What It Means To Be A Confident Person
Confidence is an important part of finding success and excelling in life. With confidence, you can have the power to be strong and feel prepared, even when conditions are uncertain.
Confidence looks a little different in everyone, but there are some common, recognizable traits that tend to manifest between different confident people.
1| Confident people trust themselves.
A confident person trusts themselves to do well and do the right thing. Even in situations that are unfamiliar to them, confident people approach their actions in a way that feels assured and prepared.
2| Confident people aren’t easily offended or bothered.
It takes quite a bit of prodding and bothering to upset a confident person. Because they trust in themselves to make smart choices, they don’t allow themselves to get bothered easily or offended by other people.
3| Confident people know themselves very well.
Confident people have a good understanding of themselves. This doesn’t mean that they’re perfect people – in fact, reality is quite the contrary. A confident person understands their whole self, meaning they’re very aware of their strengths as well as their weaknesses.
Although they do have weaknesses like any other people, confident folks understand that they aren’t perfect – instead of letting their weaknesses bring them down, they accept that they have them by working toward improving themselves however they can. They also play toward their strengths and use those skills and gifts regularly.
4| Confident people value taking risks.
A confident person has the power to take a risk. They understand that avoiding risks means that they aren’t putting themselves in a position to explore the world and expand their own opportunities. By taking risks, they allow themselves new chances to learn, grow, and gain experiences.
5| Confident people are comfortable with admitting they were wrong or made a mistake.
A truly confident person isn’t afraid to own up to their mistakes. When they are wrong, confident people will readily admit that they made a mistake and then work to correct whatever they can.
Having confidence doesn’t make a person right about everything all the time. Being confident means the person is also comfortable and secure enough in themselves to admit their mistakes openly.
6| Confident people are good at making first impressions.
When meeting a confident person for the first time, you’ll notice that they tend to make a solid and strong first impression. They are often open, welcoming, polite, and direct when speaking to a new person for the first time.
Their introductions are often memorable and striking. Because they trust in themselves and their abilities, confident people are comfortable with presenting themselves to new people for the first time.
7| Confident people are able to make others feel comfortable and at ease.
Confident people are amazing to have in a crisis. Because they have those solid and secure feelings about themselves and their actions, they’re able to establish an overall sense of comfort and ease. This is valuable when a crisis is happening – while other people and events may feel uncertain and shaky, confident people are able to keep the situation under control.
8| Confident people are very observant.
A person’s sense of confidence doesn’t come 100% from within themselves. Often, a confident person bolsters that sense of confidence by being observant.
Confident people pay attention to what’s happening around them. They notice details about people’s personalities, conversational flows, and quirks.
They take note of their surroundings, changes that are happening, and details that are different. With these bits of knowledge they collect from their observations, they can act and speak accordingly, which helps them exude more confidence.
9| Confident people enjoy celebrating wins of all types.
When a confident person does well, they are quick to give themselves kudos for getting the job done right. Whether it’s something large or small, they consider all wins worthy of note. While they aren’t necessarily outright celebratory, they do acknowledge those successes with themselves.
Confident people are also quick to celebrate other people’s wins. They are secure in themselves; when another person does something well, they don’t feel jealous or see the other person’s success as threatening. Instead, they see the success as an overall benefit for everyone and celebrate it accordingly.
10| Confident people know the importance of believing in their abilities to get through challenges.
Confident folks are just like everyone else – they make mistakes, experience hardship, and find themselves suffering from time to time. However, the way they handle these challenges sets them apart from others.
Confident people believe in their abilities to handle challenges. Even if the situation is particularly difficult, they understand the value of powering through to the end and staying the course. On the other side of their hardships are great rewards, such as lessons learned and personal strength.
Why Confidence Is Necessary For Excelling In Life
Confidence is an important component for excelling in life because it manifests itself in so many different ways. In fact, the term “confidence” is a wide umbrella term that actually encompasses eight different specific types of confidence.
While the idea of being confident or showing confidence has the same core message – believing in yourself and your abilities – the way that confidence appears happens in eight main ways:
- Self confidence
- Confidence in your support system.
- Confidence that everything will be OK.
- Confidence that you can handle anything that comes your way.
- Confidence that change can be a good thing.
- Confidence in your ability to be completely self-supportive.
- Confidence that within every struggle, challenge, obstacle, and failure there are important lessons to be learned.
- Confidence to step outside your comfort zone.
These eight types of confidence all require a belief in oneself to happen, but they refer to eight unique ways that belief can manifest for a positive effect in a person’s life.
