“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
― Norman Vincent Peale
The other day someone told me how they wished they had the same confidence that I had.
I was dumbfounded to say the least.
While there are many words one might use to describe me, to say I’m a man of confidence seems inaccurate. That is to me.
But then I came across this quote, which truly made me stop and think for a moment.
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” – Unknown
People who possess great humility rarely perceive themselves as the rest of the world does. In fact, they’re often plagued by self-doubt, insecurity, and yes, a lack of confidence.
But that’s not the persona people see on any given day. That’s not the impression people are left with after a brief encounter or a long-standing relationship.
It seems we’re inaccurately shaping our own perceptions, not about someone else, but about ourselves. We fail to see our value, our impact, our knowledge as anything meaningful – as anything worthy of adulation.
But if we could just get beyond our own assumptions about ourselves, we might just discover that what others see is very much who we are.
A.A. Milne wrote, “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
I hope that everyone reading this takes a moment to read that quote two or three times.
For those with great humility, I hope you’ll begin to understand how infinitely valuable you are in the lives of those around you. I hope you’ll begin to believe in yourself and have faith in your abilities.
It seems everyone else already does.
