Build UNSHAKABLE CONFIDENCE and PERFORM like an NBA player! There is no denying that we ALL struggle with self-confidence at some point in our lives, if not throughout all of it. Even the most successful people fight this battle. But those who reach their highest potential — I’m talking athletes, business owners, CEOs, entertainers, and politicians — have frequently been trained by elite performance coaches like myself and today’s guest, David Nurse.  In this message, David reveals his confidence-building blueprint and possibly the NBA’s best-kept secret to building UNSHAKABLE CONFIDENCE in yourself and your abilities. He explains these principles AND provides ACTIONABLE steps to back them up that you can implement TODAY! Today’s content is truly NEXT-LEVEL training! Several of the concepts revealed in this interview have long been reserved for professional athletes and those in high-power positions. But I’m bringing them to you, absolutely FREE!  I truly believe that CONFIDENCE is the MOST IMPORTANT catalyst to achieving everything you want in life! So, if you're ready for specific strategies and tools to gain the confidence you need to #MAXOUT your life, keep reading!

Who Is David Nurse?

David Nurse is a Life Optimization Coach who has helped over 150 NBA players with their personal and professional development, on and off the court. David’s journey to where he is today began with a desire to play for the NBA. After pouring everything he could into this dream, he was cut from a second division, joke-of-a team in Spain.   After spending five months living with his parents and feeling sorry for himself, his mom said, “David, when one door closes, four open to a beachfront patio overlooking the ocean.” While those words caught him off guard, he walked away from that moment, realizing that if you want to see how life is working in your favor, you have to keep your eyes open to new opportunities.  After almost 15 years of putting this quote into practice, he has not only built an incredible life for himself but has also helped professional athletes do the same! Now he’s bringing these game-changing principles to the world with his book Pivot. I feel like David and I are kindred spirits because we both prioritize our faith, value the science behind developing our minds, and want to make a very similar difference in the world. The more I dive into his book, Pivot, the more impressed I’ve become. I even consider myself a little bit of an addict to his work because it’s phrased in a practical and trendy manner that I have not heard before.  That being said, if this is your first time encountering David’s work, you're going to be blown away! Today’s content is loaded with SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES and STRATEGIES to erase self-doubt and replace it with unshakable self-confidence. I know you’re going to love it! 

How to Wipe Away Self-Doubt with Your Hands

I'm a big believer in TRIGGERS. And when I say triggers, I’m talking about using things you see to remind you to practice healthy habits. Great athletes have used triggers to improve their performance for a long time. After years and years of sharing this technique behind the scenes with business professionals, I’m just now seeing it become a more mainstream approach. I think it’s absolutely brilliant.  Having triggers at your disposal can truly change the game in your mental and physical state and be the key to #MAXOUT out your life. David shared a super simple trigger using our hands that I thought was incredibly powerful. Here’s how he explained it: “We all have our hands with us. So, the first thing [I want] you do when you wake up in the morning is you look at your hands, and you see all that they've been through. Do this right now? Look at the calluses, the grooves, everything you have been through and have gotten through. [That’s how you know] you're going to get through the next challenging time as well.” - David Nurse The next step David described was to imagine the most confident person in your life. He said it could be a parent, teacher, or mentor. Now, see everything that they have been through and imagine that their hands are your hands. Allow yourself to believe that you can get through whatever life throws at you, just like them.  The next trigger David pointed out was a mirror. At some point during our day, we’re all going to walk past one. Most often, it’s early in the morning when we’re getting ready for the day. David called the mirror-trigger a self-doubt mirror — it’s foggy. He explained that we all wake up with self-doubt of some kind. All our self-doubt thoughts are fogging up the mirrors.  Now, he said, we’re going to take our hands — those hands we just visualized as being able to get through anything — and make the motion of wiping away the fog. Here’s what David said happens in that moment of “wiping away the fog”:

“Making this motion triggers our subconscious, ‘Hey, we don't have to live in this self-doubt that we have. … We've got our confident hands. We are wiping away the self-doubt.’ Now, these hands are service hands, too. So every room you enter, look at your hands and say the word ‘serve.’ [That way], you know when you step into that room, it's not … [about] what others can do for you and what you can get out of it. It's about what you can give, what you can pour into others, [and] how you can serve others.” - David Nurse

Visualizing yourself wiping away self-doubt with hands of CONFIDENCE and SERVICE is such a powerful tool. You can even use this trigger when you write an email or send a text. Wipe away self-doubt with your hands and remind yourself that the hands you’re writing with were created to serve. Not only will you have more confident thoughts, but you’ll do things with more confidence, and eventually, people will notice!  Now, the tools David shares are brilliant, but just like a sports technique, it becomes more effective as you practice it. This strategy won’t be completely effective on the first wipe. But I'm telling you, after the 300th time, a practice like this will have MASSIVE power in your life. So, don’t give this hand trigger one try and throw it out the window. Try it again and again. COMMIT to it until it works!

