JOIN USAt a social gathering, I overheard a young lady, who sounded like a software professional, saying, “During many formal meets, when we are discussing on different strategies of doubling up our company’s turnover, I too, many times, think of umpteen mind-blowing ideas. But I try remaining all clammed up without spewing a single syllable, since my mind gets swamped by a deluge of misgivings.
I dread to think of what if I start bumbling, creating bloopers while speaking, in the process, make a mockery of myself, sounding like a doltish nincompoop. At times, with great difficulty, even when I have tried saying something, I have miserably faltered and floundered, with my talk easily getting interjected and sidetracked by my contending rivals. I know I am being endowed with good cerebral calibre, but not great confidence.”
Well, many times, it so happens that many of us underrate our various capacities/ capabilities. Owing to this, we dillydally, dithering over doing even a small thing. Apparently, even before trying out many things, we’d have called it quits, too!
Once, while I had called on my maternal aunt, she was requesting her daughter to whip up a sweet dish for a family get-together. To this, my cousin, despite being a veteran cook, replied, “I’d get all jittery when preparing for special occasions. I am sure I’d botch up and make a hash of this entire culinary exercise.”
Incidentally, it’s those misgivings, streaks of diffidence, fears of failure/ getting ridiculed, which are the main culprits that can undermine, at times even annihilate the confidence in a person.
To develop confidence and trust in oneself, we should first try nurturing this “so what” attitude. Even when we muck up while doing something, we should learn to say to ourselves ‘so what’. After all, we don’t get death sentence for committing blunders.
Moreover, we should know that no one is perfection personified, and that each one has his/her own set of flaws/ frailties. Hence, everyone keeps bungling up every now and then. This apart, just as we are aware of our shortcomings, it’s also important to be aware of our strong points. Many times some of our talents are dormant in us that need to be tapped and channelised in the right direction.
There are several secret ingredients in the recipe to success - the undaunted spunk, the unflinching mental resolve, the unwavering gung-ho attitude, the unflagging achiever spirit et al. But what reigns supreme amongst these is the unstinted supply of trust in oneself. Once we have this, then maybe, a task, which could be a deadly bugbear to someone, would be a mere doodle for us. And, a task, which can bring shudders to someone, could be seamlessly accomplished by us.