Yes, you can be overly confident, and cocky. We see plenty of that with #fail tagged on social media these days.

Yes, you can be highly competent and lack confidence. We often see this on tv shows like America/Britain’s Got Talent, etc.

But at breakfast with Dave Sands & Brian Kuhn, Brian was talking about doing some extreme mountain biking with a group, and how he noticed that confidence and competence created a positive loop with each one increasing the other.

I noticed the same while downhill riding with my nephew. We did a couple runs of the same trail and I hadn’t ridden like that in over 15 years. The first run, I followed him and avoided some of the tracks he chose, keeping myself ‘safe’ but also feeling scared anyway. I kept seeing myself make a bad choice and going over the handlebars or into a tree. I tried a couple things out of my comfort zone, was cautious and mostly unsuccessful. But by the end of that run, I could feel my confidence build, having not had any worse case scenarios materialize.

Round two was a different story. I attacked the hill trying everything my nephew did, and while I couldn’t keep the same line as him, I could feel my confidence and my competence rise. My speed was better, keeping closer to him, and I rode far better than the first run.

Confidence feeds competence, which feeds confidence…