This content was created by Sally Koering Zimney. This content was uploaded by Sally Koering Zimney. This is a YouTube video titled "#ThisMovedMe Episode 2: The Confidence Paradox | How to Build Confidence by Taking Action" (posted 2025-07-01). It contains a motivational monologue by Sally Koering Zimney — keynote speaker, bestselling author and host of the This Moved Me series — about how confidence is developed by taking action rather than waiting to feel ready. The piece includes personal anecdotes about her children (Harper, Luke, Rowan) and niece Josie, a cited quote from Adam Grant, observations about clients getting stuck in perfectionism, and a call to action inviting viewers to share what moved them that week.
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We are all trying to get ready for our next bold move, but here's the thing. The only way to actually get ready is through the move itself. Welcome everybody to This Moved Me, a moment to help you be brave so that you can be moved. I'm Sally Koering Zimney, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and your go-to professional nudger here to nudge you to do bigger, braver, bolder things faster, because the world needs more leaders who refuse to be held back by doubt and fear. Because too many ideas are going unshared, too many dreams are staying stuck, and too many bold moves are not happening. So consider this your nudge to stop waiting and start moving. Okay, so my favorite thing in the whole wide world is to watch kids brave the awkward discomfort of putting themselves out there and then discover that they are capable. It always moves me to tears, and it's often kids that I know, but just kids in general. Uh, my niece Josie is this incredible dancer. Um, my oldest Rowan is an incredible writer, and every time they write something, I'm like, oh my gosh, you're so brilliant. My son Luke is a runner and a skier, and it is so hard. It is so hard, and I know that it hurts, and he's doing it anyway. What moves me so much about especially young people doing these big brave moves is that they're trying as beginners even when it's scary. And we adults could learn a lot from that. They aren't professionals with years of experience. They're kids and they are learning in public and just showing up anyway. As I like to say, show up anyway. Well, my youngest Harper, you see, Harper is this bright spot in life. Like, she is hilarious and funny and super talented, and she has a beautiful voice, but only a select few people have heard her voice. I happen to be one of those select people, and I'm very grateful that she sings with me. And every time she sings to me, you guessed it, it's waterworks. I cry a lot. Okay, like so many of us, Harper is hesitating to share her talent more publicly until she feels more ready until she can kind of bulletproof herself against rejection or looking stupid or her voice cracking or all of the fears that are just sort of swimming around in her head. And she's hoping that at some point it'll become easier for her to start sharing her voice. Well, Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and current and quite worthy darling of thought leader space right now, recently said something that really hit the nail on the head for me. He said, "You don't gain confidence and then take action. You gain confidence by taking action." Nail on the head, Adam. That's exactly right. It's such a simple truth, but it explains why so many of us get stuck from time to time. We are waiting for confidence to show up before we make our move, when confidence is actually the result of making moves. And I see this paradox play out every single day with my clients. They are waiting for someone else to declare that they're capable. Projects get postponed because they are stuck in what I like to call perfection cul-de-sac. They are obsessing over that last 2% in the hopes that it will, uh, protect them from judgment or rejection. So many Hopes and dreams are delayed by these stories that we have convinced ourselves that we're not ready yet, and that ready requires something of you that isn't in you and can't grow and become developed. So when are we ready, and how do we ever get ready if we are avoiding the very thing that helps us grow? So a few years ago, the kids and Andy and I were sitting around the dinner table having dinner, and, and Luke was trying to convince Harper to audition audition for a show. And when she hesitated, he pulled out his phone and he shared this text message that he'd written to his friend after his last very difficult cross-country race. It said, "When I hurt but then I don't die, I'm like, whoa, look at me doing all this hurt and still being okay. That's so cool. Like every race, I find that my limits are even more limitless than I imagined. And then I'm like, OMG, I can do anything." The indomitable human spirit is like the strongest thing in the whole world, and I just exercised that. Wahoo! I'm so cool, and I'm struggling, but I'm getting back up, and that's what everything is about. Like, I love it so much. The indomitable human spirit is the strongest thing in the whole world. My nudge: stop avoiding the very thing that will develop your confidence. Learn by doing, sometimes in public, sometimes look stupid. Get comfy with the discomfy because we know that's where the magic happens. This moved me, team. What is moving you this week? I would love to know. Drop it in the comments. Tell me what made you think this week, what made you feel, what made you consider an idea that you hadn't before. I'm here for it. Let me know. Bye, Delt. I got hair in my mouth. Ah. Where I need my needles? Knitting YouTube made me. What do I really think?
