Consider the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Many people don`t
know, don`t care, and use the two words interchangeably. But wisdom is
the result of knowledge WITH experience.
Lots of people say that confidence just happens, can`t be taught, and
therefore, nobody understands how it works. I think it`s why that
dreaded bugaboo
of Semantics is so crucial. Semantics is the definition of words, which
is essentially the programming code we install in our own minds as we
grow up. Bad definitions are like bad programming, and that`s the old
"garbage in, garbage out" GIGO acronym.
But consider a drill sergeant in boot camp. If a recruit arrives in a
panic, fearful, anxious, and untrained, how do they leave confident in
their ability to handle a war? SOMEthing changed, and something was
taught...right? Or did confidence particles leak into the person due to
their proximity to a military base?
Confidence is an an emotion, therefore an evaluation. It`s not a
"feeling," like the touch of velvet or nausea. So what does it
evaluate? The core principle of cause and effect. Confidence evaluates
the complex interaction between subjective intent, action, reality, and
succesful results.
We try to stand up and walk. That`s an intent. We see others upright
and walking, and decide based on a leap of intution, that being upright
and walking will bring us benefits. We fail, fall down, and mull it
over. Eventually we stand and walk, but are we confident? No.
It`s only after we`ve repeated the process enough times that it becomes
a habit that we become confident. That confidence lasts only for as
long as we remain unchallenged in our habit.
I think what this Web site can accomplish isn`t to produce confidence,
but it can "induce" confidence. Not to the point of someone saying
they`re confident they can run their own business. Instead, confident
enough in the analaysis, assessment, and judgement of their life
conditions that they can choose to proceed with a risky action.
In other words, you might be afraid to swim in water. How do you
overcome that fear? By jumping into a lake? Of course not. You watch
people swim, compare them to yourself, listen to people tell you that
swimming is a learned event, and try some practice exercises in a
shallow wading pool. As you learn that you can master each smaller part
of the overall process, you begin to "gain confidence," and use
inductive logic.
"If I can stay afloat in shallow water, and I understand the nature of
floating, then I can stay afloat in deep water. If I can stay afloat at
all, I can then learn to propel myself through the water."
That whole process of logic includes the critical points of observation
and comparison. That`s what this Web site does! It provides people with
a way to observe many people who once were afraid, then learned how to
open a business and follow a dream. It provides witness accounts of the
emotional satisfaction that came later, after they`d stopped banging
heads into walls in corporate jobs.
Observation, comparison, and logical assessment: that`s the product this site is selling.
So one possibility would be to provide practice sessions in a shallow
pool, teaching small components of the overall process of going out on
your own. What would be REALLY cool, totally outside our capabilities,
I think, at the moment, would be to provide a "sim" world. People could
program in their current conditions, then try different things to see
what would likely happen.
But since we can`t do that, I suspect we might be able to isolate some
of the most basic processes involved in making a decision to "go for
it." SuN shows that having a Life Plan is essential, and this site
might offer a "personal survey." People take the survey, and it gives
them a "happiness" assessment. Things like that, maybe. (still thinkin`
on it....) :-)
CraigL2007-2-14 2:18:3
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