Inner confidence, do you have it?

Inner confidence, do you have it?

  • I possess extreme confidence founded in arrogance and superiority.

  • I possess extreme confidence founded in a rational self-worth.

  • I possess some confidence, but it’s often weak, limited and sometimes self-defeating.

  • I have zero self confidence trending sometimes into the negative.

  • Confidence? I want to crawl into a big hole forever and escape the haters.


Results are only viewable after voting.

bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
2
81
IMO, true confidence is an inner strength derived from honest contemplation with oneself. Only afterwards can one begin to accentuate strengths and eliminate weaknesses will full assertion, in efforts to write your own user's manual -- not to say that 'fake it till you make it' confidence is wrong either.

I gain nothing from sabotaging myself with comparisons to others; instead all of my inner strength is derived from an eternal competition with myself.

So anyway, do you possess inner confidence and does it have any tangible merit in your life and/or the world?
 

child of wonder

Diamond Member
Aug 31, 2006
8,307
176
106
Confidence in my technical abilities? Hell yes.
Confidence in reasoning and problem solving? Big time.
Confidence when talking to clients and peers? Yep.
Confidence in social situations? Nope.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,957
11,288
126
Neutral. I don't give a shit. I try to do, and if I fuck it up, oh well. Where does that fall on the spectrum?
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
22,497
6,582
136
Confidence is trusting yourself. It's knowing that you can rise to any situation or need. It's faith in your own abilities and knowledge.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
118
116
Zero confidence. Assume I am the worst at everything and I'm usually right.

KT
 

RichUK

Lifer
Feb 14, 2005
10,341
678
126
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,504
7,709
136
Depends on how much sleep I get the night before.

Srs.
 

angminas

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2006
3,331
26
91
I get my confidence from four main sources. I didn't proofread this for hours before posting, so don't be dicks if it's not perfect.

1. I have experience and a track record of success which gives me a rational basis for not thinking I'm stupid or worthless. i.e. I do a good job, so I have reason to believe that I do a good job.

2. I try really, REALLY hard to be a good person, and I have for a very long time. I seek out wisdom wherever I can find it, and I change myself when I believe I am wrong. I also survived decades of abuse. I've already been given a lifetime's worth of blame which I did not earn. I figure that, even when I do screw up, I'm already paid ahead on that bill, and I don't take it too hard. I'll beat myself up for a bit, but then I add the lesson to the totality of who I am and move on. Anybody who really thinks I need to be bitched at doesn't know me and therefore is in no position to judge me.

3. People are fucking stupid. Even the greatest people make mistakes all day, every day. I don't consider myself exceedingly wise, but you don't have to be very wise to often be the wisest person in the room. My thoughts may not be the best, but they're often a lot saner and more accurate than those of the people around me, so I don't feel bad taking my own advice over that of the vast majority of people I've ever met. Any time I start to doubt my judgement, listening to advice from people at work usually cures that right up in a massive hurry. (I'm talking about advice about life in general, not specific stuff like which motherboard to put in my bagel toaster or whether I should put all my oxygen sensors into a Roth IRA. I know enough to listen to a pro on certain issues.)

4. The universe seems to me to be created. If so, whoever created it must have much greater knowledge and power than I do. This makes me feel like this person just might have some kind of plan for me, which could be taken as validation of one's existence. ("But Hitler existed too!11!!!12" Yeah, I know, and there's an answer to that, but I'm not going to write a dissertation about this tonight. If you can't handle that, then maybe you don't have inner confidence.) If I was created by a God, then that God knows that I have my limitations and am completely incapable of getting anywhere near perfection, no matter how hard I try. I don't feel that my creator blames me for being the work of his hands.

5. I'm a badass.