There’s a saying that confidence breeds success.
I actually wonder if it’s the other way around…that success breeds confidence (which breeds more success).
Let’s break it down.
Confidence is having belief in your abilities. Being sure of yourself.
Breed is to produce, cause or be the source of.
Success is the favorable outcome of something attempted. HINT: In business, that’s called a sale.
So ‘confidence breeds success’ means:
Being sure that you can produce a favorable outcome of something you attempt.
That’s great…but what happens when you don’t have a favorable outcome but you thought you would? Does that mean you’re not successful or that you were wrong to be confident?
I’ve been confident about my ability in things before but wasn’t successful at it.
What if we flip this around:
Success breeds confidence (which breeds more success).
That would sound like:
A favorable outcome of something you attempt is the source of belief in your own abilities… which produces more favorable outcomes.
I’ll tell you from my own experience of when I started my first business 9 years ago that although I had confidence-building successes to build upon from my corporate career, TRUE confidence didn’t come until I had a consistent stream of successes in my new business…and then, because I was so confident in my abilities… that attracted even more clients and success.
I want to know what you think. Post your comments on your perspective on whether confidence breeds success or does success breed confidence (which breeds more success)?
