Thanks to twitter user Kevin Jones for the blog topic.  Kevin is working to become a website designer, and is struggling with self confidence issues that often come when people are first tackling a new venture.  Once the excitement wears off, the energy drain begins and self-doubt can start to set in.  Fighting through this lack of motivation is this is the turning point for most people and is what separates the dreamers from the doers.

This principle applies to all aspects of life, and not just web design.  However, because many web design projects are individual instead of team oriented, it sure seems much more common to hit this “wall” in our industry.

Just as with learning something new, the same pitfalls apply to any projects that aren’t completed instantly.  You have a good idea, you immediately jump into it with both feet and you are as excited as you can be to get started.  Then, after spending twice as much time on it as you had hoped, you finally get half through.  You now start to second guess the original idea, struggle to get any productive work done and begin to “piddle” and work in circles.  After enough time doing this, you often begin to doubt your ability to complete the project.  Many will give up on their new venture and move on to something that excites them.

These are your dreamers.  They stay excited, as they are always working on something new.  However, they never really accomplish anything.  So if you want to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be, you need to figure out your own special way of channeling your confidence and pushing through the mundane and completing your work.

For me, I typically will walk away from the project for as much time as I need to recharge my enthusiasm for it.  This time often includes doing things completely unrelated to website development as I often get tired of it altogether instead of an individual project. I like old cars, so I’ll spend a weekend working on restoring my car or do something that is as manual as possible (no computers).  For you, it may be something else.

Those who lack confidence in themselves will have difficulty pushing through this barrier.  If you don’t believe you can do it, you can’t.  It is as simple as that.

Confidence in yourself and your abilities is something that must come from within.  You can often draw on external forces such as friends and family for confidence, but when the chips are on the table it is your belief alone that will decide your fate. So you must work on believing that you are capable.

With most people, the process of managing confidence is simple:  You gain confidence when you accomplish goals and you typically lose confidence when you fail to reach them.   If a project or task seems overwhelming, break it down into smaller goals.  For example, are you overwhelmed at trying to learn website design and development?  There is a lot to it (HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Flash, Actionscript, PHP, ASP, JSP, LINUX, etc…).  So break it down into a small goal:  learn how to mock a simple page up in HTML and CSS.  You can accomplish this inside of a day and you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to move to the next task.

I am lucky in the confidence department, I guess.  I have always felt that I can do anything, it’s just a function of time.  Given the right amount of time, I could build a perfect full-sized model of the Great Wall of China out of spitballs.

When starting in business, this was one of the most useful qualities that help me get off the ground.  Back in the “early” days, everything I did was new to me.  Every time I sold a project, I did so not knowing what was needed to do to make it happen.  My answer, when asked if I can do something has always been (and still is to this day):  Yes, of course.  It doesn’t matter what it is, I can do it.  Have I done it before?  Maybe, maybe not, but I can do it.

I actually sold my first website before I knew how to build a website.  It was a full-out e-commerce site with programming and bells and whistles and here I was a college student that had not even completed a basic HTML page.  I talked to the owners, explain to them what it would cost, and they went with it.  I learned on the job and am still at it today about 10 years later (and that original website is still a client).

If you are going to be successful at anything, confidence in yourself will play a part in it.  You have to examine your life, find your strengths, and draw the confidence needed to push through the difficult parts and continue to move toward your goals.  Changing goals will not help if the goals do not come with an increase in your confidence.  Don’t be a dreamer and quite wating time.  Get out there and get stuff done.