
Affectionately known as "America's #1 Success Coach," Jack Canfield is the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a leading authority in the areas of self-esteem, achievement motivation, and peak performance. [www.jackcanfield.com]

Arianna Huffington is the co-founder and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post and the author of twelve books. [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Seth Godin is a prominent author, blogger and speaker. [www.squidoo.com/linchpin]

Krishna Kaur is the founder of YOGA for Youth, a program that takes yoga, meditation, and stimulating discussions on the philosophy of yoga to urban youth. [www.yogaforyouth.org]

Norman Lear has enjoyed a long career in television and film. He is also a political and social activist and philanthropist. [www.normanlear.com]

Leilani Münter is a professional race car driver and an environmental activist who uses her voice in the number one spectator sport in America as a catalyst for change. [www.leilanimunter.com]

By going undercover to meet slaves and slaveholders, Kevin Bales exposed modern slavery's penetration into the global economy. He co-founded Free the Slaves, which has helped to liberate thousands of slaves. [www.freetheslaves.net]

Sophie Chiche, lifebyme.com founder and curator, enjoys asking deep questions and living a life of meaning. Today she's launching Shape House, an urban sweat lodge, a place to melt away fears and fat. [www.shapehousela.com]

Entrepreneur and writer Mastin Kipp founded TheDailyLove.com, which merges pop culture with inspiration, and co-founded The Love Yourself Company, an apparel company that has started a global self-esteem movement. [www.TheDailyLove.com]

Liz Phair is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. [www.lizphair.com]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is Chairman of The Elders, a group of world leaders who address some of the world's most pressing problems. He works energetically for human-rights and in his ministry. [www.tutu.org]

Zainab Salbi is the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, a group dedicated to helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives. [www.womenforwomen.org]

Despite his physical challenges, Sean Stephenson has taken a stand for a quality of life that has inspired millions of people around the world. He's a professional speaker, psychotherapist, and author. [www.timetostand.com]

Kia Miller teaches Yoga at Yoga Works in Los Angeles, leads teacher trainings, and runs retreats and workshops on meditation, chakras, pranayam, and mantras, and other practices. [www.kiamiller.com]

Simon Mainwaring is an ex-Nike/Wieden creative, former Worldwide Creative Director at Motorola/Ogilvy, branding/advertising writer, author/speaker/blogger, Australian, idea geek. [www.simonmainwaring.com]

Shannon Bindler is a style editor, life coach, and the co-founder of Get Up Girl, an empowerment company that inspires women to shine. [www.getupgirl.com]

Grammy-nominated art director/designer/photographer Mathieu Bitton has designed over 450 CDs and movie posters. He's a renowned collector of and authority on black films and their soundtracks. [www.candytangerine.com]

Opus Reps founder and agent-producer Jorge Perez travels the world producing photo shoots with great photographers and celebrities. He's also very involved with Meals on Wheels in Los Angeles. www.opusreps.com
confidence

My sister always told me, “Fake it until you make it.” Good advice, since I was a very nervous child. An anxiety was born inside of me like a third lung. As I navigated my adolescence, it only grew stronger. Too sensitive and thin-skinned, I was prone to crying in elementary school classrooms, hiding myself in corners to avoid the attention of my peers. I didn’t learn to swim until I was thirteen. Didn’t learn to ride a bike until my twenties. In my mind, trying something can lead to failing at something, which would sink my heart like a stone.
I was also a habitual daydreamer growing up. There would be bright lights in my future, big stages, countless friends and a picturesque life that would make any insecurities I had feel as irrelevantly small as grains of sand brushed off of a playground skinned knee. That’s why when I hit ten years old, and my school’s annual 5th grade musical came, I planned my audition down to a tee. I thought about all the movies I ever saw, all the musicals I ever heard. I channeled it all into a wall of confidence. But when I took the stage in front of my peers, the stage lights burned through that courage. My voice cracked. My hands shook the mic like a rattle. After 30 seconds frozen in front of my entire class, my eyes wrung themselves like sponges, and I sobbed my way off stage.
When you’re a child every misstep feels like the end of your life. But everyone falls and gets up to fall again another day. That moment of stage fright became just another growing point in my life amongst the failed high school exams, the crazed fights with ex-boyfriends, and the opportunities I missed because I let self-imposed anxiety pin me down.
With each stumble I’d reposition my sister’s motto to the front of my head like a guiding light helping a ship sail out of a foggy morning. I’m 27, and that scared little boy is still somewhere within, but I’ve learned how to stand straight and let insecurities roll off my back.
Feign confidence until you ARE confident. Pretend you’re amazing until you ARE amazing. Deliver every word you speak as if it’s law. Walk down the street like it’s a runway. Sure, you might trip on the sidewalk, but you’ll look great doing it.
– Josh Page


Explore More Meaning
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spiritual psychologist. philanthropist. happiness harvester.
Lisa Cypers Kamen is a filmmaker, positive psychology coach, author, radio show host, professor, and lecturer specializing in happiness, filmography, felicitation and philanthropy. She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, InspireMeToday.com and PositivelyPositive.com. [www.HarvestingHappiness.com]
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compassionate producer. loving daughter. wisdom seeker.
Maia Monasterios is an award-winning director, producer, and writer of such projects as PBS History Detectives stories including: Vietnam Diary, Titanic Luxury Liner Picture Frame, Clint Black's Rogue Book and The Beatles Autographs. [http://www.indiegogo.com/Vietnam-Veterans-Forgive-and-Heal]
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