Confidence and doubt; two approaches to overcoming uncertainty
It’s quite easy to see things from the cautionary perspective of foresight.
We all have a story in our head about who we are and what we’re capable of. Assumptions made of a thousand enactments of a thousand different scenarios: what will happen if I do this, or that?
Will you fail? Will you not get the result or reaction you were hoping for? Will you succeed, and get exactly what you wanted?
Confidence, for the most part, is our ability to sway towards the later when making decisions and directing our behavior. It’s what we assume will happen. If you do this and always get the same result, it’s pretty easy to to feel at ease about getting the same result next time.
Confidence, for most things, is a fine thing to have. But a far greater frame of mind, might, in fact, be it’s opposite: Doubt. Not doubt in your abilities, but doubt in your assumptions about those abilities. Doubt in your pre-conceived notions about what you can pull off while doing something you have little or no experience.
Can you befriend everyone in the room? Can you take on that promotion at work? Can you start your own business? Can you travel the world? Can you create the life you truly want?
No one knows for sure. There’s no possible way they can. So don’t go spending your time or money on people who tell you otherwise.
Consider this instead:
Confidence is relying on your ability to “know” based on hindsight.
Doubt (in your assumptions) is your ability to challenge your obscure forebodings based on insufficient foresight.
Whatever you rely on to overcome future obstacles, there’s no way to know with certainty. You simply have to approach each problem with a large degree of not knowing. Relying on faith, not certainty, to overcome one’s challenges.
One choice is to fabricate those beliefs by reflecting on what you’ve achieved in the past. The other, is to challenge those beliefs altogether by considering the possibility of who you might become in the future.
Well worth considering.