From Doubt to Mastery: Or Why Self-Confidence is Overrated

A modest profit is gained from self-derived words of encouragement:

“You can do it.”

“You are good enough.”

“Believe in yourself.”

These are phrases you’re told to recite when you lack self-confidence. But do they actually provide you with the tools necessary to accomplish your goals?

Self-assurance can yield a momentary belief in oneself to accomplish something that might seem intimidating or daunting. Giving a speech, for example, scares many people, a term referred to as glossophobia. Convincing oneself that they can endure the magnitude of pressure from speaking in front of an audience is one thing, but having the speaking skills to deliver a quality speech is another.

Trying to convince yourself that you are good at something without addressing the more important issue of not possessing the fundamental skills needed to complete the task sufficiently is akin to applying cosmetics — you’re masking a much larger, more important issue. You’re doing yourself a huge disservice by telling yourself you can do something that you are not skilled nor experienced enough to do.

Now, I don’t want to the be the wet blanket, naysayer here.

I believe self-assurance is a necessary ingredient for success. But let’s move on from it, shall we? Continuing one’s search for validation, especially from oneself, spotlight’s a more deeply rooted problem. In a world of consolation prizes and political correctness, we’ve done more than shelter people from the harsh realities of the world, we’ve prevented them from building the resilience needed to deal with such realities.

The quintessential gaze into the mirror while reciting a morning ritual of self-affirmation is but a brief gasp of air from spending a much longer time underwater. Believing in oneself is not a cure for a lack of skill, knowledge, experience, talent, or tenacity. By building the necessary skills needed for a task or endeavor, you inadvertently establish confidence. By becoming thoroughly familiar with your craft, you eliminate doubt.

It will take time. It will take failure. It will take getting your back off of the ground and dusting yourself off. It will take an ostensibly neurotic obsession with your goal. People might not understand you. They might not understand your plight. But they will ultimately see your dexterity.

In mastery there is no doubt. There is only action.