“When humans hold a higher opinion of our abilities than the facts warrant, that mindset can lead to better results in sports, test taking, romance, our social lives, careers, and more. That’s because confidence is strongly correlated with success. The sweet spot for self-confidence involves operating with a belief that you can do more than the available evidence suggests, but not so much more that it would be crazy.” – Scott Adams from his book, “Loserthink.”
People naturally gravitate towards confidence and often unconsciously defer to those who appear confident. It’s common for most to think that everyone else knows what they are doing, but the truth is that everyone is self-conscious. Think of the old public speaking tip to picture the audience in their underwear to calm your nerves. Realistically they are already figuratively in their underwear in their own heads and you have nothing to fear. They may be temporarily focused on you, but they are predominantly thinking about themselves. It’s important to challenge any negative self-talk, project self-confidence, and push forward.
If it helps, pretend you are an actor playing the part of a confident person undertaking whatever task you’re doing at the time. Get into character and develop an alter ego. Eventually, you and that alter ego will become one and the same over time. For example, former Navy Seal, author, an speaker David Goggins created an alter ego for himself, “Goggins.” Whereas he perceived David Goggins as shy and weak, “Goggins” was a strong superhero-like character he used to transform himself into the man he is today. Similarly, music superstar Beyonce Knowles perceived herself as too timid and reserved – not ideal for a profession requiring a strong stage presence. She created her alter ego of “Sasha Fierce” to overcome her shyness on stage and transform herself into a worldwide star. Both Goggins and Knowles have publicly stated they no longer need these alter egos. As legendary NFL coach, Bill Belichick, states, “A lot of performance is based on confidence…not thinking too much and trying to play at confident game speed.”
Believing in yourself and minimizing self-doubt goes a long way. Doubts cause hesitation, broken train-of-thought, and second guessing yourself. Increased confidence provides many benefits including: improved performance, a positive and optimistic outlook, increased assertiveness, better communication skills, more motivation, increased powers of influence and persuasion, better mental health, and better career advancement opportunities. With so many benefits, it’s important to find a way to increase confidence, as long as it doesn’t cross the line into delusion, which could have negative impacts.
In his book, “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,” Scott frames self-confidence by relating it to lack of embarrassment. He states, “A lack of embarrassment is what allows one to be proactive. It’s what makes a person take on challenges that others write off as too risky. It’s what makes you take the first step before you know what the second step is.” Increased confidence also brings increased resiliency. It is OK to fail and when you’re confident, it’s much easier to quickly bounce back from setbacks.
Read more from Scott Adams on this and many other useful topics in his excellent books below.
- “Loserthink” by Scott Adams (2019)
- “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams (2013)
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