如何获得真正的自信
How to Achieve True Confidence
刘立军 供稿
u TRANSCRIPT
There are many, possibly infinite, potential actions that you can take at any moment. And at every moment, one action has to be singled out as the best possible action that you can take. And your confidence is the degree of certainty you have that the action you took is truly the best possible one. To put it simply, your confidence is a measure of how correct you think you are. For example, let’s assume that you’re a waiter, and you’re trying to remember what drink one of your customers ordered. Let’s say they ordered an iced tea, but you think they ordered a coke. So the best possible action to take is to get them an iced tea, but you think it’s to get them a coke. And if you’re highly certain that they ordered a coke, we would say you’re highly confident, even though that confidence is misguided.
And confidence, even if it’s misguided, leads to action. Lack of confidence, on the other hand, leads to hesitation. See, if you’re not confident that your customer ordered a coke, you would hesitate to get it for them. You’d probably go back and ask them what they ordered. You would do more research and refine your hypothesis. They tell you that they ordered an iced tea. So you refine your hypothesis, and your confidence in this hypothesis goes up. And with increased confidence comes an increased desire to take action.
A life without confidence is a life unlived because a life without confidence is a life full of hesitation. It’s a life full of plans that were never acted on. It’s a life full of dreams that were never realized. It’s a life spent in study and research, without any action. It’s a life full of wasted potential and regret.
On the other hand, a life of overconfidence is reckless and short-sighted. It’s a life full of failures and poorly executed plans. It’s a life spent acting impulsively, never reflecting on how to act better. And so similar to a life without confidence, overconfidence leads to a life of wasted potential, too.
Achieving your greatest potential starts with true confidence. The truly confident are neither unconfident or overconfident. True confidence is when how correct you think you are overlaps with how correct you actually are. In other words, you are correct about how correct you think you are. Your confidence is an exact measure of your expertise. You have an accurate view of your own knowledge. You have self-awareness. For example, a brain surgeon with true confidence knows the limits of his own knowledge and that makes him a great surgeon. When he comes across problems that are outside of his domain of expertise, he passes the problem on to someone more qualified. He’s not reckless. And when he comes across problems that are within his domain of expertise, he handles them without fear or hesitation. He’s neither overconfident or unconfident, but truly confident.
The best way, then, to achieve your greatest potential is to focus on your expertise, not your confidence. True confidence will always walk hand-in-hand with your expertise. Most people, for example, would be confident in getting a glass of water in their house, because they’ve done it a hundred times before. They’re certain that they could do it. And the more times you’ve solved a problem in the past, the more certain you are that you can solve it in the future.
Expertise is what leads to true confidence, and expertise comes from solving a problem so many times that you can’t help but believe in your ability to solve it. And expertise is natural and inevitable when you consistently overcome the tests that life gives you.
A man who has to grow his business in difficult times - through recessions, times of cultural and technological transition, and changing consumer demands - will have to become an expert in order to succeed.
And the only way to achieve expertise is to test yourself in the world. And testing yourself is risky: it can lead to rejection, failure, or loss. And the only way to overcome the fear that will hold you back from testing yourself is to do something so meaningful that fear becomes irrelevant. When you pursue something deeply meaningful, fear is less likely to stop you from pursuing that thing. And the more meaningful a goal is to you, the less relevant fear becomes as an obstacle because, if something is meaningful to you, you’ll chase it under any condition. And so a meaningful goal will cause you to become well-tested by the world. And by overcoming the world’s tests, you’ll achieve expertise. And by achieving expertise, you’ll become truly confident.
u VOCABULARY
1. reckless adj. showing a lack of care about danger and the possible results of your actions 鲁莽的；不计后果的；无所顾忌的
2. execute v. (formal) to do a piece of work, perform a duty, put a plan into action, etc. 实行；执行；实施
3. impulsively adv. 易冲动地
4. potential n. qualities that exist and can be developed 潜力；潜质
5. expertise n. expert knowledge or skill in a particular subject, activity or job 专门知识；专门技能；专长。例如：professional / scientific / technical, etc. expertise专业、科学、技术等知识
6. recession n. a difficult time for the economy of a country, when there is less trade and industrial activity than usual and more people are unemployed 经济衰退；经济萎缩
uQUESTIONS
TASK 1: 判断
Read the statements. Then listen to the audio and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
1. Your confidence is a measure of how wrong you think you are.
2. Confidence results in action, and lack of it results in hesitation.
3. A life without confidence is a life filled with hesitation.
4. A life of overconfidence is neither reckless nor short-sighted.
5. Overconfidence will lead to a life of wasted potential.
6. True confidence is the key to achieving your greatest potential.
7. Your level of confidence is an accurate measure of your level of expertise.
8. The best way to achieve your greatest potential is to focus on your confidence, not your expertise. 9. True confidence will sometimes walk hand-in-hand with your expertise.
