Humility and Confidence

 

"Humility" and "confidence" are two wonderful traits that most of us aspire to. But they can seem hard to simultaneously pursue. Not that you necessarily think of them as opposites. But doesn't it feel tricky to be both at the same time?

Not at all. I submit to you that each characteristic requires the other.

Confidence without humility is, for most of us mortals, a sham. We don't know everything and are not good at everything. Confidence not only accepts that but embraces it, because it knows that to purport otherwise is to be an impostor. In contrast, it is freeing to acknowledge where we are out of our lane. It allows us to soar in the areas where we are a rock star, and to find assurance that we can lead and contribute in those places without having to do so in all places.

Similarly, humility without confidence does not get you anywhere. Just as it is dubious to act like we are everything, it is unhelpful to act like we are nothing. You are good at something. You have an unique contribution to make that no one else can. To lack confidence to own this and do something about it is to be on the sidelines of life when the coach needs you to run the play that only you can run.

Humility and confidence, confidence and humility. I fall short in both and in the connection between the two. But I am trying, each day, to inhabit each, and the interplay between the two, more and more.