People can sometimes confuse a confident person from an arrogant person.
You see, both of these characters can be loud and command the attention of a room.
But there is a difference between these two types of people.
These are the core things that separate confident people from those that are arrogant!
1) Confident people are open to other people’s ideas
A key difference between confident and arrogant people is that confident people are receptive to other people’s ideas.
If someone shares an idea, a confident person will be willing to hear it.
Simply put, they do not shut down other people!
Instead, confident people are open to hearing what another person has to say about something… And they won’t take offense by what’s said!
You see, as confident people are fundamentally secure in themselves, they’re able to hear other people’s ideas and thoughts without feeling like they’re being criticized or put down.
Confident people don’t find themselves feeling as though they’re not good enough.
In other words, they’re not closed off to the fact that other people might have an idea that is better than theirs…
…Rather, they’re willing to hear it and learn!
You see, unlike arrogance, confidence comes from a place of self-worth where people believe in themselves and their abilities.
Confident people don’t need any external validation:
As they feel good enough about themselves from within, they don’t seek other people to validate them, and they don’t feel bad when someone offers them an idea or a suggestion.
2) Confident people have no problem listening
Going hand-in-hand with being open to ideas is not having a problem listening.
You’ll often find that truly confident people are able to listen to all that another person has to say…
…Without thinking about what they need to say next.
This is because confident people don’t feel the need to constantly be the center of attention and get one up on the next person.
Instead, they’re able to be fully present and listen to what someone else has to say.
What’s more, if someone is talking about something they’ve achieved, they’ll be able to celebrate what that person has done….
…And they won’t be thinking about themselves and how they need to talk about their achievement and all that they’ve been doing.
3) Arrogant people won’t shine a light on others’ achievements
You can bet that you won’t see (or hear) an arrogant person celebrating others…
…At least, they won’t be doing it in a way that’s sincere and truly celebratory.
You see, arrogant people are not the type to shine a light on other people’s achievements.
Rather, they are the ones that would like to receive praise – even if they didn’t do the work to deserve it.
Unfortunately, if you have an arrogant person in the workplace, don’t be surprised if they take all of the credit for a project you were working on together.
Simply put, arrogant people have a hard time being truly happy for another person’s successes as it makes them feel as though they’re not good enough.
As they would rather be the ones getting a pat on the back, they’ll steal the credit when it’s not even theirs!
4) Confident people show composure
A massive difference between confident and arrogant people is that confident people show composure.
In its simplest terms, composure is the ability to deal with situations well and to keep a cool head even when things get really hot.
Even if a situation is really complex, a confident person will just get on with what’s required and trust that it will work out in the way it needs to – so long as they’ve put the work in.
They will have full confidence in their ability and rest assured after taking the necessary steps.
On the other hand, an arrogant person will just assume that things will work out without putting the work in.
They’ll think: why would something go wrong even if they haven’t put the measures in place to ensure it doesn’t!
You see, arrogant people think the world owes them something…
…And eventually, it does come back to bite them!
5) Arrogant people use condescending language
Arrogant people have a horrible trait that separates them from confident people:
These folks use condescending language.
By this, I mean they use language that puts other people down.
For instance, they might tell others that they’re an annoying or irritating person because they’re exuding a sense of confidence…
…You see, their reason for doing this is to keep other people feeling small and to make themselves feel better about themselves.
Unfortunately, arrogant people will go out of their way to put other people down.
You will never ever find a confident person doing this, as they have no reason to do so!
6) Body language says a lot
You can tell an arrogant person from a confident one through body language.
It’s true that body language says a lot. In fact, it says more than we think!
Now, body language is quite intuitive…
…So while there can be a manual for the things to look out for, whether someone is arrogant or not will be in the subtleties.
For instance, if someone flicks their hand away in a way that says ‘shoo’, go away, then you can be pretty sure that they’re an arrogant type.
Worse, if they put their finger up to stop you from talking then you can take it as a sure sign of arrogance.
Truth is, a confident person would never gesture in a rude way to another person.
They have no need for doing this!
On the other hand, arrogant people use their body language to gesture in a rude way to assert power and dominance.
In my experience, it pays to watch out for the subtleties that ultimately do say a lot!
7) Confident people own their mistakes
Now, we all make mistakes…
…That’s what unifies us as human beings (amongst other things!)
But have you noticed that there are some people who just seem unable to actually own their mistakes?
As in, they never ever seem to be the ones to have got something wrong.
Well, these are the arrogant people amongst us!
You see, arrogant people go through life believing that they’re never wrong and they’re not accountable for their behavior.
It gets pretty tiring hanging around with arrogant people after a while, as it’s near impossible to get through to them.
On the other hand, confident people are able to put their hands up and say they made a mistake and got something wrong.
They’re comfortable accepting their role in a situation!
8) Arrogant people don’t accept their weaknesses
Alongside making mistakes, us humans also all have weaknesses.
As much as we all have strengths and things that we excel at, we also have things we’re not so good at.
But this isn’t what arrogant people like to hear.
Oh no… You see, these folks don’t believe they have any weaknesses.
Instead, they believe that they are purely strengths.
They don’t see any sign of weakness within themselves… And couldn’t possibly accept the idea if someone else was to point one out!
Simply put, they’re the sort of people who will have a hard time trying to include a weakness on a job application…
…And they’ll find themselves turning weaknesses into strengths.
Now, while this might sound like a positive thing objectively, it isn’t a positive thing when someone just consistently sees everything they do as a strength.
Sometimes it’s humbling to accept that we have weaknesses… And to see areas for growth!
Can you guess what I’m going to say next?
Yep, this is what confident people are like.
9) Confident people don’t take themselves too seriously
A core difference between confident and arrogant people is that confident folk don’t take themselves too seriously.
They can see the light side of life, and they can laugh at themselves!
What’s more, they don’t feel hyper-sensitive about doing this!
You see, as confident people feel good about themselves and they have a strong sense of self, they don’t feel easily offended.
This is the opposite of arrogant people!
You can bet you won’t find an arrogant person laughing at themselves.
Instead, they’ll be on high alert and defending themselves if they think anyone is poking fun at them.
In fact, they’ll go to the opposite extreme, where they feel the need to make a point about why people shouldn’t be laughing…
…And they’ll likely make a scene!
Simply put, these folks are not fun to be around!
10) Arrogant people act like they’re better than others
By now, this one won’t come as a surprise.
A massive difference between confidence and arrogance is that arrogant people fundamentally act like they are better than others.
This is because they believe they are better than others!
To protect their fragile self-esteem, arrogant people kid themselves into believing that they are much better than others…
…Be it more successful, better looking, or just generally beating them in life.
The worst part is that arrogant people want others to feel this energy.
Truth is, they want people to feel like they’re not as good as them and to put them on a pedestal.
I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again: these people are not nice to be around!