If you’re confident in one area, does that mean you’re confident in your whole self? Do the different things to be confident about all link together? Just a thought. I hope this isn’t a stupid question. 
Socrates (Plato) thought that all virtues were one. As did Confucius. In the Agama a similar vision is espoused.
So, basically you’ve got “Western”, Chinese, and Indian (including Buddhism) all behind this notion. That tells me there is probably something to it!
That would mean that in order to be confident in one area, one must also be confident in one’s own self. We can think of real-world examples of this pretty easily. Think about what happens to people who excel in one area but are notably deficient in others when they are challenged in that one area. They become agitated if not outright violent. Contrast that with people who generally excel and what happens to them when they are challenged in an area in which they take particular pride. While they may not enjoy the experience, overall they are relaxed and accepting of it. The challenge means little because they will most likely succeed (it is their specialty, after all) but even if they don’t they have other things to fall back on.
Ha! You’re funny.
Confidence can occur in social situations versus when performing an activity.
Confidence is both specialty-specific and generalized.
You have to have the right beliefs to act confident. For example you will act confident if you have the belief that acting confident in performing an activity or in social situations increases your value (since other people believe in your competency). However, if you have the believe the acting confident when you don’t have a reason to act confident is being false, then you will refrain from acting confident.
Confidence depends on your perceived value to others. You can be confident in playing basketball, but if you’re not a surgeon, you’re not going to be confident performing an operation. It can be “generalized,” since if you frame yourself as someone as value if you a good at basketball, then you at least have a reason to act confident in social situations. The chain of thought is “I am good at basketball compared to others” so “I am valued more than others” so “I have a right to act confident.”
Confidence depends on your perceived value to yourself. If a billionaire does not value who he is because he did some bad things to get to where he is now, he may not be as confident in himself compared to a beggar who lived through life in a principled-fashion and respects himself for it. You can also change your frame to increase your value. In other words, if the billionaire sees principles as irrelevant and measures his life in monetary terms, he now has a reason to be confident.
In my opinion, confidence in social situations actually depends on if you’ve practiced habits that make you appear confident. Some people have no substance, but talk a game just because they can. They know how to ACT confident. However, deep inside, they are insecure, because they know the truth, that the way they act is discrepant with reality. Eventually, people who know them well will be able to see through their facade.
Others don’t know how to appear confident, but deep inside they are supremely confident in themselves. They haven’t learned how to play the game and may be less successful because of it.
To get confidence:
- Instill the right beliefs (If you value confidence, you will naturally do what it takes to get it)
- Find value in yourself or discover how people value you (a true type of confidence)
- Practice the skills and habits to act confident (a false type of confidence, but important to confidence nonetheless)
We require a definition of ‘confidence’ before a useful discussion can take place.
If you’re confident in one area, does that mean you’re confident in your whole self?
I can already tell you that answering “Yes” to this, regardless of what definition of ‘confidence’ is put forth, is an inductive reasoning mistake, or ‘leap of faith’, if you will.
Do the different things to be confident about all link together?
Here’s a decent question where that definition will prove useful.
~Moral Jeff
Yes and no.
You may be very selfconfident in say math and physics, thus you develop some great selfconfidense because of that, but it may be ruined when it comes to athletics where you feel inferior thus may end up haveing fluxuating or situational selfconfidense
Those who do not limit themselves to the limits of their confidence are a curse to themselves, all others, and the fall of Man.
“I can unquestionably defeat them, thus I should rule them.” …Really?
How excatly do we know the precise limit?