When confidence is present, it's a performance-enhancing drug. It can power us to extraordinary feats physically, intellectually and emotionally. However, confidence is fleeting. Sure, there are rituals we can do to momentarily boost our confidence. But, it's a fickle emotion to rely too heavily on. From one moment to the next, our confidence can be soaring in the stratosphere or buried six feet under.

Because of this, we should place less emphasis on our confidence and more emphasis on our commitment. We build up our commitment by proving to ourselves that we are capable of keeping the promises we make to ourselves. This proof can happen daily in the form of small rules we make and obey. Maybe we run a mile for every cocktail we down the night before. Maybe we don't touch social media with a ten-foot pole until the sun goes down. Maybe we never order desert at dinner.

The rules themselves don't matter. What matters is that we keep them. And, by keeping them, we become the kinds of people that are committed to ourselves, even in the circumstances when confidence is fleeting.