Self confidence determines where we go in life. Call it inner-wisdom, self-reliance, or intuition, it's what I consider true North. If I want to pursue a goal or experience, I believe in my ability to do so despite what others may have to say about it. But I'm acutely aware that pride and self-confidence are two different things and that pride can be destructive if I allow it to prevent me from changing my mind in the middle of a pursuit.
This has occured many times in the past- when I decided to move to Kentucky for college, when I left the stability of corporate America in the middle of The Great Recession, and when I started my first businesses in the EdTech space. When I invest time, money, and energy into a goal- and I've told all my friends about it- it makes it that much harder to change direction if I don't like the way I am headed. Pride in this case is my number one enemy. It will drain all of my resources just to prove myself to others- if I let it.
Self-confidence is what enables me to change my mind and not take it as a failure. I try to remember to cultivate self-confidence in times of uncertainty as I rely on it to pull me out of undesirable situations. When I reflect on times that I've been happiest in life, these moments are typically after I've taken a risk or made an important life decision that felt true to my other core values and required a high level of trust in myself to do the right thing for me.