Reckless confidence can invite tough times in your life. But you can save yourself from situations where overconfidence makes you helpless!
Confidence! What a shiny piece of the personality puzzle!
It’s always refreshing to see the confident people in your neighborhood. After all, you may desire to leave a long-lasting impression like them, don’t you?
That’s unless the syrup becomes too sweet to drink! In other words, confidence turns blind and becomes overconfidence.
As the famous saying goes,
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be…”
-William Shakespeare
It’s easy to find out whether you are confident or not. However, overconfidence is tricky to identify. That’s why it gets the best of you! And this tendency gets worse with certain situations that don’t put you in a good light!
Hence, it’s important to understand where your arrogance can spell doom to your personal growth. Don’t worry! We’ll help save you from such miserable times. So, let’s understand how overconfidence makes you helpless!
What Are the Situations Where Overconfidence Makes You Helpless?
Disclaimer: Before getting into this, let’s get one thing straight! We aren’t targeting anyone with this article; we’re just stating some practical situations that can get you in trouble.
Overconfidence doesn’t serve your purpose when you’re trying to fix issues in life. If you get too sure of yourself, you’ll start making silly mistakes, and others will have to pay the price for it. That’s why you have to keep your confidence in check!
But even if you can’t, you can still stay in the safe zone by knowing where to take a step back. That said, we have compiled ten situations where overconfidence makes you helpless. It’s going to be a long ride, so buckle up!
1. Taking Unwise Risks With Stock Trading
Imagine a professional hiker who is recently covering a famous mountain trail. The trail is easy and leads to a beautiful destination. But the hiker has something else on his mind! Instead of taking this trail, he decides to go on another path, thinking he knows the best way to cover it. Little does he know that he is about to face some steep slopes and big boulders on the way!
This is how you make mistakes in stock trading. When you don’t keep this trait in check, you enter into a state called overconfidence bias. You believe that you’re more capable than you actually are. As a result, you make some poor decisions on a whim. Ultimately, you face huge financial losses in your trading business.
And this isn’t just a word of mouth! Studies also show how people suffer financial losses due to overconfidence. In fact, overconfident investors trade more often and even during ill-advised situations. They pay huge sums only to get lower ROI. This is one of the situations where overconfidence makes you helpless.
Another research suggests that such investors also contribute to the sharp rise in asset prices, called the speculative bubble. This leads to market instability that incurs huge losses. So, avoid taking unwise risks and make sound decisions.
2. Being ‘Always Prepared’ With Job Interviews
Let’s understand this with an example!
A beginner chess player is on a winning streak. He has played with many non-chess players and won matches back-to-back. As a result, he thinks he became a grandmaster.
This is when he makes a silly mistake and challenges a pro chess player to a match. He wants to topple him and steal his spotlight. But the professional player defeats him easily and sets a new record for the fastest-winning game!
A similar thing happens when you become too confident for your good. You overestimate your skills and preparation, which leads to failure. This tendency is the result of a popular cognitive bias called the Dunning-Kruger effect. It makes you nothing more than a victim of your illusions.
And here is evidence for the same! Research states that there is a huge gap between expectations and reality. David Dunning and Justin Kruger, two researchers from Cornell University, said that people who score poorly in terms of humor, grammar, and logic often overestimate their abilities and skills. This is another reason why overconfidence makes you helpless.
But you can escape this situation through self-awareness and humility. You have to focus on both your strengths and weaknesses. Besides, you have to prepare yourself in case things go wrong! That way, you don’t have to suffer in job interviews.
3. Not Seeking Medical Aid When Necessary
It’s nothing new, right? Most people don’t want to seek medical care, either. However, overconfidence takes this tendency to another level. Let’s see how!
A blogger writes engaging blog posts for his audience to read and share with others. He works very hard initially and gets popular among his readers. But, over time, this success gets into his head, and he skips on the keyword research entirely. Instead, he tries to play his popularity card to grab their attention. As a result, his articles lose quality, and he loses his fanbase.
This example is a warning sign as to how reckless confidence can invite troubles in life.
Such confidence also makes you overestimate your medical health. You think you can’t fall sick and don’t need a doctor. This tendency is called optimism bias. As a result, you don’t seek medical attention and suffer from various health risks.
And we aren’t making this up! According to a study in the American Journal of Medicine, overconfident people don’t pay attention to their health despite the obvious symptoms. This is one of the worst situations where overconfidence makes you helpless physically and emotionally. If you want to have a healthy life, don’t ignore health risks for too long.
4. Ignoring Challenges With Entrepreneurship
Let’s say there’s a ship sailing from America towards the African coast. It’s the third day for the ship since it left the American lands, and weather forecasts suggest storms and high waves in the ocean.
But despite the warnings, the ship’s captain doesn’t take a minute to think and believes the waters will be calm and stable. As a result, he risks countless lives due to his arrogance and pays the price.
Such a ship of a new business also sails on the turbulent waves of the market. In other words, overconfidence can risk your entrepreneurial success if you don’t think for your company and people. It’s simple: you don’t adapt, you don’t survive in the business world!
Research further supports this argument. It states that overconfident entrepreneurs become blind optimists and make positive predictions despite the drawbacks.
In fact, Saras D. Sarasvathy, a professor in American entrepreneurship, says that these entrepreneurs fail to adapt to the market environment and don’t come up with a good strategy for their business growth. This is a situation where overconfidence makes you helpless!
If you are an entrepreneur, you may want to keep your confidence in check. Otherwise, you might bring your business down to its knees. The last thing you want is to be the reason for your fall.
