me going. // Number two, / what if you only had to be brave for a total of 20 seconds? // Give yourself 20 seconds of courage. // This behavior helped me enormously when I published my podcast, / Leadership is Female, / bold title and all, for all the world to see, hear, critique, and have their opinions. // I vividly remember sitting on the carpet of my closet floor, / holding my computer, / looking at the upload button, / thinking to myself, / Does it need any more edits? / Should I listen to it one more time? / And I told myself, / Emily, / give yourself 20 seconds of courage. // And I hit publish and it was done. // And guess what? // I kept breathing, / and the world kept turning, / and the podcast grew into what it was meant to be, / all because of 20 seconds of courage. // Number three, / take a seat at the table. Not metaphorically speaking, / actually / take a seat at the table. // I spoke with a woman who represents / some of the biggest names in baseball, / and she told me a story about taking a seat at the table. // She noticed women waiting around the edges of the room, / waiting for the seats to be filled, / and worse yet, she was doing it too. // In order to become the more confident woman / that she envisioned herself to be, / she needed to / go in, / sit down, / speak her mind, / and get the deal done. // That started with one simple action, / taking a seat at the table. // Number four, / cheer for other people's success. // They say that women will pull up / the ladder behind them. // What if you didn't? // What if you extended a hand back to lead / her forward? // What if you celebrated / the success of a colleague, / rather than feeling sorry for yourself that it was not you / accepting the accolades? // Confident people celebrate the success / of others, / rather than feeling / threatened. // Think of this great quote from Amy Poehler, / good for her, / not for me. // It turns that pit in your stomach of, oh, she did that, and I'm still here, into yes, / good for her, / not for me. // This is her celebration, / not mine. // And when my time comes, / isn't it going to be great to have the support of so many people around me? // Wins are so much better celebrated together. //