Be Where Your Feet Are: The Circle of Confidence

Be grounded in your expertise. Be where your feet are.

This is the simplest exercise I can give you, and one of the most powerful. Literally draw a circle on the ground. Grab a piece of chalk, a stick, or just trace it with your toe. Now step inside.

That circle is you. That is who you are. That is where your validation comes from. That is who you love.

If that sounds too simple, good. The most powerful things usually do.

Draw the Circle

Here is the exercise. Find a patch of ground and draw a circle. Make it big. Big enough to stand inside with room to spare.

Now step into it. Feel the ground under your feet. Look down at the line that separates you from everything else.

That circle is not a boundary. It is an anchor. Everything inside that circle is yours. Your identity. Your values. Your strengths. Your people. The person you are when nobody is watching.

This is where you get your validation from. Not from the applause. Not from the numbers. Not from the last deal you closed. From the inside. From you.

Be where your feet are. Not where your inbox is. Not where your worries are. Right here, right now, grounded in who you are.

The Ring of Confidence

Here is a name for what you just did. The Ring of Confidence.

Ring of Confidence is a grounding routine I started saying out loud. It is meant to energize your confidence internally. From who you are. From your expertise, which is rooted in your background, your past, and your experiences. And to "be where your feet are".

That is inside the ring. A literal circle on the ground to stand in. That is where you stand.

Everything outside the circle, you cannot control. Inside the circle is abundance, strength, confidence, internal validation. Outside is external validation we don't rely on but like when it's there. Gap when we're chasing it. And giving up control to others when relying on it.

Your world wants what you have to offer. So inside that ring of confidence is where you stand to give it to the world. And when your purpose solves other people's problems, that's the greatest gift.

Be where your feet are.

"I Like You, But I Love Me"

I heard a quote once that stopped me in my tracks: "I like you, but I love me."

And I really do love that quote. Because it is not arrogance. It is not ego. It is order.

You have to be grounded in who you are. You have to get your validation from yourself first.

When your worth is rented from other people, you are always one quiet reply away from feeling small. One missed call. One unreturned text. One comparison that never ends well.

But when you love yourself enough to be grounded, you can genuinely like other people. You can serve them. You can celebrate them. You can pour into them without needing them to fill you up.

Self-validation comes first. Not because you are better than anyone. Because you are whole on your own. That is the difference between a person who receives a compliment and a person who requires one.

Your Expertise Is the Foundation

Now look at the ground you are standing on. You earned it.

You have expertise in your life. Not the kind that comes from a certificate on the wall. The kind that comes from what you have accomplished, where you have been, and what you have done.

The wins you built. The failures you survived. The hard conversations you showed up to. The teams you led. The companies you merged. The partnerships you walked away from amicably. The deals, the margins, the P&Ls, and the nights you questioned yourself and kept going anyway.

That is your foundation. Nobody can take it from you. Not a market shift. Not a leadership change. Not a bad quarter.

And I believe your expertise, what you have accomplished, and who you are feed directly into your purpose and your mission. It is the fuel. Without it, your purpose is just a wish. With it, your purpose has horsepower.

The Gift of Purpose

Here is where it gets good.

When you can connect your purpose to helping other people solve their problems, there is no greater gift.

Not the commission. Not the win. Not the title. The gift is in the connection. Your purpose, aimed at their problem.

That is why we do this work. That is why leaders coach. That is why mentors mentor. Because there is no greater gift than the moment your experience meets someone else's need and something shifts for them.

People connect with people, not product. And your product is the experience. When you show up grounded, whole, and purposeful, you become the person other people trust with their biggest problems.

What's Outside the Circle

Now here is the part most of us get wrong.

Everything and everyone outside that circle is external. Your clients. Your referrals. Your recognition. The market. The noise. The wins and the losses.

We are here to help them. That is the mission. We love the validation we get from them. We appreciate the benefits. The partnership, the praise, the profit, all of it.

But we cannot rely on that.

When we do, when we depend on what is outside the circle to feel secure, it creates a gap. A hole that never quite gets filled, because what is outside is always moving. One great month, one terrible month, and your confidence rides along.

You cannot own what is outside your circle. You can only own what is inside it.

Abundance vs. Scarcity

This is where the math changes.

When you are strong within your circle, your circle is abundant and strong. You give from a full cup. You help without keeping score. You attract the right opportunities because you are not desperate for them.

When you rely on things outside your circle, that creates scarcity. And a gap. You start chasing validation. You compare. You negotiate your worth in someone else's currency. You shrink.

Scarcity is loud. Abundance is quiet. Scarcity grabs. Abundance attracts.

Grounded people run on abundance, because they know what they carry. And they know it does not go anywhere.

The Exercise and the Challenge

So the point of all this is simple. Be grounded in who you are. Be where your feet are.

This is a little exercise to help you do that. Draw the circle. Step inside. Feel your expertise. Name your purpose. Remind yourself that what you have built is real.

Build your confidence from the inside out. Then go out and conquer the world.

Not because you are better than anyone. Because you are whole. Because you are grounded. Because when you walk out of that circle, you carry everything that matters with you.

I believe your gift, your purpose, and your mission will help your world solve its problems. The leaders around you. The teams you lead. The people you serve. When you connect that, when your purpose meets their problem, there is no greater gift.

Now go Make Shift Happen.