Confident? So what? The truly delusional have it the hard way.

I am struck by the thought that a lot of great business ideas and processes fail because mainly, because people lose confidence in the process or the person behind the idea.

Confidence. Not because the process or idea is scientifically / statistically / mechanically unsound or the idea is wacky and out of the world of normality of life and business... confidence. Of course there are some drugs and devices that should have never gone so far to testing in humans, and for the most part, the scientific peer review process has borne them out. Confidence. Faith in the system.

When we lose faith in the system, yeah, we know, things get really awry. Paranoia, skepticism, negative feedback and depression. If confidence and growth go hand in hand in, then, the reverse would be true, lack of confidence and depression go together. We see this in economics, stock markets, for profits and non-profits, family units, and in our personal health. Businesses are made of people, with all their quirks and faults and over- and under-confidences.... and each one is unique...

So what? So what?? Why should I care about if I am confident or not?? There is no ONE answer, there is no ONE process that suits all. Faith has to be multi-lingual multi-faceted in order for us to survive. Anyone who believes that there is just ONE way for anything, well, in my belief, is delusional. Oh well. Sucks to be him!

Confidence doesn't just mean faith in ONE process, it means faith that it all (what ever IT ALL is) will work out, no matter what. No worries. You can't fail! With that attitude and your own unique brand of confidence, well, the world is your oyster! The delusional as I call them, fail without even trying very hard, as their attitude is their first barrier.

I like the idea of my own unique brand, as it's different from your version of confidence and so I don't have to compare notes. Our assumptions are different at a subtle micro-level. So we can't be compared, only lumped together like statistics. I refuse to be simply a statistic!!

There's another definition of delusional -- those over-confident people you may see them -- Type As usually who go forth and can't learn from their mistakes. Remember, mistakes ARE NOT FAILURES! Not learning from your mistakes is the only true failure. Analysis of where the process (thing or person) can make mistakes (failure mode effects analysis) is a learning tool. Having this information and not using it, well, that's delusional and that's a FAIL.

Enough of this. I'm hungry. Time for lunch.

Have confidence in the Process

Some distillation today of whirling circling thoughts:

"Develop an approach" ==> A Process

"Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long."
-- Leonard Bernstein

"Capable" ==> Confident

"My touchstones are authenticity, playfulness and audacity, and by keeping these three key words at the forefront of my mind when sitting down to write, I find that I am capable of overcoming my fear of the blank page. "
-- Amy Palko of Lives Less Ordinary and Textual Tangents. Amy is writing her thesis paper on Stephen King and has spent quite some time studying him.

"Audacity / Appearance of Confidence" ==> Strategic mindset / Control / Discipline

" 'Audacity, always audacity'-soundest principle of strategy. In practicing medicine I learned that when you are most at loss is the time when you must appear confident. In law I had learned that, when your case seems hopeless, you must impress the jury with your relaxed certainty.' "
-- Jubal, character in A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

Brave / Faith / Uncommon ==>
Sticking to the process even when faced with negative feedback / Against Odds or Statistics / Customized or Unique

None but the Brave
-- Bruce Springsteen

"Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to." Miracle on 34th Street

"Common sense is anything but common." -- Unknown.

Hope Springs Eternal

Although winter is slowly being shaken off by the March lion, I will miss it. Winter has its own mood, full of solitude, quiet and reflection. Today has been such a mixed bag of a day, and I feel like inviting winter in my heart again. The cold rain calms me, instead of stinging me. The low bloated grey clouds blanket me and remind me to stay indoors where it is warm and I have all the things I need to stay comfortable and happy. The wind, whistling its way around my balcony, tipping my plants and singing a foul sound like a melancholy cat, is the only music. In my solitude, I can heal.

Spring will come again and I am confident in my new paths. I need these few last days of winter though, to gather my energies to plant and sew and dig deep into the earth. Once rested, the hope and promise of spring will be a welcome sight, I will have let go of all the bullies and naysayers of winters past. Let it go, let it all go away. I will thrive in generating contacts and networking, a relief from the solitude of today. Of course, winter will not go away entirely in April, as I live in a "tempest" zone, in a valley bordered by river on one side and mountains on another. I like the ever changing feeling of spring in this land, and would choose no other place other than a tempest in spring. It makes the hope I feel stronger, when things around me change so oddly and ambiguously. Is it spring or is it winter, or have we dumped straight into summer?

I have learned optimism in the past weeks, due to my illness. This is the well from which I will build my legacy. It will be out of love, as from winter to spring, there is so much love in the air, one becomes two, and two becomes three. The legacy will have a theme, but be fluid like the river, yet grounded like the mountains. I will write more on this legacy at another time.

I am so happy to have recovered so quickly from the illness of Bell's Palsy. Now I still have to recover from the years and years of emotional abuse at work and in my personal life. With my new strength and the love I have found, the healing process will take time, but I believe it will not be so painful, and I will thrive like a beautiful April daffodil, re-potted from the nursery.

Everyday - Every Morning

Inner peace is another key to re-invention. One has to temporarily turn off that chatter box of internal critic, as at this fragile moment, he/she is too harsh to deal with. The duality is needed though, to deal with the outside world. This critic can instead, face those naysayers and protect the fragile budding writer / re-inventor, who can develop the inner song and peace that is needed for the work ahead. Send that critic out to work for you, instead of against you!

Calm, poised, confident. No fear, and no worries. That is the re-inventor, the vision one needs to have of one's self before working.

When every bone, every nerve ending, every cell in your body tells you, that you are on the right path, making the right decision, without shame.

I will never be the same.