The problem with confidence is that you need confidence before you have evidence. Throughout your life, you must do things that test your confidence before you have reliable proof that you will succeed as you expect.
Of course, you want to be fully prepared, highly trained, sitting on a mountain of proof, and feeling confident no matter what happens. How often does it happen that way for you? Some, I hope.
But when you are not sitting on a mountain of proof, when you have no objective evidence, does that mean you are not allowed to feel confident?
No, because confidence is a belief, not a fact. It is emotional, not rational. Your sense of confidence or doubt does not come from facts. It comes from what you believe, what you tell yourself, and what you think is real or likely.
The "evidence" that fuels confidence or doubt is always whatever you believe the strongest. Even when that evidence is invisible to everyone else.
Generating concrete evidence only fuels confidence when it strengthens your belief in yourself, your ability, your path, the possibility of success, and your ability to recover in the case of failure.
ONE FINAL THOUGHT:
Does skillful work require confidence?
Is confidence required before doing hard and skillful work? No, confidence is not necessary. Preferred, but not required.
What is required for hard and skillful work?
Whatever moves you to action. Fear can move you. Love can move you. Guilt, anger, or excitement can move you, too. Any source of energy that overrides your impulse to avoid taking necessary action works just fine.
You can simply believe in yourself, too. Believe in your ability to figure it out, no matter what. Will it always be true? No. But your doubts aren't always valid either, and they still seem to work.
When it comes to confidence, don't worry about what is true. Find your beliefs that fuel confident action and feed them. The rest will sort itself out.
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