Final Blog Entry - What I've Learned and Moving Forward

There are many things I have learned through through this process of writing about my topic of confidence. I still however have many questions that may help me move forward. Looking back on this experience, it has motivated me even more to seek out knowledge and to expand the way I see confidence. Being able to write about confidence in this blog helped to focus in on it yet also open my eyes and view confidence in a way I never have before. In turn, this will help me to further advance my knowledge of this topic because I am still very curious. One of the mist important things I have learned through this process is that confidence must be defined by the individual, and that there is no set path that works for everyone. I have learned that gaining confidence is a subject that must be experienced first hand in real world situations, not learned in a book at home or researched in the comfort of one's room. However this is difficult because being in these actual situations may in itself require confidence, but it is important to know that learning through failure in these situations is possibly the best way to better understand confidence.  Overall I learned to totally change the way I approach having and gaining confidence.

I am very interested in moving forward and gaining further knowledge in confidence. I want to further analyze how I act in situations and take note on how to better myself. I doubt I will use many book sources to study this topic further, because I think I would learn more by executing it in my daily life. I believe through this process I will have walked away with a much different viewpoint and understanding of confidence. However, confidence is something I want to continuously improve on for the rest of my life. I do believe that the harder I search for it, the more difficult it may be to obtain. Rather than focusing too much on the destination, I shall be more relaxed. So for now I am taking this journey one step at a time with the new developing skills I have and the hope that I will gain even more in the future.

Interview

Interview:

I am interviewing my father, Michael Johnson over the topic of confidence. The following are selected questions and answers from the interview.

Q: How do you define confidence?
A: an internal feeling that lets someone feel that they can accomplish a certain goal or preform a certain activity with excellence.

Q: How does one build confidence?
A: Confidence is found through a combination of grit and determination. You must work at what you want to achieve, and never give up, confidence will come over time.

Q: Who is someone you know that has confidence?
A: My father believed and knew in is heart, that there was nothing he couldn't achieve if he was focused, determined, and motivated to achieve it. Having his internal confidence lets you know that you can take on any battle

Q: What contributes to a lack of confidence?
A: A lack of confidence comes when you cant experience what it means to be victorious in your pursuit of a goal. In almost every case where someone loses their confidence, they either lost their internal grit to not give up, or the perseverance to never quit.

Q: Is there on sure way to get confidence?
A: You have to develop a belief in yourself that no matter what has to be done, you know inside of yourself that you can do what is necessary to be successful.

Follow Up Questions

Q: When was a time in your life that sticks out that you had a lot of confidence?
A: Freshman year in college I gained the maturity to believe in myself and to trust that if I gave my best effort, good results will follow

Q: How much of a role does confidence play in your life?
A: Confidence is directly related to happiness, because happiness revolves around achieving your goals and the effort that takes to achieve them. Owning my own business is risky, so I face each day with confidence necessary to run a business on a successful way

When I interviewed my father, I assumed that I already knew most of his insight into confidence as we talk about it mostly daily. This was true for the most part, however I still learned about the way he views his business and his late father. I also learned about my father's personal life more and how he thinks confidence plays a role in it. I conducted my interview in such a way that I used more broad and generalized questions on the beginning to form a basis of the interview, while I used later questions to delve into more specific questions about confidence. The environment I interviewed in wasn't as good as I should ave made it, so in the future I would prepare my interview better. I would do it in a more quiet place with less distractions where my interviewee could think and formulate responses better. Maybe having the TV on in the background wasn't the best idea. Also in the future I might guide the questions better, so I get answers guided more towards what I was looking for. The answers I received from my father reinforced my views on the topic because me and my father have frequent conversations over this topic. I did however learn more about his own confidence, as opposed to talking about my own. The answers my father gave coincided with my own beliefs on the subject. The interview was benefited me in the sense that I gained insight into my father's own life and how confidence plays a role in it. Also, I learned what settings and questions makes a good interview and how I should go about it in the future. Next time however, I may interview someone witch different view than myself, so that I gain another perspective into the matter and I may be challenged more on the topic as a result. Doing so may help me better understand confidence, as it is different fore everyone.

Confidence Research

Confidence Research

Confidence is a key to a successful life. It is extremely important to sharpen this skill, as it will support one in any aspect of their life. I believe learning to develop confidence should come from real world situations and interactions, however there are some recourses online that highlight important aspects of confidence. The scientific articles I found divulged the inner workings of confidence in the mind and based there findings on psychological research. One aspect of these articles I agreed with is using positive reinforcement. The blogs I found were more applicable to a person who wants to gain confidence, and exactly how to do it. They were more straight forward, somewhat of a 'how to' guide, with many of them having steps. Both sources showed real life advantages of increased levels of confidence. I learned many reasons to develop my confidence, and knowing these positive advantages encouraged be to strive for more confidence. The research provided me with not only knowledge, but with hope, knowing that one can take steps to improve their confidence. The basis of these articles and blogs were to improve yourself. The viewpoints expressed in these writings made me think differently about my own confidence, and even the task of striving to gain confidence. These articles made me see that there is not one direct path to confidence, there is no way to turn it on automatically, and that it is more of a subjective feeling that comes from focusing on other things. Eventually, confidence comes in learning experiences from everyday life. I agreed with many opinions in these articles, one being that confidence allows you to be more successful. From my own experience I know this to be true for me. Regardless of what situation I might be in, if I have confidence in myself to perform, I will be ok. Doing this research has made me realize that I need to be more aware of my actions and thoughts each day that lead to the feeling of not being confident. To have further success in this field I will have to start taking action instead of sitting back. Overall however, the number one thing I learned from this research that having confidence differs in everybody, and the way someone needs to find their own confidence needs to be unique to them. There are no set rules on how to go about gaining confidence, which is why everyone should see how confidence affects them in their own life. This research made me realize that I was taking the wrong path to gaining confidence. I was too passive before, too afraid to get better. If I put a concerted effort into gaining confidence however, it will slowly come, small pieces at a time. I learned through this that confidence is more of a journey than a destination.

Confidence