Question-Week ending Sunday 03/21/04:
With relation to your confidence level as described in our pre-poll commentary, please choose from our list the skill, activity or interest you feel most confident about. Please read our Pre-Poll Commentary before taking this poll.
Pre-Poll Commentary:
Our eighth keyword in our poll series on moods and emotions is CONFIDENCE. Like most words, confidence has many meanings. However, for the purpose of this poll we will describe the meaning of CONFIDENCE as "a firm belief in one's powers, abilities, or capacities." Thus, having confidence in our ability to perform well and hopefully enjoying the feelings that having confidence allows us can be both pleasurable and satisfying.
Confidence is an emotion or feeling that is usually earned from our life experiences. We acquire confidence from learning and executing skills and activities. We all try to acquire new skills during our lives, usually with a feeling of apprehension in the beginning. We usually avoid trying things that we know little about or think that may not be good at.
Although there are some carry-over skills from one activity to another, it doesn't always insure success. For example in sports, a great athlete in basketball can be mediocre in tennis or golf. A great basketball player has mastered the skills on the court but has a lot to learn about golf before they feel confident about playing with an experienced opponent.
As we experience different activities and enjoy one over another, we tend to lean toward doing what we like most. We are usually willing to invest more time to learn about and improve our skills in the activities we enjoy. With each small achievement we accomplish, we lay the building blocks to developing more confidence in that activity.
Knowing the chain of events it takes to BUILD CONFIDENCE is very important. Many people just complain that they have no confidence in themselves and just accept that fact. They wish they could OBTAIN confidence by some easy method. They may not be willing to take the steps necessary to BUILD confidence. The saying "there's no gain without pain," can apply to building confidence.
To put confidence building into perspective, we need to examine the many activities we take part in during our lifetime, such as career, hobbies or sports. We usually have great confidence in those activities we are good in. Less in those we are average or poor in. Let us know in this week's poll, which activity you feel most confident about your performance. This poll will end on Sunday 03/21/04, when the results will be displayed.
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Results:
- 42% of voters chose "Performing at my daily job or business" as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT doing.
- 20% of voters chose "Participating in my favorite hobby" as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT doing.
- 16% of voters chose "Participating in my favorite sport" as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT doing.
- 11% of voters chose "Using my computer skills " as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT doing.
- 08% of voters chose "Playing a musical instrument" as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT doing.
- 03% of voters chose "Using my communication skills" as the skill, activity or interest they felt MOST CONFIDENT about.
Post-Poll Commentary:
In this week's poll fetching 42% of the votes, our respondents felt "Most Confident" performing in their job or business. Since we spend the overwhelming majority of our time in our career, it seems evident that we feel most confident performing in those functions.
In studying today's job market, it seems to be in more turmoil than any time I can ever remember. Although the percentage of jobs lost to overseas outsourcing seems tolerable at around 10%, it's not so tolerable for the 10% who lose their job. People, who are confident about their job skills, need to take a hard look at the future potential of their positions. Can their jobs be done remotely by a qualified staff member in another country, who is happy to earn 20% of their salary? If so, it may be time to begin training for a position or career that does not fit that mold. Planning and executing early in this cycle, to be confidently prepared for the future, can save a lot of heartaches down the line.
Our number two result this week, with 20% of the vote was performing in a favorite hobby. This can be the true love activity of one's life, where spare moments are gladly invested to learn, grow and build confidence.
Participating in a favorite sport was third with 16% of the vote. I assume the sports were leisure sports like golf, tennis, softball or bowling where you can get quite good and be confident performing as you enjoy playing them.
As we can see from the results, the more we perform an activity - the more we have a tendency to be more confident about performing them. Thus, be prepared to invest time, if you want to BUILD confidence and enjoy the fruits of those confident feelings.