If you have been hitting constant road blocks on your journey to success, it's quite possible that you've been trying to take short-cuts and find an easy way to the top 

Like many people, you're probably at the point where you are tired of feeling like a failure and being beat up by life. All you want to do is live a life that has meaning and purpose and that satisfies your need to feel accomplished and successful in business or your career. But if you lack confidence in yourself, you may have a difficult and painful road ahead of you.

Normally when you hear the term short cut to success, you usually hear of people learning from their mistakes, being placed in a position they haven't worked for, talking their way into a job they're not qualified for and things of that nature. Not often are short cuts to success referred to when someone is trying to skip the Emotional Growth Process that comes along with success.

Sometimes it feels like an impossible task to be all that we need to be in order to achieve and be considered a success. I understand because I've been there!

Over the years, I've tried to take short cuts to my success by avoiding the emotional growth and confidence building necessary to have staying power. I thought I could separate the two and appear confident and successful but inside, I really felt smaller than the life I was trying to live. I'd like to share a few lessons that I learned here with you:

1. Sometimes Faking it Until You Make it Doesn't Work

Many people in our society live by this cliché, but I'd like to offer another point of view for you to consider. You run the risk of wearing a permanent mask and hide your lack of confidence so well that you begin to function in that state as if it's normal. Think about it, if you lack confidence and get comfortable in this façade you've created, why come out of it? It's easier and takes less risk to be someone you're not. OR you can take conscious courageous steps to bring you closer to where you want to be-while practicing and building your confidence muscles. It depends on the individual, how self-aware they are and the level of mentorship in their life.

2. Short Term Success

Success comes with so many twists and turns in the road disappointments and moments of elation, if one doesn't trust in their ability to endure, their success will be short lived.

I can share first hand that having a lack of confidence will hold you back from performing the consistent activities that will bring the results you want. Creating those results requires that you take risks, taking risks requires that you trust your judgment and go for it. All very difficult to accomplish when you are lacking confidence.

A lack of confidence prevents you from trusting yourself and believing that you can handle the consequences of your choices.

Some who lacks self-confidence also lack belief in themselves. And often times will not have the courage and belief it takes to pitch an idea to someone, network effectively, present a resume or express the fullness of their inner genius.

3. Self-Sabotage

You'll eventually want to crawl back into your comfort zone and do everything possible to get there. A lack of confidence is in essence a fear of what will come as a result of an action or the inability to move without faith. Our thoughts and beliefs about who we are and what we are capable of are our road blocks. When we don't take the time to invest in eliminating those destructive blockages, we are holding ourselves back and preventing our long-term success. We eventually trigger our default button and fall back to "where we believe we belong". STUCK!

Building confidence does require consistent action, the more you achieve the greater you feel about yourself and the more you believe in yourself.

It's also important to remember that there are critical KEYS to ensuring that you are truly confident in order to hold on to your success and not putting on a mask to that will leave you wondering who you truly are....

We will discuss those critical KEYS in Part II.

T. Harv Ecker says, "Not only do you have to be in the right place at the right time, you also have to be the right person in the right place at the right time".

Stay Confident and Reach Your Highest Heights!

About the Author 

LaTalya Palmer-Lewis is a founder of the Inner Genius Life Coaching System. She is passionate about helping women get UNSTUCK in life so they can live the life they were meant to live. Her inspiration and passion comes from overcoming her childhood experiences of surviving sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence and living off of generational welfare.

At the age of 20 with her 1st child in her arms, she walked out of the welfare office vowing to never return and made a silent commitment to support other women release the shackles of fear, lack and limitation. She made a commitment to help other women get UNSTUCK and take the Steering Wheel of their Life.

She is now a wife, mother of 4, Life Coach and Speaker.

LaTalya loves spending time nurturing and grooming her children for success and using the skills she's learned to help empower their lives as well.

At her blog she shares information on topics like how to get unstuck in finances, relationships and in your career or business. She gives tips on how to identify your unique strengths and gifts and how to maximize their potential in your life.

LaTalya posts weekly to her empowerment blog and offers a free report called "How to Get Unstuck, 5 Simple Steps to Unleashing the Life You Were Meant to Live", weekly email tips on empowering your life and much more.