Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results

by Shane Parrish

Confidence without humility is generally the same thing as overconfidence—a weakness, not a strength.

That little voice in your head may whisper its doubts, but it should also remind you of the many hardships and challenges you’ve overcome in the past and the fact that you persevered.

The first thing we did was to focus on our breathing. Your breath is a powerful tool that helps you calm your mind. We started taking a normal inhale and then immediately inhaling again with a smaller breath. It’s the same way we naturally breathe when we’re sobbing, and the results are similarly soothing. Only once we had relaxed our physical bodies could we change our inner dialogue.

We all have to deal with the world as it is, not as we want it to

People with self-confidence are honest about their own motivations, actions, and results. They recognize when the voice in their head might be ignoring reality. They also listen to the feedback the world gives them, instead of shopping around for other opinions.

The most valuable people, he continued, weren’t the ones with the best initial ideas, but the ones with the ability to quickly change their minds. They were focused on outcome over ego. By contrast, he said, the people most likely to fail were those obsessed with minute details that supported their point of view.

In order to be right, you must be willing to change your mind. If you’re not willing to change your mind, you’re going to be wrong a lot.

When everything is on your shoulders and the cost of being wrong is high, I told her, you tend to focus on what’s right instead of who’s right.

You form a rule for yourself: never say yes to something important without thinking it over for a day.

confidence. Following the rule you’ve made for yourself takes

Champions don’t create the standards of excellence. The standards of excellence create champions.[*]

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”[1]

He says he still carries with him the mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”

The right call doesn’t always get the intended outcome. Sooner or later everyone who makes decisions in the real world learns this lesson. Poker players know it. They can play their hand perfectly and still lose. Nothing is guaranteed. All you can do is play the hand you’re dealt as best you can.