5. Not Taking Project Management Seriously
Project mismanagement is a common issue in the workplace. Some managers can handle it through skill and experience, but they fall short of their potential. Wonder why? Because they don’t take their projects or the team seriously. What’s worse; when they fail, they blame everyone for the poor performance but themselves.
It’s like going on a road trip without a navigation app. Instead, you rely on a map to find the directions and reach your destination. You fail to consider the traffic, bad weather, roadblocks, or landslides (in the case of hilly areas). As a result, you get stuck and blame the authorities and friends for your lack of planning.
Studies also suggest that recklessness in project management can cause failures and disappointments. In other words, overconfident managers cause delays and spend too much resources on projects. As a result, they become a liability to both their company and the clients.
If you’re a project manager, you must strive to make better decisions. Otherwise, you’ll spoil your professional growth. It’s a challenging situation where overconfidence makes you helpless.
6. Undermining Their Partners’ Contributions
Relationships don’t stand the test of time without the loyalty and trust between the partners. However, they aren’t the only reasons behind such a downfall. Overconfidence also causes trouble in a love paradise. How?
Overconfident people try to make the decisions for their partners and give them little to no freedom to make their own. As a result, their partners feel overlooked.
It’s like two dance partners putting up a very good show for the people. However, one of the partners tries to take all the credit for themselves, whereas the other is ignored. Over time, their partnership breaks and they don’t perform with each other.
Studies also suggest how people can overlook their partners’ contributions due to reckless confidence. The Dunning-Kruger effect also works here as they overestimate their judgments and think they know better than anyone. Hence, relationships turn sour and fall apart. Overconfidence makes you helpless in such cases.
If you have someone special, ensure to stay humble and listen to your partner. Also, try to understand where they are coming from so you can help them make better decisions for the sake of your love life.
7. Lacking Preparation for Public Speaking
Who can forget their first public speaking experience? It’s scary to speak in front of everyone, isn’t it? Normally, you feel nervous and anxious before even getting up on the stage. But things get worse when you become too sure of yourself.
In other words, you have an unusual self-assurance, which makes you undermine the challenges with public speaking. As a result, you deliver a poor speech and make things awkward for everyone.
It’s similar to solving a seemingly easy question, only to realize how tricky it gets with every step. Public speaking is treacherous, and while you may think you’ve hit the right spots, reality gives you a hard time!
Studies also emphasize how overconfident people don’t listen to others’ suggestions and go for their speeches without preparation. Overconfidence makes you helpless. If you don’t want to end up in this situation, you must keep it under control. Just prepare your part thoroughly and pay attention to how others deliver their speech.
8. Not Taking the Best Course With Driving
You may have come across many rash drivers. They are notorious for risking others’ lives to get an adrenaline rush! But they aren’t the only ones who drive this way. Overconfident people also play their part in this recklessness.
When you’re too confident in your driving skills, you often ignore the traffic and safety rules. What’s worse? You don’t slow down on risky stretches. As a result, you put everyone’s lives in danger. Your overconfidence makes you helpless in this situation.
And we aren’t just making this up! Neurological studies say that overconfident drivers often cause and meet with an accident. Besides, they don’t take traffic and driving rules seriously, even when called out by others.
It’s better to keep your overconfidence in check while driving and follow road safety to the T. You don’t want to end up in the hospital paying huge medical bills for yourself and your loved ones.
9. Promoting Unhealthy Fitness Standards
Fitness is healthy! It’s an inspiring lifestyle that helps you live to the fullest. But it isn’t the same when you take a detour with overconfidence.
What does that mean?
Sometimes, you make far-fetching fitness goals that are difficult to achieve. Despite the warnings, you go ahead with your training and take unnecessary risks. As a result, you sustain grave injuries that don’t heal quickly.
This is where you promote unhealthy fitness standards for yourself and others. Your arrogance costs you dearly as you overestimate your endurance without proper bodily awareness. It’s akin to a blind person trying to use a navigation app to find his way home!
According to various studies, overconfident athletes make impractical decisions and don’t pay attention to their physical health. As a result, they are more likely to injure themselves or experience burnout. Overconfidence makes them helpless and steals their physical fitness.
So, don’t push yourself too hard to prove your mettle. You don’t want to lie on your bed injured, regretting your decision, do you?
10. Fighting a Failed and One-Sided Legal Battle
Dealing with legal matters isn’t everyone’s cup of tea! You have to face the consequences of decisions when fighting a legal battle. One wrong statement can cost you a fortune and make you miserable for months or even years. And with overconfidence, things get worse!
When you are under its spell, you seek risky ways to get your results. You take unnecessary risks, thinking you have the best legal expertise and no one holds a glass against you. This creates a bias where you represent yourself without second-guessing your decisions.
This is often observed in the self-representation cases (pro se litigations). Research suggests that people who opt to represent themselves in court lack legal knowledge. In other words, overconfidence makes you helpless as you fight a failed and one-sided battle.
You can come out of this situation by hiring a professional lawyer to fight your cases. This helps you get the edge you need and increases your winning chances.
You can also check out this web story below for an improved visual experience.
Save Yourself From Overconfidence Bias!
Finally, we have come to the end of the road! This is where we will count every situation you have faced so far.
First, you took risks with stock trading and then went to a job interview without preparation. Then, while driving, you skipped the road to the hospital and went in the wrong direction towards failed entrepreneurship. When you were about to reach your destination, you stopped taking your projects seriously and didn’t care about your partners’ opinions.
Then, your nervousness about public speaking nearly cost you your life, and you realized you weren’t good at driving, either. At last, you made a big blunder and lost the legal battle you had been fighting for months, as you were physically unfit to reach the court.
All these situations have proved that overconfidence makes you helpless!
But we hope you’ll make a comeback and learn how to keep your confidence in check!