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Take a Swing

The only way to hit it over the fence is to believe that you can.

By Barry Farber

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Confidence is everything in selling--and your overall performance in any aspect of life. It gives you the power to act without worrying whether your actions will be effective.

Take Little League baseball, for example. I remember telling my young son to watch the pitcher on the other team as he warmed up. At one game, all the kids were standing in the dugout holding onto the fence with looks of dread on their faces as they watched the pitcher from the other team throw very fast, wild pitches. Now, here's the funny thing about confidence: Every kid from our team walked up to the plate like he was about to fight Mike Tyson. The pitcher had so much confidence, he had already struck them out in his mind. Since most of the kids stood 5 feet away from the plate, they would never hit the ball.

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