Having a good understanding of these eight types of confidence can help you better understand where you may need to build more confidence in specific areas of your life. For example, if you struggle to try new things or let yourself be vulnerable in a new experience, you may need to try improving your confidence around #8, stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Some people may wonder why developing strength in all eight areas of confidence is important. After all, if you already feel confident in some of these areas, why is it necessary to try improving the rest of them?
The reason is simple: If you ignore the areas where your confidence is lacking, you’ll lose mobility in those areas. When you aren’t feeling confident in those specific areas, you may not be able to really, fully live your life to the fullest extent in them.
For example, consider #8 from the list again. If you never develop a strong sense of confidence in stepping outside of your comfort zone, you’ll never experience anything new again. Leaving your comfort zone is an important skill; everything new to you is outside of your comfort zone at first because it’s unfamiliar.
It takes confidence in yourself to let yourself try something new, experience that temporary discomfort, and learn more about the new thing. Stepping outside of your comfort zone is the main pathway to personal growth, and if you never develop a sense of confidence in that area of your life, you’ll miss out on a lot of great opportunities.
The same concept applies to the other seven confidence types. If your confidence is weak in any of the eight areas, your overall confidence and ability to really live your life and excel are stifled.
The Different Types Of Confidence
There are eight main types of confidence. Understanding how each one manifests is important for recognizing them all in yourself and others.
Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is your innermost belief in yourself to do the right thing and do your best. A self-confident person approaches new situations with ease – because they trust fully in themselves to make good choices, they can rest assured that they’ll find success in whatever they’re doing.
Confidence In Your Support System
Having confidence in yourself is important, but it’s also crucial to have confidence in your support system. Your personal support system, or group of people you can depend on to be there for you in times of need, are important.
Human beings are highly social creatures who depend on others for comfort, advice, and support. When you’re going through a challenging time, it’s important to know you have a strong support system available to help you.
Confidence That Everything Will Be Ok
Life can throw a lot of unexpected surprises your way. It’s important to have confidence that everything will be OK, even in the most challenging and difficult times. This is a tough type of confidence to master – if you’ve ever faced a tragedy, you know how hard it can be to ever imagine your life returning to some sense of normalcy.
If you’re dealing with the uncertain, your feelings can be even murkier and difficult to understand. However, being confident that everything will be OK is an important confidence trait in people who choose to have positive attitudes.
Confidence That You Can Handle Anything That Comes Your Way
Life can feel like a series of surprises. As you learn and grow as a person, you’ll experience a wide variety of new people, places, and events. This type of confidence tends to grow along with you: The confidence that you can handle anything that comes your way.
No matter how challenging life may become, you know that you can figure out how to handle it and continue moving forward.
Confidence That Change Can Be A Good Thing
Change is frightening but it is necessary for growth. Although all changes aren’t pleasant, it’s important to remember that on the other side of any big change is the opportunity to move forward and continue growing as a person.
People who understand this have confidence that change can be a good thing. Even as they’re experiencing a difficult bout of change, they understand that the other side of that discomfort can lead to new opportunities.
Confidence In Your Ability To Be Completely Self Supportive
Having confidence to support yourself is important. While having a strong support system of other people is important and helpful, they may not always be there for you.
In situations where you don’t have access to a strong support system, it’s vital that you have confidence in your own ability to be self-supportive. Being self-supportive, or able to take care of your own needs independently, is essential for knowing that you’re able to provide for yourself well.
Confidence That Within Every Struggle, Challenge, Obstacle And Failure There Are Important Lessons To Be Learned
When you find yourself struggling, facing a challenge, dealing with an obstacle, or navigating failure, you may find yourself dealing with some tough emotions surrounding that hardship. However, within these hardships are opportunities to make the best of the situations.
It’s important to have confidence that all your struggles and hardships have some value – every time you face a hard time, you leave the situation with some new knowledge you can carry with you as you move forward.
Confidence To Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
Your comfort zone is a pretty great place – that’s why it’s called the “comfort” zone! However, as nice as your personal comfort zone might be, it’s a terrible place for personal growth and development.
If you spend every moment of your life as comfortably as possible, you risk becoming complacent and stagnant, which is never a good thing.
All the magic, all the opportunities, all the rewards and you excelling in life lie outside your comfort zone where risks take place.
The Bottom Line
Confidence is a key component to living a successful life. What it means to be a confident person can manifest in a variety of ways in a person’s life.
Learning how to identify the eight major types of confidence can help you pinpoint how you exude confidence in your own life as well as the areas where you may need to improve your confidence levels.
