Here you will learn Self Confidence Tip, Develop Self Confidence, Increase Self Confidence
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83.
Every man should
learn to stand firmly upon his own feet. As himself he may become great; as an
imitator he will amount to little. "Intellectual intrepidity," says Samuel
Smiles "is one of the vital conditions of independence and self-reliance in
character. A man must have the courage to be himself, and not the shadow or the
echo of another. He must exercise his own powers, think his own thoughts, and
speak his own sentiments. He must elaborate his own opinions, and form his own
convictions. It has been said that he who dare not form an opinion must be a
coward; he who will not, must be an idler; he who can not, must be a fool."
The timid man should take inspiration from the experience of many of the world's
greatest orators and actors. For the most part they at first were
self-conscious men. Demosthenes, Cicero, Curran, Chalmers, Erskine, Pitt,
Gladstone, Disraeli, Mirabeau, Patrick Henry, Clay, Gough, Beecher, Salvini,
Henry Irving, Richard Mansfield, and many others were subject to "stage-fright."
But this sensitiveness of nature, when at last controlled and intelligently
directed, enabled them to reach a foremost place among distinguished men. It is
said of Rufus Choate, the great lawyer, that before an important address to a
jury he looked as nervous and wretched as a criminal about to be hanged.
Probably every public speaker who has amounted to anything could testify to this
initial feeling of nervousness or anxiety, but the cure lies in becoming so
absorbed in one's subject, or the welfare of others, as to forget one's self.
Self-consciousness may arise from self conceit. The victim says to himself: "
What impression am I making?" "Do I look well?" "What are they thinking and
saying about me?" On the other hand, it may be due to extreme humility. Such a
man says inwardly: "I am not equal to this," "I lack so many things," "If I had
only been born right," "My father was bashful before me," "I shall surely fail."
Natural diffidence need not necessarily be a stumbling-block to any man. It is
a safeguard against rashness, familiarity, and over-confidence.
The evil of extreme self-consciousness is that it makes a man do so many things
he does not wish to do. It changes his line of conduct a hundred times a day,
makes him say "yes" when he would rather say "no," and, in short, robs him of
his power and individuality.
When Thackeray said that sensitiveness was a great mistake in a public man, he
doubtless meant that super sensitiveness by which a man loses initiative,
self-reliance, and independence. A self-conscious man must sooner or later rid
himself of this fault if he is to be preeminently successful. To this end the
student's attention is next directed to the power of right thinking.
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