Cocky or Confident

Thinking about things, as I usually do, often, I found myself pondering about being cocky or confident--or even overconfident. What is the difference?

There is a lot of difference. Cocky is to be conceited or arrogant, especially in a bold or impudent way. Overconfident is a synonym in that definition, so I guess we can rope those two together.

But confidence is a feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities--according to Google, or whatever dictionary they use.

So think about that. 

Cocky means one may or may not even have the talent they boast of, the tools they speak of, they are so sure of themselves they come off as experts, yet their self-story may or may not be flawed. But confident individuals know what they are capable of, the tools are there and they know it, they know their limitations and up to what point they can go. They are experts of what they know, and probably won't mention or comment on something if they aren’t sure of what they are talking about. Of course, there is always making an educated guess, or trying to figure something out. But they know what is what inside of themselves.

Why am I thinking about this? I don't know. We come across people like this all the time in our daily artistic lives. It's good to know who's who. I was just thinking and thoughts crossed and connected to others and wham. 

Blog post.

A favorite character of mine is Marvel's Iron Man--mostly the version portrayed by Robert Downey Junior. He comes off as cocky, but he's really confident. His character--Tony Stark, not to be confused with Ken Stark the writer (wink)--knows what he can do and makes witty yet stealthy remarks about his immediate actions. He doesn't hold back, but he's speaking honestly and boasts what he knows he's capable of doing.

I guess it can take a few ugly turns here and there, where a confident person can put down those below them and come off as cocky. As with everything in life, bad things can happen anywhere. 

Psychology Today says Confidence comes from believing in yourself and having the skills to back it. Cockiness, on the other hand, is bragging or showing off without actually having the skills or know how to back it up.

That works.

What do you think? Are you cocky or confident? Can you tell the difference among others?

Let me know in the comments below, or on twitter at www.twitter.com/Wcmarchese

Hope to see you there.

WCM

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