Tickling the Trees...

Hi Duane,

Sorry I've gotten a bit behind in my posts on this thread.... Sometimes my mind gets so focused and I go off on all kinds of tangents in this forum.... :)

> Excellent Topic! Let's Talk about
> Confidence! Hmmm. First a question. In your
> post you wrote that the more
> "Knowledgeable" you are, the more
> confident you "Feel".

> I'm curious as to how you are DEFINING the
> word knowledgeable? I'm getting confused
> between "knowledge" and the word
> "COMPETENCE" (not in the
> dictionary definition, just in how you are
> describing it here)

> I could be "knowledgeable"
> (depending on your definition) about an
> area....like MAILORDER/Marketing. After
> READING tons of books, I could 'RATTLE OFF
> definitions, and even give advice on
> strategies of what to do (like College
> teachers). In this case I am an ACADEMIC
> that could probably teach a good
> class...HOWEVER give me a mailorder project
> and make it PROFITABLE in the REAL WORLD,
> and see how "under CONFIDENT" I
> feel.

Hmmm.... I guess, for me, the more knowledge I have, the more competent I feel.... However, experience adds to that feeling of competence even more....

I tend to do things the "long way" in a sense (but the "short way" in another sense) -- I immerse myself in studying it, looking for the "keys" to success in that area. Sometimes I seem to find these "keys" quickly, sometimes it takes longer....

I've found business (in general) to be a tricky area. For example, there are people who succeed in business, who clearly don't know precisely WHY they succeeded! When they try to repeat their success, they fail.... There are many people who have written business books who have really only had one success, and who, when they have tried to repeat that success, have failed....

I got misled by these books in the beginning! A large number of books are written by people like this.... Their intentions in writing are good, but they haven't really understood the "keys" themselves, but it seems they just happened to get lucky....

But then, there are those who have repeat successes, the "serial entrepreneurs." I figure these people are more likely to know what they are doing right!

Another group to study, I've realized recently, are *cultural* groups which have had a lot of business success. I recently bought the book "The Jewish Phenomenon" by Steven Silbiger -- looking through it, it looks like a great book (but I haven't read it yet). There have been lots of Jewish successes in business (as well as in science and entertainment, for example), and it's good to learn why that is, so we can use the same approach too.

I guess this is a long way of saying that I'm always studying, always trying to learn from other people's successes (and their mistakes), which I think helps me get a "short cut" to success, no matter what it is that I try to do. I'm a very intense researcher, and I believe in total immersion in the topic I'm focusing on.

> For years I would state that In order to
> feel confident, I must establish a certain
> level of COMPETENCE in an area. The more
> COMPETENT (skillful) the more Confident I
> feel in my ability.

Maybe this is so.... I guess I already feel I am competent in physics, for example. I've never really had much doubt about my own *potential* competence regarding almost anything.... I like to think of it as supreme confidence that I will *eventually* succeed (though some have told me that it sounds more like arrogance!).

> From reading Tony Robbins, he had a
> different Viewpoint to both of us. For him,
> he would just "PUT HIMSELF INTO A
> CONFIDENT STATE FIRST ...THEN HE WOULD
> CONFIDENTLY ACHIEVE
> ...KNOWLEDGE/COMPETENCE." He would
> argue that confidence is nothing more than a
> state which we can manipulate by Acting AS
> IF we were confident. For him he could
> confidently achieve ANYTHING...

> Tony's viewpoint is in amazing contrast to
> yours and mine....

Yes, I'm interested in learning about this point of view too!

> Food for thought :-> Duane

Thanks Duane.... I really enjoyed your post! :)

- Dien