Arrogance or confidence

Although your dictionary probably defines arrogance as having an unrealistic opinion of one's own abilities, in common use the word is often applied more loosely to people who are simply extremely confident.

Misuse of words aside, a little arrogance isn't a bad thing for the self employed to have.

I don't mean that you should be unrealistic. If you lack skills for a project, you should leave it for someone else. But you can't let fear of being labeled as arrogant diminish your self confidence.

I also don't mean that you should look down upon others who lack your skills. That's true arrogance: you may be better at a certain task, may be stronger, smarter, better looking, but so what? There's someone else "better" than you at something, and intrinsic worth is not something you are in a position to judge. You aren't that important.

You need confidence. Lack of confidence robs you of opportunity. Without strong confidence, you won't succeed. Sometimes people will misinterpret your confidence and see it as arrogance. When that happens, do a self check: were you arrogant? Were you being unrealistic? Maybe so, and if so, tone it down. But more likely you've just encountered someone who can't see what you can see, someone who doesn't understand what can be done. If that's the situation, ignore it and keep on the way you were going. Confidence is part of success.

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