Confidence is not thinking you’re the shit. It is clearly defining your values and principles and sticking to them and maintaining them every day, week, month, and year.
Confidence is not believing you know everything. It is understanding what you know and having the curiosity and wherewithal to learn and seek answers.
Confidence is not going into a job interview and being certain you’re going to ‘nail it.’ It is working your ass off to prepare yourself, figuring out how that company is a good fit for you, and being the best possible self in the interview chair you can be.
The key word above is yourself. Confidence doesn’t come from pretending to be more talented than you are. This causes insecurity. Most of us are insecure because in some way, shape, or form, we are putting on a performance. We are lying about what our abilities and interests are. And when you lie, you can’t help but be insecure because there is always the possibility of being discovered a liar.
If you are unwelcome, judged, laughed at, in the interview…confidence will tell you that those guys are assholes, not that you suck. If you went in prepared, curious, aware, ready to ask questions, then that’s all you could’ve done. And if you’re judged for being the best ‘you’ possible, then there’s something wrong with the judges, not with you.