There is a big difference between being confident and arrogant. This can be easily confused since there are many similarities. Speaking with authority and being decisive are just a couple examples.
The question becomes: How do you tell if someone is being confident or arrogant?
A confident person cares about others. They are open to new ideas. They don’t judge or make excuses and they are always in learning mode. More importantly, their egos are in check.
An arrogant person, on the other hand, wears their opinions and thoughts loudly. They don’t take the time to understand others’ ideas, and they have a disdain for learning opportunities. They are unwilling to become emotionally vulnerable and usually resort to bullying tactics. While they may not mean to, they often minimize others by over-exerting their own opinions and positions.
All arrogant people seem to share one basic trait: they don’t reflect on their own actions and attitudes. Self-confidence is something that can be learned.
Here’s what self-confident people do:
- They take responsibility
- They crave progress
- They understand the power of saying “no”
- They take care of themselves–their mind, body, and spirit
- They know and act on their “why”
- They ask for help
- They view failure as a learning opportunity
Watching and learning from the actions of others will help you learn more about yourself. This breeds self-confidence.
“There’s a thin line between confidence and arrogance. It’s called humility. Confidence smiles. Arrogance smirks.” —Unknown
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!