Build Your Self-Confidence by Creating a Highlight Reel

Before I walk on stage to speak, I literally go through a highlight reel of the best talks of my career. Every time I imagine exactly what those moments looked like and felt like. When I started this practice, I didn’t realize that it’s actually a proven strategy for high performance. The act of intentionally putting yourself in the specific mental state you want to create is a tool frequently used by top athletes.  In his book, Pivot, David teaches a tool like this that he calls the “Highlight Reel.” The first step is recalling a time you were at the TOP OF YOUR GAME. You could be having the best sales call of your life. If you’re a mom, think of a moment you had with your kids that you never wanted to end. If you’re an athlete, think of a time you played the best game you ever played. Now visualize yourself at that moment, in the zone, absolutely killing it. Take it one step further by imagining yourself going through every single movement the event included.  This “highlight reel” technique is a powerful resource to shift our thoughts from mostly negative to mostly positive. According to David, we have 50,000 self-talk thoughts a day, and 80% of them are negative. That means we have about 40,000 negative self-talk thoughts a day. That’s terrible! So, instead of repeating to yourself all the ways you messed up or could have done better, your “highlight reel” is replaying the moments you were at your best! As a result, your self-talk pivots from negative to positive. Here’s how David said it works:

“Living in your ‘highlight reel,’ where you're constantly watching yourself at your best … isn't something that's just like, ‘Airy fairy.’ No, you have done this. Like you have literally done this. You can do this again. You will do this again. And we can pivot these self-talk thoughts into being 80% positive and 20% negative. [Now] think about how much that can open up — not just for yourself, but how infectious living in that [mindset] becomes to others.” - David Nurse

I love how David pointed out that this isn’t some far-fetched dream you’re feeding yourself to improve your performance. It’s a moment that has actually happened. In other words, replaying your “highlight reel,” isn’t you trying to be someone else or someone you aren’t. Instead, it’s you reminding yourself of everything you can be. That’s POWERFUL! The next step you need to take to see the impact this tool can have on your life is to schedule it! When are you going to run through your “highlight reel?” David said he does it three times a day — when he drinks his coffee in the morning, during lunch, and again at dinner. But he also said you could do it in the morning when you “wipe away” the self-doubt from your mirror:

“When you wake up, ... after you wipe the mirror clean, you can just visually sit there and see the day [of your highlight reel] — what you wore, what you ate, who you interacted with. Recreate that day in your mind. That subconscious is where [your highlight reel is] actually going to live. So you're living in that ‘highlight reel’ zone” - David Nurse

I cannot recommend this practice enough. If you really want to #MAXOUT your life, schedule this tool into your day. Don't just talk about doing it. SCHEDULE it, and do it! Before we move on, I want to remind you that this technique is a lot like meditation in that you’ll get better at doing it over time. You'll build the muscle and be able to see yourself at the moment more clearly. You’ll learn to watch it in slow motion, change the colors, and even zoom in on specifics. The more you practice it, and the more detailed you get with it, the more deeply it will imprint in your subconscious mind.  Give yourself the gift of watching your “highlight reel” regularly! 

#MAXOUT with David Nurse 

As you work on adding these tools to your routine, remember that every day is preparation for your dream opportunity — your big break. We have to be faithful and intentional with our daily actions because they create a MAXED OUTlife. Here’s how David explained it:

“What it is at the core is knowing that you are preparing for your opportunity daily. We don't know when that time is going to come. God has that time. And it's [coming at] a much better time than we can even imagine. But everything you do is preparation for an opportunity to come. The person that you are today, how you act — no matter who's watching or no matter what your job title is — is going to determine who you're going to be.” - David Nurse

The little things you do daily add up, so let some of the little things you do be the tools David shared with us today. You have everything you need to live the life you want. So, don't wait another day to start building the UNSHAKEABLE CONFIDENCE you need to make your dreams a reality! I could not be more grateful to interview David today. This man is so genuine and helping people for all the right reasons. Follow him on Instagram @davidnursenba and grab a copy of his book Pivot. His book is filled with incredible stories and more strategies for shifting your mindset. I know you won’t regret the purchase! For those of you who have Instagram, make sure you follow me @edmylett because that's where I run the Two-minute Drill. The Two-Minute Drill means, if you comment on a post in the first two minutes of my posting, you’re entered to WIN some cool stuff! Winners can receive anything from a ride on my jet, coaching calls with myself or my guests, merchandise from my store, and tickets to live events. If you aren’t able to comment on my post in the first two minutes, just make sure you comment on every post by the end of the week, and you’ll be entered into a weekly drawing!   That’s a wrap for today. God bless everybody. Now, go #MAXOUT your life!