Russ Harris is a physician and therapist specializing in stress management. He speaks frequently to individuals and mental health professionals about the techniques of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). For more information, visit actmindfully.com.au.
In this paperback, Harris presents his ideal of a flexible mind-set that can be adopted and utilized by people who are hobbled by fear, anxiety or self-doubt. He also shares his own experiences of lacking self-confidence and missing out on many things he could have done thanks to fear of failure. In contrast, Harris looks at the self-confidence of Nelson Mandela who he believes that what he does matters.
What are some of the reasons why people lack confidence? The author explores five of them: excessive expectations, harsh self-judgment, preoccupation with fear, lack of experience, and lack of skill. He then unravels fear and demonstrates how self-confident people have transformed their relationship with this emotion. Using techniques from ACT, Harris examines the ten rules for winners in the game of confidence including:
• "Negative thoughts are normal. Don't fight them; defuse them.
• "True success is living by your values.
• "Hold your values lightly, but pursue them vigorously.
• "Failure hurts — but if we're willing to learn, it's a wonderful teacher.
• "The key to peak performance is total engagement in the task."
