The Power Of Confidence

Jude Magnotti ‘26
EE Editor-In-Chief

Confidence. Pure Confidence. Incredibly elusive and equally powerful, confidence is something that each of us desires, yet so few of us actually manage to obtain.

Everything we do in life, whether we know it or not, ties directly back to our need for confidence. Confidence in our bodies, confidence in our skills, confidence in our very ability to succeed. Without it, a life is stranded before it even gets off the ground. After all, no matter how many skills you have, no matter how many obstacles stand in your way, you will never succeed if you can not learn to believe in YOURSELF first.

Nevertheless, confidence is something that is easily spoken of but not so easily obtained. It may sound easy to boldly walk up to your boss and ask for that promotion, but it is a whole different world actually going through with it.

It depends on your ability to perform in the moment and even more on being able to keep your nerves under pressure. Having that intrinsic belief in yourself not only allows you to present yourself the way you want to other people, but it can also persuade others to do what you want.

Confidence doesn’t just help with people, though; it helps you win against your greatest enemy: yourself. The biggest enemy we face in our lives is ourselves. After all, no one has greater sway over our actions or our opinions. But when the doubts start to creep in and we start questioning ourselves, that’s when our own opinions can become detrimental to our success. With confidence, not only can you hold a consistent belief in yourself while pushing out your doubts, you can also survive when times do get rough and you have reason to doubt yourself.

However, as history has shown time and time again, there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Those who walk this line may experience great triumphs, but they may also push away the people closest to them and lose more than they could ever have imagined. This is the dangerous side of confidence. While it’s important to believe in yourself, when that belief inflates into ego, that’s when your boldness can suddenly turn to blindness.

Still, there is no risk walking a tight rope laid flat on the floor. Masters of confidence know when to present it while not letting their ego take over or blind them. Even if you defeat your doubts, you have to be careful to not give in to your aspirations and desires to the point where you become self centered and selfish. Many of the people with the largest confidence have the most fragile egos and this can, more often than not, lead to conflict.

Unfortunately, no matter how good you may feel about yourself, we will all have our doubts eventually. The trick is pushing them to the side while also keeping yourself humble along the way.

Confidence doesn’t necessarily have to be real. More often than not, fake confidence works just as well as real confidence, given that most people can’t tell the difference. If you’ve ever heard the expression, “fake it till you make it” you know that in the right situations even a false belief in yourself can lead you to your desired outcome. While it is important not to constantly be faking and build up real confidence over time, more often than not, bluffing can be the right move as long as it’s used well and in the right situations.

Just like poker, life is a game of reading people, and it all comes down to who has more belief in themselves. Not all of us can look like Ryan Gosling, not all of us can sing like Celine Dion. However, if we play our cards right, we can utilize the same confidence as if we were them.

Not everyone will believe you, and many times you won’t even believe yourself, but you can’t take risks without confidence, and you can’t have success without risks. At the end of your day, it’s up to you to determine your own future, and with the power of confidence by your side, you can achieve just about anything you dream of. Stay humble. Work hard. And most importantly, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!