Confidence

Confidence is one of the human faculties, it is very important that we should cultivate it in our life. When we work and lack confidence, we will surely fail to complete our task. Put in other words, we will be distracted and deluded easily. That is very dangerous for life. Don’t worry if we lack confidence, there is a solution to that. We must learn to be confident and make use of it. Learning to be confident is easy; we just bear in our mind that we can do everything on this earth, if we try. Then we just do it, no matter what kind of job it is; big or small.

“Just do it” is a good saying and practice. If we just think and say this, it is useless. But if we turn what we have learned into action, that is great; as is said, “Intelligence does not make humankind better if they don’t put it into practice”. Practice can make perfect. Therefore, we are not easily distracted and deluded; be confident. Concerning this, there is the Chinese story which can give us more understanding. Here is the story;

There was once a pundit who had learned a lot, but lacked confidence. One day he and his teenage son travelled to another town; they rode a donkey. Along the way, one man walked past them and said, “Look at these people, a donkey is small. How can they both ride on it? Oh! Poor donkey!” When the pundit heard that, he dismounted from the donkey and walked behind it. Only his son was on the donkey’s back. They went on for a while, then the pundit was criticised again by another traveller, “Look at this boy, he is dishonoured; he is young, he should walk and let a senior ride the donkey. Well! Dishonoured boy”. When he heard that, he told his son to dismount from the donkey and he himself rode the donkey. His son walked behind.

They moved on for a while, until they met another man. He said, “Look at this man, he leaves the boy to walk. But he himself rides the donkey. He takes advantage of the boy”. When he heard that, he dismounted from the donkey. This time, both the pundit and his son walked; one in front of the donkey and another one behind it. And again, the pundit was criticised, “Look at these people; how stupid they are. If they don’t ride the donkey, why do they bring it with them?” The pundit thought that he should have let the donkey go, because it was useless to bring it with them. At this point, the pundit just lost his donkey because of criticism and lack of confidence.

The moral of the story: If you are not confident, you will fall under criticism and hearsay. So we must learn to be confident and bear in mind, “I can do it”. Confidence is one of the human faculties; it is within us. We must develop it and make use of it. With confidence, life is much easier.