​​With 2025 coming to a close, we can take a moment to reflect upon the events and growth moments that have shaped our year. No year is without progress and change, each one bringing us unique challenges and many experiences to learn from. As we wrap up this year, take a moment to reflect. Be gentle with yourself, as no year is perfect and everyone is at a different point in their journey.

Comparison to others can erode our confidence. Focus on you. Trust that you have put your best foot forward and gave it your best.

• What are you proud of this year?
• What are you grateful for?
• What challenges have you overcome or navigated through?
• What did your confidence journey look like, and how might it have changed?
• Where did you have success with your confidence?

 
Allow yourself to soak up the successes and proud moments. Moving forward with this next year, how can you continue to learn and grow from your experiences from 2025? Take a moment to imagine what you would look like at your most confident. What characteristics do you see in your confident self? What kind of situation would help you step into this confidence?
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This ultra-confident self is real and possible! Keep the image of your shining confident self in your heart as you move forward into 2026. Although you have ups and downs like each of us, your radiant and guiding confident self is with you through it all. Confidence is always by your side, waiting to step forward.

​Written by, 
Danny Socwell (He/Him)
(763-328-9190)
Marketing Director
[email protected]

The idea of being a beginner is essential to growth, both personally and professionally. Every coach, speaker and leader has been a beginner at some point. In fact, we’ll all return to that space many times throughout our lives as we continue to learn and evolve.
It can be challenging to allow that space for yourself, especially in the work world where you might feel pressure to be an expert. What we must remember is that everyone starts somewhere. We aren’t born knowing everything we need to know, our skills and knowledge develop over time.
This is also the case with confidence. It’s a continual practice and learning journey, not something we are born with. The first step is being honest with yourself before trying to prove anything to others.
Try starting with these reminders.

• Give yourself grace.
• I don’t know very much about this yet, and that’s okay.
• I want to learn, I’m ready to learn.
• I have everything I need to be able to begin.
• What can I be curious about?

Being the beginner also shows up in our conversations. Sometimes we anticipate information or rush to appear knowledgeable, worried about being “found out”. We might spend the conversation guarded and fearing that moment where something gets brought up that we aren’t familiar with, and we have to let someone else be the expert.
This has been a struggle for me, since I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything perfectly on the first try. Sometimes for those who really value learning, we can forget the beauty of being the beginner and jump right into a “false expert” state which can get in the way of genuine communications and connection.
To avoid the temptation to be the false expert try this:
Take a more curious approach, leading with a desire to know more instead of a desire to show how much you know. “Oh, wow I didn’t know that! I’d like to learn more, I wonder what this person can tell me.” Let your curiosity guide you. Allow yourself to feel confidence even when you are a beginner.
Everyone has been the beginner and will be the beginner again. The sooner we let go of perfection, the freer and more confident we become.
Written by, 
Danny Socwell (He/Him)
(763-328-9190)
Marketing Director
[email protected]

​Asking good questions is a key part of engaging and connecting with people. Your ability to ask questions will determine how much information you’re given and the connection you will make with your audience.
What’s the key to asking good questions? Many people learn from their teachers to ask memorization and recall based questions that don’t provide much connection, stimulation or information.
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The Problem with Recall-Based Questions

• They limit expression. Recall questions demand “right answers,” discouraging unique perspectives.
• They stifle connection. When people feel quizzed, they are less likely to open up.
• They overlook context. Facts alone rarely capture lived experience, motivation, or emotion.

In practices like coaching and speaking, most questions are aimed at gaining personal information and understanding of the recipient. Their personal story and experiences are what you really want to know, and what will be helpful in developing their skills. Asking questions can be a great way to gauge familiarity and understanding of a topic.

• What does X mean to you?
• What is your experience with X?
• How would you define X in your own words?

Questions can also be used to summarize information or review what you’ve gone over. Focus on engaging and connecting with your questions, instead of quizzing people on information. Practice using questions that begin with what because they elicit a descriptive answer.

The Case for Connection-Based Questions

• They build trust. Asking about personal experiences signals genuine interest.
• They reveal insight.  Stories, perspectives, and emotions often carry more learning value than factual responses.
• They guide development. In coaching or leadership, understanding someone’s “why” is more powerful than confirming their “what.”

 
When asking more emotion related questions, try asking how someone feels instead of putting words in their mouth by asking “do you feel this way?” Trust they will have the answer.
Asking questions is all about letting the other person lead with their thoughts, opinions, experiences or emotions. Inserting your own bias or experience may block them from fully expressing their thoughts.

• How does that make you feel?
• What are your thoughts about that?
• What kinds of things come up for you when X happens?

Asking good questions is more than a communication skill, it is a leadership tool. The ability to move beyond surface-level questioning and into authentic, curiosity-driven dialogue allows leaders, coaches, and speakers to foster trust, unlock insight, and create lasting impact. When you lead with questions that invite meaning, experience, and emotion, you don’t just collect information you build stronger, more authentic relationships.

Written by Danny Socwell
Marketing Director at STAND TALL
[email protected]

​The fear of public speaking is one of the most common fears in the world. This can show up in many different ways, and a variety of situations call for some form of public speaking, but often we shy away from these opportunities due to our fears.
 
Some people try to overcome this fear by preparing and practicing as much as possible for any public speaking occurrence. However, there are some things you just can’t plan for. More important than preparation is the ability to adapt, and account for the unexpected. Your audience will appreciate your ability to keep going no matter what might show up. It shows them that you are dedicated to delivering your message and respecting the time and effort it took for your audience to be there.
 
For some people, the fear of criticism haunts them the most. Not just from others, but from themselves too. It isn’t helpful for us to try and assume what negative thoughts we believe our audience has about us, instead, staying grounded in the moment and allowing your audience to be your partner instead of your enemy will help you relax into your message and connect with the people you deliver it to. Your audience might just be more forgiving than you think. We all make mistakes, and they know that.
 
If you acknowledge mishaps and continue on without letting them make you shrink back, you open yourself up for more connection through vulnerability.
 
It can be uncomfortable getting used to being seen and heard, but this discomfort is how we grow into more brave and confident individuals. There is a misconception that people are naturally born brave or lack fear. Pushing through your fear and still being present and showing up is bravery, not an absence of fear all together.
 
Learning to exist alongside your discomfort and allowing yourself to be vulnerable builds skills that will help you connect with the people around you and show up as your authentic self. 

Written by Danny Socwell (He/Him)
Marketing Director at STAND TALL
[email protected]

When I was fourteen years old, I had my first 3D movie experience. My family took a trip to Disney Land and 3D technology was just being introduced to the big screen. It was a big deal and Michael Jackson was the star of the movie we saw at Disney. The 80s were a time I remember fondly in part because everything seemed like a grand experiment. My hair included.

The movie is but a distant memory, but I never forgot how the 3D glasses brought me into the movie. I was weaving and bobbing to get out of the way of objects flying straight toward me. It was incredible.