Courage and Confidence – a daily delve for the right level

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t ….. you’re right.
Henry Ford

When I reached an age that was a large and interesting number, I decided to travel to Europe for an extended period.  I chose to travel on my own something I hadn’t done since my early 20’s. I had many friends and acquaintances shocked that I was doing this.  There were so many expressions of concern that I started to become nervous.  What do they know that I don’t know? – I kept asking myself. 

I went anyway, and I had the most amazing time.

The most memorable moments were when complete strangers helped me because I was lost or unsure about where to go.  I had a young woman in Paris who walked me a number of blocks to the correct bus stop and sat with me until my bus came.

Her English wasn’t that great, and my French was almost non-existent although I had spent 5 years learning it at school.  It didn’t matter.  We made ourselves understood.  She was a migrant to France from Algeria and I could tell from her body language that she was not happy about being away from her home.  She was finding it challenging to fit into her life in France.

I’m not sure if our encounter touched this young woman’s day and life as much as it did mine.  I like to think it did.

What is it that gives us the courage and confidence to step out of our comfort zone?  Sometimes we don’t have any choice like the young person I met in France or any migrant that is forced to leave their home country.  Sometimes, like my story, we just really want to do something and so we do it.  Courage and confidence overcome the fear and nervousness.

When does courage and confidence turn into foolhardiness or arrogance?  We have seen leaders too timid to make decisions.  At the other end of the scale, there are leaders so full of hubris that they destroy all around them because they believe they are right.

Perhaps courage and confidence need a dial as shown in the image. Sometimes these life ingredients are low because new skills are required, or you are fearing failure, or you lose sight of your own self-worth.

For my trip overseas, I was nervous and worried about what could happen to me.  I built a plan of what I wanted to do and researched the places I was visiting.  I used a travel agent to help me with the travel bookings.  I made certain I had travel insurance and that I had a back-up plan if problems happened.  All this basic planning lessened the nervousness and worry and allowed me to walk onto that plane.

Would it have been foolhardy for me to book a flight to Paris and turn up at the airport without any plans?  For me, it would have been.  For someone else perhaps not if they had done lots of overseas travel.

Knowing where you are on the courage and confidence dial for whatever you are doing is the key.  This will allow you to be authentic about what you are doing as well as seek knowledge and help to make your project happen.

Courage and confidence are important ingredients for life.  Delve deeply every day to find the right level for you.

Just remember to keep the dial below the arrogance zone and in particular the grandiose narcissist level because nobody likes a smart aleck.

Next week some follow up on the Leadership and Power debate.