I’m not convinced that a person can “instill” confidence within himself. The very word instill means to enter in or to impart. At the same time, I have a hard time believing that people exist who are totally void of confidence.
The abused, the traumatized, the shy person who displays a total lack of confidence still has an attribute that is truly his own. I mean, that, there is an ounce of recognition in our lives of some thing that we personally do that produces excellence. That’s a narrow portrait, of course, but when we build on a gift, we build our confidence even if it is only in one small area of our lives.
As I understand the topic, there is a larger question here of how we perceive our individual world and our confidence/worth as connected to it.
I’ve had an interesting and sometimes exciting career. I recently retired and am loving it so far. I write. I have purpose and a fire inside that causes me to take risks with my gift of writing. It’s not as great a gift as others have. I know that full well and have the knowledge to recognize better writers. But this gift is mine.
Having purpose in one’s life is a step to building confidence. We bring our gifts to the table and we use them or place them there to die.
In addition to purpose, we need vision in our lives. At least I do. What good is the gift and all the confidence in the world if we don’t know where it will yield the best return? I don’t mean money, although that works for some. I mean, how does my gift and my vision line up with my purpose?
Life is hectic. There is little time to think through all of the elements that shape our lives. Long term, I think it is vital to think these things through.
And, what, you ask, has that got to do with instilling confidence? The fire inside that moves us along our life’s path is the very thing that can instill the confidence in us. We don’t even have to ponder it or notice it. It is part of who we are. Confidence is born from that fire.
