We depend on our cognitive abilities to make decisions and this provides the basis for doubts and this is natural. Just because you are the smartest man in the room does not make you right either which is why we should all promote consensus in order to both flush out better options while also recruiting everyone to the best option.
Why are intelligent people not confident?
This is Georges St-Pierre. He’s arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time.
Apart from being an all-around bad mother fucker, Georges is also known for being one of the most skilled martial artists of all time. He challenged himself in many disciplines of combat sports and sought to become a true mixed martial artist.
This success across disciplines to me is proof that he’s an incredibly intelligent athlete.
He also admitted that when he fights, he gets scared.
In a sport like MMA, it’s usually thought that fear is an emotion that you are not allowed to feel, but Georges proves that wrong. He gets scared and still kicks ass.
When you’re getting ready for a fight, the natural human response is fear—anxiety. Less intelligent people disguise this fear through blind confidence, but Georges St-Pierre used this fear to fuel him to become the most technically developed fighter many people have ever seen.
He’s smart, and he feels fear because he realized the magnitude of what he was trying to do.
He felt fear and he felt unconfident, but he just didn’t allow these feelings to dictate the way that he approached his endeavors.
He was smart enough to figure out a way to deal with his lack of confidence.
I’m not as badass as Georges St-Pierre, but before I compete in my own martial arts matches, I am always nervous and a bit insecure.
I’m scared to boast about my own abilities because while I’m not a genius, I’m smart enough to realize that everything I have built can be taken away in a moment.
For about a month earlier this year, I was the number 1 ranked athlete in my weight class and belt rank, and I still felt anxious about the guys who are chomping at the bit for “a piece of me”.
Sure, I’ll talk shit when I’m with my friends, but when comes time for me to fight a stranger in a competition with a prize on the line, I always struggled with being a bit too hesitant.
Thinking too much has been my Achilles heel for my entire life.
Even though I’ve built confidence through years of successful competitive performances and results, my analytical brain does a great job of always finding ways to make me doubt myself.
Intelligent people struggle with confidence because, well, they think a lot. Thinking is a natural predecessor to doubt.
However, thinking a lot also helps us to solve problems.
You have to work to build a confident mind, and even if you’re smart, it’s possible.
One of my favorite quotes is “if you’re so smart, figure out a way to be happy” from author Raj Raghunathan. People used to tell me I was depressed because I was “smart”, and I never liked that. It made me want to be dumb.
Instead, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out how to build lasting happiness for myself.
I also think you can rephrase this thought process for the issue of confidence:
“If you’re so smart, figure out a way to be confident.”
