"A confident person doesn't tell you that they're confident."
This is going to be a tricky article to write because the last thing I want to do is come across as arrogant, or as though I know everything. How do I show you my confidence without being arrogant? Or better yet, what is confidence and how is it not arrogance?
Dictionary.com defines arrogance as "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride". Confidence on the other hand is "belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence". Some mistake arrogance for confidence and vice versa so if you want to be sure that you're always confident and not arrogant, be humble. Therefore the fine line between confidence and arrogance is humility, "the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank".
I like to define confidence in terms of behavior and my friends have often heard me say that "a confident person doesn't tell you that they're confident". The confident person simply does what they’re confident at doing and demonstrates their abilities without exerting their pride upon you through claims or exaggerations. It's those who lack confidence that feel compelled to tell you how great they are or how well they can perform.
In most contexts arrogance is not a favorable attribute or quality in a person. There can be, however, a time and reason to use arrogance as a tool. The best example of this is Mohammed Ali. Before each fight he would boast to everyone how he was the greatest fighter of all time, the greatest fighter in the whole world even. And then he'd take his gloves to the ring and prove it. He regularly used arrogance as a tool to boost his and everyone else's confidence in himself (while intimidating some opponents). In certain cases it may be appropriate to use a little bit of arrogance to help you push through to a level of confidence. But remember to add humility back into your approach if you want to be confident and not simply arrogant.
Thanks for reading,
Richard Walker
