The Confidence Paradox with guest Angus Nelson

·58 min·3 clips

Angus argues it is “impossible” to be confident about something you have not done yet.

Confidence gets treated like a permission slip. The cold open pushes against the familiar writer bargain: life would start moving once the person at the desk felt more certain. It lands quickly. Valerie Esan and Eric Mertz then ease into the show's usual writer-friendly rhythm, with talk of craft, motivation, manuscript trouble, and the business of finishing books. The date is April 23rd, 2025. The conversation moves toward Angus's book, Confidence Comes Later, and the confidence paradox for writers who want their work seen. The room stays warm. Valerie reads Angus's biography with real curiosity, taking each credential less as a trophy and more as a door into another story. Angus laughs along. His work as an executive coach, leadership podcast host, mastermind founder, and business psychology voice keeps the confidence question from turning into a plain pep talk. The author angle stays right there on the table. Valerie names the nerve every writer knows: it takes some gumption, or courage, to put words on a page and send them outward. That is where the episode settles. It cares most about what happens when writers stop waiting for the right internal weather and start treating confidence as something built after motion. Practical, but loose. The transcript keeps drifting back to ordinary author worries, including tools, platforms, and whether the things writers use will stick around long enough to matter. Even the bio becomes craft fuel. Valerie's aside that every line is a story catches the show's habit of letting professional detail and writer-brain curiosity wander before the official point arrives. Angus fits that looseness easily. Near the end, he turns the compliment back toward writers, saying the power is in words and that words have transformed the world for centuries. The close is earnest without getting stiff. Valerie and Eric take it in with the warmth of one working table passing courage to another.

As heard by us

A practical conversation about confidence, craft, and getting work into the world.

Writer Craft Podcast shifts into a talk about confidence, and Angus Nelson makes the case that waiting for it can become its own trap. Valerie Esan and Eric Mertz keep the exchange anchored in the show's practical, writer-first approach, so the focus stays on motivation, craft,…

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Why you'd press play

You keep waiting for confidence, and this episode calls that the trap.

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