Building trust is not easy, but there is hope

Theoretically, building trust shouldn’t be complicated. And, in theory, trust training shouldn’t be necessary.

The keyword here, of course, is theoretically.

Because in practice, things work differently. – As they usually do.

Building trust should be easy. Because the principles are not very difficult to understand.

Most of us even know most of them. In fact, here are a bunch of great principles for trust, straight off the top of my head:

• Have a goal in life that you continually work towards

• Continually evaluate yourself

• Practice active appreciation of life and its resources.

• Learn something new every day

• stop comparing yourself to others

• do something you are passionate about

• See the possibilities, not the limitations

• Get out of your comfort zone and do things that worry you

• Practice physical exercise 20-30 minutes daily

• Meditate 10-20 minutes daily

• Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fiber, and protein.

• Do not eat processed foods, junk food, starchy carbohydrates, saturated fats, sweets, cakes, etc.

• Do not smoke or consume excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol.

• Sleep 7 to 8 hours every night.

• Surround yourself with people who support and affirm you.

• Avoid people who bring you down and hold you back

• Stand up for yourself, speak when you want, fear nothing, never give up, accept what you cannot change, etc.

I could go on, but I hope you get the point.

…Which is, as I said, most normal people already know most of this stuff. I mean, most of these points are common sense and knowledge.

Why, then, is it so difficult for some people to build trust?

Why is there a difference between “easy” and “simple”.

Casually sketching out the formula for a great life is, in fact, almost insultingly easy. However, putting it into practice is difficult. And, for many people, absolutely impossible without help.

The good news, then, is that it’s simple.

In fact, building confidence is like building muscle. It’s hard and requires effort, but it gets easier with time and if you do it consistently.

Also, what I discovered is that the same principle applies to the vast majority of people: it’s not so much what you specifically do with your life that matters as much as the fact that you do it while maintaining trust.

In fact, if you keep building trust continuously, it won’t matter much what you do, because you can do almost anything. And you’ll be confident enough to calmly accept the things you can’t do, for now, at least.

It’s like taking a shower, brushing your teeth, or even owning a car: if you want to keep it running, you have to maintain it.

Yes it’s hard. Yes, it will take time and effort. But that’s no reason not to do it anyway. Because there is no such reason. There are only excuses we make out of fear.

ACTION ITEM:

This week, get out of your comfort zone. Do only ONE thing that really scares you, but that you really want to do. It could be talking to someone about a problem; or how you feel about them. It could be walking up to a complete stranger to ask for directions. As long as it’s something In fact it worries you

Why would we do something like this? Because, when practiced regularly, getting out of our comfort zone makes us grow. It strengthens us and gives us more confidence. So, for God’s sake: do it and keep it up.