Confidence is relative, expanding and accelerating.

A few months ago, I was walking back to my flat with a few groceries. Impatient to taste that sweet cantaloupe I had picked up. Also, very much ready to put down the heavy bag.

As I often do, I was listening to a podcast.

This time, it was an episode of Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal. He was chatting with Bobby Seagull, about confidence. And he asked a very interesting question: is self-confidence relative or general?

In other words, is self-confidence linked with a specific domain, or is it something you can work on generally speaking?

Are you confident in relation to the situation you are in, or do you always have the same level of self-confidence?

Interesting question right?

So I thought about it.

And here’s what I picture confidence to be like.

Self-confidence is similar to the universe. (Source : NASA, Theophilus Britt Griswold — WMAP Science Team)

I believe confidence to be relative, but expanding, and accelerating.

Let me explain.

Self-confidence is always relative.

Because the amount of confidence you have depends on your upbringing, your experiences, and your knowledge. So you are often confident or not confident in certain situations more than others.

You might be a champion at tennis. But absolutely suck at speaking in public.

And so you feel confident smashing balls. But not so giving a speech.

But self-confidence is also expanding.

Because it bleeds into other parts of your life. Your confidence in playing tennis might make you a better tennis table player than others.

Even if you have never played it before.

Finally, and this is where it gets interesting, self-confidence is accelerating.

The more you become confident, the more it bleeds, the easier it becomes to feel confident. The more areas of your life become impacted by your initial confidence. And so, your universe of self-confidence expands more rapidly.

Why does it matter?

It matters because self-confidence puts you in charge of your life, and makes you an actor of the world. Without self-confidence, you might not be able to even take a chance at your dreams. And I think more people should.

This model is an extra incentive to raise your overall level of self-confidence. And it even tells how to do it. By becoming confident in specific areas of your life.

What do you think? How do you picture self-confidence? And how does that impact your life?

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