A Note About Confidence, Passion, And Motivation

Apr 6, 2011

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There I was, waiting at a stop light in traffic today. A woman in the passenger seat of a fairly new Nissan Altima exits the car and runs to pickup a beer can in the nearby median.

She scores 5-cents. We watched.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

She must be poor.

She probably doesn’t have a lot.

That is awful.

I say, good for her.

It takes a lot of confidence to get out there, in front of an audience and do your thing. You must have a passion for life and your beliefs to stay motivated in these situations.

What I want you to get out of this article is to stop being afraid. Especially from the fears and challenges you place on yourself.

Confidence

Are you as confident to get out in front of a crowd and pickup a beer can like the woman from my story?

How about standing up to speak about your product, service, or cause?

I recently spoke at UMass Dartmouth about careers in Social Media. I’m not going to lie, I was a little scared. MBA classes and top ranking professors listening to me speak about a topic that is constantly evolving?

What do I know?

We know a lot more than we lead ourselves to believe.

Find your confidence. Don’t be afraid to shoot a video describing your passion, write a blog post on an opinion, or speak in front of a crowd.

Passion & Motivation

What’s the difference?

If you’re passionate about something, then you’re motivated – right?

Not always, but I like to look at it that way. The woman from my story is motivated to survive. She’s thinking:

“If no one else wants it – then I’ll take it.”

That’s where the passion comes in.

She will keep motivated to survive any way she sees fit and she’s not going to be embarrassed how she gets there. Keep yourself motivated by selecting the passions that drive you.

Don’t stop. Ever.

Make It Happen

To coin a phrase from a friend – Make It Happen.

Don’t let anyone stop you, even yourself, from going after what you want.

Don’t hold back on speaking your mind.

Don’t be ashamed of who you are and what you represent.

Let me know below what you think of this story. Is this inspirational? Are you motivated now? What are you working to achieve every day? I wrote about motivation before.

Comments

8 responses to “A Note About Confidence, Passion, And Motivation”

Alex DiVincenzo

April 6, 2011

A truly inspiring post, Matt. I try to live with these ideals in my mind, but it’s always good to have a reminder to give that extra motivational push.

Reply
1. Matt Medeiros
  
  April 6, 2011
  
  Thanks Alex!
  
  Reply
Guest

April 6, 2011

I find it interesting that the first thing that came to your mind when you saw a woman picking up a beer can was ‘she must be poor.’ I think that “is awful.”

This woman was, more likely than not, being environmentally conscious but again, it’s all open for interpretation. Considering the fact that she was driving a fairly new car I doubt it was about the former.

You blog post had good intentions but I fear the opening remarks come across as close-minded and may take away from your overall message

Reply
1. Matt Medeiros
  
  April 6, 2011
  
  Guest –
  
  Sorry for the confusion.
  
  Actually, what I was referring to was the reactions I was observing from other drivers. Also, I actually thought it was good of her to do it – for monetary or environmental reasons. In either case, that general “oh my god look at her” reaction could fill in the blank.
  
  Again, I’m talking general reactions I witnessed.
  
  This being a blog about entrepreneurship – yes the earning 5-cents for the can came to mind first 🙂
  
  Reply
Anonymous

April 7, 2011

Matt,

Although my first thoughts were also that this woman’s intentions were most likely environmental, I found the rest of the post to be well written and inspiring. It takes confidence in yourself and a passion for what you are doing to go out in front of an audience like she did. Having taken a similar leap of faith in my current position I agree that confidence and passion are the drivers of the evolution of new ideas. I look forward to reading more.

Derek

Reply
1. Matt Medeiros
  
  April 8, 2011
  
  Derek,
  
  Thanks a lot for your kind words! I should have described the scene a bit better – but glad it motivated you!
  
  Reply
peter Mis

April 7, 2011

Matt,

Great post. You know, at the end of the day it’s just you, your idea and a decision as to what to do with it. New ideas can be lonely, often misunderstood, and rarely ever encouraged. But there’s a certain contentment knowing that ideas are really extensions of who you are and that you have all the talents and abilities you need to, as you say, make it happen! Unfortunately the doubt-filled world we live in does all it can to convince us that we should probably just be quiet and go with the flow. We can listen to the doubters, or we can evolve and grow into all we are here to grow into.

Evolution is a lot more fun!

Peter

Reply
1. Matt Medeiros
  
  April 7, 2011
  
  Peter,
  
  Thanks for the kind words!
  
  You’re right – evolution IS more fun! 🙂
  
  Reply