Are you good at what you do?  How do you know?  Where does your confidence come from?  Does it build  over time or does it come from that one amazing time that everything went right for you?  The prompt at the Daily Post today is:  I Have Confidence In Me.

The first thing in my head, of course, is the Sound of Music song that Julie Andrews‘ Maria, sings as she heads toward her first meeting of the Von Trapp family.  Swinging a suitcase in one hand and guitar in the other, her confidence builds as she gets closer to her destination. Her voice gets stronger with each skipping step propelling her higher into the air as if she has springs in her shoes.  You can more than feel her commitment to doing her best, you are fully engaged in her belief that she can do anything!

I think it’s always been one of my  favorite movie musical songs, and that Julie Andrews sings it is a bonus as far as I’m concerned.  The movie has played on television for years, I have a vhs tape of it, and a dvd.  I’m sure it streams on the interweb somewhere; Netflix, Redbox, Hulu, Amazon.  The movie was first released in 1965 and I was only two years-old, so it’s not likely my first viewing was on the big screen; though maybe someday it will be shown in IMax–that’d be cool!

Back to the “confidence” theme though…when you’re told you’re good at something, it’s my guess that people want to keep doing that thing.  I’ve been told, among other things, that I’m a good leader, a good baker, a good boss, a good friend, a good writer.  So far in my posts I’ve thanked teachers, mentors, friends, and coworkers, for seeing in me, something I’m good at and letting me know.  More than that though, they’ve encouraged me to aspire to be more than “good” at what I do, to pursue excellence in all that I try.

Today, I want to thank those of you who read this blog, who leave comments, ping back, re-blog, tweet, share, or send notes directly to me.  I will continue for another 253 days to make each post my best.  Thanks!

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• Iconic costumes from The Sound Of Music set to fetch £150,000 at auction (thisismoney.co.uk)
• Here’s Another Trailer for NBC’s ‘The Sound of Music’ (celebuzz.com)
• The Daily Prompt (wordpress.com)