Every child born to this earth is born with physical, cognitive and social restrictions because of his infant state. But there is a spirit inside that child that tries, from the very beginning, to cast off his restrictions, as he is able to break away from the things that bind. Each utterance and each forward movement whether on knees or feet, is a step towards his maturity and freedom. Then one day, that child born to earth, stands upright and proclaims his freedom and his man or womanhood. He is physically strong and energetic as he begins his search for his place in the world. The scriptures tell us that, “Adam sought further light and knowledge.” Do not all men do the same? There are trials and some failures during his search for his place, his niche in life. In that process some men become discouraged and their confidence wanes. Otto Fenichel said that, “Thinking is preparation for action. People who are afraid of action increase the preparation.” They are those whose ambition flattens out and they eventually take whatever they can get, satisfied or not, they struggle through life. As Calvin Coolidge opined; “Doubters do not achieve, Skeptics do not contribute, and Cynics do not create.” James E. Talmage added; “Remove man’s faith in the possibility of any desired success, and you rob him of the incentive to strive. He would not stretch forth his hand to seize did he not believe in the possibility of securing that for which he reaches. Faith is the secret of ambition, the soul of heroism, the motive power of all effort.” Leaders, movers and shakers, on the other hand, have always been men and women of faith. Faith in themselves, faith that their efforts will be successful, faith in a God who will not let them down. Too, they have faith in those who are fellow travelers, whom they work with and depend on for strength, knowledge, loyalty to their common objectives. When I was a young man, an army recruit, I like all others in those ranks, did what I was told; sometimes very hard things. Was I confident that I was doing them well, maybe better than others? No! But at the end of the training I was graduated with honors, elected by my fellow recruits for the honor. I was next sent to Military Police school and honored again. Did I gain confidence? Yes, confidence was given to me by others, for at the time I doubt I even knew what it was.
Leaders are upheld by the confidence of their staff and with that confidence, charity abounds. The confident leader and his staff will want to bless the lives of those beyond their organization. A confident person will have little reason to show anger because whatever the reason, whatever might go wrong, whatever it was that caused one to be angry, a confident leader knows it can be repaired. Confident people will also demonstrate confidence in others, too.
Confidence is not always inborn, it does not always come upon us as if it lay in one’s path to be picked up and carried away. It is not a thing put away to be used later when it might come in handy. But confidence is definitely something that can be acquired. It can even be given to someone by another. As a very young man I was hired to be a hod carrier to several bricklayers on a large construction job. After a few months at hard labor the foreman told me to get on the scaffold with the bricklayers and lay brick. His reason was stated, “You can make me more money as a bricklayer than you can as a hod carrier.” He handed me confidence with a pat on the back and a trowel in my hand. Too, there are those who don’t need to have anyone give it to them, they take it, it is called ‘self confidence’ and they can do anything. If you don’t believe them just ask them, and in a few cases, you just have to watch them. Life is beautiful for those who have overcome their infant restrictions.