Confidence is an interesting book. I really have none in certain aspects of my life so I was interested in reading this to see if it would help me overcome my confidence issues or maybe be more confident in my confidence issues. It was very interesting how it explained how both high confidence and low confidence could be good, but also bad. Just because you have high confidence doesn’t mean you’ll succeed and just because you have low confidence doesn’t mean you’re destined to fail at everything you do.
It also talked a bit about confidence with dating and how confidence differs between men and women.
A perfect read for my recent flight, full of great information, but I’m not sure I am any more confident in my lack of confidence – but at least I know now that my talent and hard work SHOULD mean more in the end than my confidence in what I’m doing.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
Biographers are quick to attribute the success of eminent people to their colossal levels of confidence, while downplaying the roles of talent and hard work, as if it were in anyone’s hands ( or minds) to achieve exceptional levels of success merely through sheer self belief. Barack Obama did not become the first black president in US History because he had confidence; Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, did not found 400 companies because of his confidence; and Michael Jordan and Roger Federer did not achieve total domination of their sports because they felt good about themselves.
World-renowned personality expert Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic shows us in his upcoming evidence-based book CONFIDENCE that high confidence makes us less likeable, less employable, and less successful in the long run. In his book, we’ll learn about the downfalls of having too much confidence and how more insecure readers need to understand the value of self-doubt and learn to capitalize on their low confidence.
Once Dr. Chamorro-Premuzic illuminates the distinct difference and benefits of competence and/or confidence, he illustrates how understanding these differences can be applied in everyday life including:
•Career Myths (Confidence, Talent, and Arrogance)
•Why Successful People are Rarely Themselves
•How You Can Benefit from Insecurities
•How High Confidence Creates False Health Hopes
•Confidence in Romantic Relationships
•How to Master interpersonal Relations using competence drawn from his extensive research in this area.
Dr. Chamorro-Premuzic reveals that spending time trying to become more confident and secure is not only fruitless, but would be better spent embracing one’s insecurities and becoming more competent. People with low confidence are not only more likeable, but they try harder, are more introspective and realistic, and tend to keep striving even when they have already achieved success. CONFIDENCE shows us how to close the gap between confidence and competence, how to fake it when you need to, and real ways to get ahead at work, home, and out in the world.
Katie 