Marcel Deer
What is confidence?
Is it the way a person walks and talks?
Is it how they hold themself or how they act in front of others?
These might be the signs that help us recognize when a person is confident, but confidence itself comes from deep inside.
When someone is genuinely confident, they trust themself and their abilities. In fact, confidence comes from the Latin word fidere, which means trust.
So, a confident person will trust their ability to do things like do good work and make good moral decisions. They also accept themself and feel a sense of control over their life.
How’s your self-confidence?
If you share these 11 personality traits of a truly confident person, you’re doing great!
1) They’re persistent.
Confident people don’t give up easily.
And why should they?
Think of people like Martin Luther King, Jr. or Malala Yousafzai. These are two people who stood up to injustice again and again despite incredible adversity.
Do you think either would be able to do so if they weren’t truly confident?
Confidence like this is like wind in your sails. No matter which course you take, you have this feeling behind you that pushes you along.
You believe in the truth of your convictions, and no matter what anyone else says or does, you’re going to keep moving forward and never give up.
2) They’re calm.
Confident people don’t get weighed down by stress and worry because they know they’ll be able to handle what gets thrown at them.
This is the great power of confidence, and that’s why we admire it so much and love to see it in media depictions and on the silver screen. Cool people are always confident because confidence makes people cool.
Self-assured people don’t fight against the same anxieties the rest of us do because of that unwavering faith in themselves that they carry.
Think about it.
When everything is going haywire, the people who can stay calm, cool, and collected are those who have faith in their ability to handle things and not mess everything up.
I can only dream of being that cool.
3) They’re assertive.
A confident person is in touch with what they want and goes after it.
This doesn’t mean that they’re aggressive or pushy, however. In fact, they don’t always feel the need to push their own agendas, while insecure people might.
Instead, they know when to assert themself and when to ease off and let others have things their way.
They operate on that age-old principle: don’t ask, don’t get.
They’re able to step forward and ask for what they need when they feel they have to, while other people might shrink back and feel intimidated.
This is why confidence is so important in great leaders. They need to be able to assert themselves and work against resistance in order to get things done, and that’s something we normally admire.
4) They’re good decision-makers.
People who lack confidence can really balk at making decisions.
They worry that they’ll make the wrong choice. They fret over details and stress about not having enough information or expertise.
They generally dread big decisions.
But confident people don’t, or at least not most of the time.
When a person is truly confident, they trust their own abilities and knowledge.
They’re able to say to themself, “Based on the information I have, the best choice to make is X,” and then act on this.
If they need more information, they’ll ask for it or go looking for it, but they also make decisions based on what they have on hand in case they don’t find out anything more.
Sometimes, though, they really aren’t qualified to make a decision. When that happens, they don’t pretend they know what they’re doing.
Instead, they offer the decision-making power to someone with more expertise, or they ask for help to make the decision.
5) They’re flexible.
While many confident people can also touch their toes, that’s just a coincidence.
I’m thinking about a different type of flexibility here.
It seems like the less confident a person is, the more rigid and set in their ways they become.
Why is flexibility associated with self-confidence?
It’s likely because of the ability to trust and believe in themselves that confident people have.
They’ll make plans, but when they don’t work out, they don’t worry too much because they’re able to change and adapt to what comes next.
On the other hand, someone who doesn’t believe in themself will make plans and feel they have to be followed to the letter. If the plans ever start to change or fall apart, they don’t feel they’re able to adapt and know what to do.
6) They’re bold.
Confident people will take chances and sometimes jump right into things with both feet.
Why?
Because they feel quite sure that no matter where they leap, they’ll land on their feet and hit the ground running.
This enables them to take measured risks – “measured” being the operative word here.
Confident people may seem to take wild chances when viewed by people who don’t know them.
I’ll bring up the example of Alex Honnold here, the world’s most famous (living!) free climber.
Yes, he climbs incredible routes… without ropes!
To the outsider, this might seem patently insane. However, they don’t know the whole story.
Honnold actually spends months practicing the routes using ropes and safety gear until he feels ready to free solo them. He trains on them constantly and memorizes every move.
He also says he would never climb anything if he felt scared or unsure about it.
That’s the sort of measured risk-taking and boldness that truly confident people display.
7) They’re not afraid of confrontation and conflict.
A truly confident person is going to be able to stand up to others when they need to.
If they have to confront someone else, they don’t wring their hands and sweat about what’s to come. They feel ready to defend their actions and points of view because they really believe in themself.
This doesn’t at all mean that they love conflict or go looking for it. Why would they?
They do, however, trust their ability to rise to any challenge that comes their way.
8) They’re open-minded
Don’t agree with them?
That’s fine – they can accept it because they’re confident in their own views and opinions.
But things go even deeper.
A truly confident person is also sure of their ability to perceive better ideas when they encounter them. That makes them open to new ideas that could change their minds.
So they don’t mind when others disagree with them or challenge their ideas.
They’re confident enough to know that they’re more than just the opinions they hold, and they’re happy to learn about new things and listen to new views.
9) They’re courageous.
Truly confident people are willing to put themselves out there.
They’ll try new things and meet new people because they’ve got a solid foundation to lean on.
This helps them get out of their comfort zone and try out new things without being blocked by a fear of failure. They know they can try something and fail at first without being failures themselves.
They have the courage to speak up and say the things they believe in. This includes standing up for their own right and the rights of others.
If you want to know what a hero is made of, confidence is one of the main ingredients!
10) They can express vulnerability.
When someone is confident, they’re not afraid to be themself and show all sides of themself.
This means they don’t always have to look strong and commanding. They can also express vulnerability, showing others how they feel and how they can be or have been hurt.
They know that we all have soft sides, and this actually makes us strong, not weak.
11) They know when to let go.
A confident person is able to recognize when a project is finished and submit their work.
They know it might not be perfect, but it’s also the best they can produce with the constraints on them at the time.
They’re able to accept that and not get bogged down in the details.
In fact, that’s another aspect of being able to let go.
A truly confident person is able to recognize things that are out of their control and let them go.
They accept the things they can’t change and have no power over, while others will rail against these exterior forces to no avail. They’ll complain, struggle, and fight even though they will do nothing except stress themselves out.
Are you truly confident?
If you are, you’ll recognize these 11 personality traits of a truly confident person when you look at yourself in the mirror.
And if you don’t recognize all of them, that should give you some goals to work towards because you can definitely learn to build confidence and increase your faith in yourself.
