Many of us tend to think about self-confidence as an extra add-on – we underestimate it, we view it as nice to have, but not a must-have.

If you happen to be a public speaker, politician, or runway model, then confidence sure does come in handy. But for the rest of us, it’s become one of those soft skills that we deem a luxury – something that some people need and others don’t.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

If there’s one thing I’ve “seen” in my life, its that you can have a gazillion degrees, you can be good at memorizin

g Shakespeare, you can wear a size 6 dress, you can have a prestigious career, or you can look like Beyonce, but if you don’t feel confident, your life just doesn’t come to life. In the same way that a fancy sportscar is not much good without fuel to run it, we need confidence to give us the spark to do stuff in life.

Confidence is the rocket-fuel that brings our dreams to life.

I’ve summoned my confidence so many times in life, even when I believed I didn’t have any. Somehow or other I’ve been able to tell someone I loved them; or that I don’t love them; to stand in front of a classroom of students and share what I know; to leave a party when I’ve heard a racial slur; to be the odd-one-out at a meeting.

I’ve been changing, tweaking, and defining my life, and hopefully changing the world one bit at a time – and all because I’ve summoned my confidence.

So don’t be swayed into thinking that confidence has no place in your life, or that you don’t have any - that some people have it and others don't. All you have to do is look back through your life and see how it's popped up when you've most needed it. It’s been there all along.

Confidence is the stuff that puts us into action. It’s the fuel that turns a boring and safe life into one that’s changing, dynamic, and thriving. Confidence invites us to get in the game of life.

We’ve got all the information in the world we’ll ever need; all we need now is to give ourselves permission to bring it to life.