About Me

Rebel without a cause!

Monday, June 19, 2006

Cocky or Confident

Edit: I came across this article recently, and I think it gives you a short bug good picture of the difference between being cocky and confident.
Do you come across as confident? Are you sure?

There is a very thin line between being confident of yourself and being cocky. But the funny thing is while you can know when you are confident, you usually are not aware that you are being cocky. Because if you knew, then you will not be.

So being cocky is all about other's perception of you and ofcourse wether deliver what you promise. I am reminded of this with the coverage of the US World cup soccer team. Americans are really cocky/confident people. Their can-do attitude is certainly admirable. Ofcourse sometimes they seem a bitarrogant but if you are cocky about yourself but are willing to appreciate someone else too then that seems to be a good trait.

Many times the indian (and other old world country) mentality is a bit of false modesty and it is also an attempt trying to conform to the crowd. I thought the same way too sometimes back and didnt like what i considered were show-offs. But now I have changed my mind and think such people make life interesting by breaking out of the mould of everyone. The motive for this might be simple, just to be noticed but it might also sometimes be a genuine need to see a change and as a revolt.

So I am still thinking in my head, where does confindence end and cockiness start. Seems to be a tough question because it must be subjective. But one thing I have learnt that ultimately it doesnt matter what others think, what matter is what you think and feel.

Better to be cocky and make mistakes because the biggest mistake is not making mistakes at all by playing safe. Life is hard but it is short and you have to make all the mistakes that you can. I wont mind if some thing goes my way occasionally, though.

6 comments:

Rose said...

"it doesnt matter what others think, what matter is what you think and feel."

U said it all...

..Me

Prash said...

Interesting point ...Never thought in this angle...Thanks for the difference of being cocky and being confident...I got confused at the end and had to read your post from the begining again. *smile*

Mosilager said...

Maybe it has more to do with honesty and being able to speak your mind. I think Americans appreciate it if you state your abilities vs. Asia or England where we culturally understate them. I have this hypothesis that it has to do with the number of people living together - if you have a higher concentration of people living together then you have to curb yourself more to avoid conflict. Any psychologists out there willing to test this?

milieu said...

@ Rose
no arguing with that..

@ Prash
Pardon, Monsieur...even my writing has to be more clearer..its not all your faults. Merci boku

@ Mosilager
Yeah, I think that is a valid point. I do think that our culture must have made some impact on the collective personality and taught us to be more modest.

Prash said...

*sourire*

(sourire = smile in French)

Anonymous said...

"it doesnt matter what others think, what matter is what you think and feel."

I have to disagree with that remark. In an ideal world maybe that would be the case, but in a professional environment where you actions affect the group dynamic, it does matter how you are perceived by others. But I do agree that you are aware of when when you are being confident versus being cocky.