Confidence is a strange entrepreneurial ingredient. Too much and arrogance can kill your business, too little and your own constant feeling of vulnerability can be a barrier to your success.
Isn't life just a balance of extremes?
Not too arrogant, not too vulnerable ....confident enough, self aware enough...so you can thrive and grow.
Sounds easy but the question is 'what is enough?' How do you know that you are balancing confidence and fear from becoming too extreme?
There are three words that can help you stay balanced:- awareness, openness and belief.
Do you work everyday on your self awareness?
Self awareness is so important to an entrepreneur. If you can learn to become aware of how you feel and how others are reacting to you then you can learn so much about what you need to work upon. Learn to listen to your words, your body language and the effect that you have on those around you. It takes time but often the best way to test confidence vs arrogance is through the reaction of those around you.
Do you remain open to the ideas of others?
Being open does not mean accepting every idea you hear or every idea someone makes to you. Being open means listening, truly listening and thinking about what they are saying. Once you have listened you can then think about it and decide....is this a better idea or would you prefer to put into your mind storage for another time. Learning to be open to assess an idea creates growth, dismissing it because you have made your mind up is foolish.
Do you know what your beliefs are...and what you believe in?
If you have a clear idea of what beliefs are important to you then it makes being open much easier. You can test other ideas against those beliefs. You can use your beliefs to guide your decision making. The beliefs are the framework to your personality...they don't change and they are clear to all around you.