Confidence is a vital ingredient in successfully beginning, pursuing and completing difficult undertakings. Lack of confidence is the primary reason for lack of implementation of good ideas. If we delve into the etymology of the English word "confidence," we find that the prefix, "con," is Latin meaning "with" or "together." The root, "fido," translates into "trust," "believe," "confide in." Whenever you see an English word that begins with "con" or "com" it very often indicates that the original meaning of the word involved a concept that was communally formed: the word was intended to convey that other people were inextricably interwoven in what happens to the individual.
We often refer to "self-confidence." However, according to this analysis,
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Mahatma Gandhi wisely observed, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." I would paraphrase this slightly to make it more immediate to one's personal environment and also say, "you must be the change you wish to see in others." If you wish to be around people who smile more, then smile more! If you want to work in an environment that is characterized by teamwork and mutual respect, then demonstrate to others how these characteristics can be embodied and pragmatically expressed on a consistent …show more content…
This is true if you try to change someone else's behavior without first trying to change your own. It has been my experience that you can, in fact, alter others' ways of acting by altering your own first, just as Gandhi noted. William James, pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 - 1910) said, "the greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." I would go further and say that human beings can alter other people's lives by altering their own personal attitudes of mind, as I've described above. When you change your attitude of mind, that is, the way you habitually think (an attitude is nothing more than a habit of thought), then you alter the way you behave and this, in turn, alters the ways others behave toward