Overconfidence Bias

Beware of people that look overconfident about a business idea, plan or whatever it might be. Even though a certain level of confidence is healthy for our mind and for the execution of our ideas and daily tasks, overconfidence can kill your dreams quickly. There are generally 2 reasons for people to be overconfident. First, they don’t have a clue of what is necessary to achieve what they set out or second they have studied and research the topic extensively and are perfectly comfortable with the execution. Now, because the latter reason is rare, you should always be aware of individuals who act with excessive confidence. Overconfidence will lead to ignoring possible issues and circumstances that may arise and can also lead to a positivity bias where the individual ignores a possible negative outcome. It is easy to be swayed by other people’s confidence but what is more important is to recognise the source of that confidence. Does it come from careful preparation or wishful thinking?