10. Expertise comes from solving a problem so often you can't help but believe in your ability.
11. The only way to achieve experience is to test yourself in the world.
12. You’ll become truly confident by overcoming the world’s tests.
TASK 2: 选择
Choose the best answer.
1. What is the main point the speaker is trying to convey about confidence?
A. Confidence is essential for success.
B. Misguided confidence can lead to mistakes.
C. Confidence is a measure of potential actions.
D. Confidence depends on external factors.
2. According to the passage, what is the main drawback of a life without confidence?
A. Lack of action and missed opportunities.
B. Poorly executed plans and failures.
C. Wasted potential and regret.
D. Hesitation and indecision.
3. What is true confidence?
A. Overconfidence
B. Lack of confidence
C. When how correct you think you are overlaps with how correct you actually are
D. Blind faith in your abilities
4. What is the best way to achieve your greatest potential, according to the passage?
A. Focus on building confidence
B. Pursue something deeply meaningful
C. Consistently overcome life’s tests
D. Solve problems outside of your domain of expertise
u KEY
TASK 1: 判断
Read the statements. Then listen to the audio and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
(F) 1. Your confidence is a measure of how wrong you think you are.（正确表达）Your confidence is a measure of how correct you think you are.
(T) 2. Confidence results in action, and lack of it results in hesitation.
(T) 3. A life without confidence is a life filled with hesitation.
(F) 4. A life of overconfidence is neither reckless nor short-sighted.（正确表达）A life of overconfidence is reckless and short-sighted.
(T) 5. Overconfidence will lead to a life of wasted potential.
(T) 6. True confidence is the key to achieving your greatest potential.
(T) 7. Your level of confidence is an accurate measure of your level of expertise.
(F) 8. The best way to achieve your greatest potential is to focus on your confidence, not your expertise. （正确表达）The best way to achieve your greatest potential is to focus on your expertise, not your confidence.
(F) 9. True confidence will sometimes walk hand-in-hand with your expertise.（正确表达）True confidence will always walk hand-in-hand with your expertise.
(T) 10. Expertise comes from solving a problem so often you can't help but believe in your ability.
(F) 11. The only way to achieve experience is to test yourself in the world.（正确表达）The only way to achieve expertise is to test yourself in the world.
(F) 12. You’ll become truly confident by overcoming the world’s tests.（正确表达）You’ll become truly confident by achieving expertise.
TASK 2: 选择
Choose the best answer.
1. What is the main point the speaker is trying to convey about confidence?
A. Confidence is essential for success.
B. Misguided confidence can lead to mistakes.
C. Confidence is a measure of potential actions.
D. Confidence depends on external factors.
【答案】B
【解析】文章第一段讲述了confidence的定义，即对自己所做行动的正确程度的判断。而第二段举了一个例子来说明即使你的confidence高，也有可能是misguided的，即你的信心虽然高，但是你实际上是错的。因此，可以得出文章的主要观点是misguided confidence can lead to mistakes。因此，答案为B，即misguided confidence会导致错误。A、C、D三个选项都没有涉及到misguided confidence的概念，可以排除。
2. According to the passage, what is the main drawback of a life without confidence?
A. Lack of action and missed opportunities.
B. Poorly executed plans and failures.
C. Wasted potential and regret.
D. Hesitation and indecision.
【答案】A
【解析】文章第一段说即使confidence是misguided的，也会促使人们采取行动，而缺乏confidence则会导致犹豫和不采取行动。第二段进一步解释了缺乏confidence会导致“未实现的计划”、“未实现的梦想”和“浪费潜力和后悔”，说明了缺乏confidence的负面影响。根据这些信息，可以推断出缺乏confidence的主要缺点是缺乏行动和错过机会。因此，答案为A，即缺乏行动和错过机会。B、C和D都提到了负面影响，但没有涉及缺乏行动和错过机会的概念，可以排除。
3. What is true confidence?
A. Overconfidence.
B. Lack of confidence.
C. When how correct you think you are overlaps with how correct you actually are.
D. Blind faith in your abilities.
【答案】 C
【解析】本题考查听取对话的理解及推断能力。对话中提到，真正的自信是你认为自己是正确的程度与你实际上的正确的程度重叠的时候。也就是说，你对自己能力的准确看法是你的自信心的一个确切度量。所以，C选项是正确的。A选项中的“过度自信”被否定，B选项中的“缺乏自信”也被否定，D选项中的“对自己能力的盲目信仰”与原文不符。因此，本题的正确答案是C。
4. What is the best way to achieve your greatest potential, according to the passage?
A. Focus on building confidence.
B. Pursue something deeply meaningful.
C. Consistently overcome life’s tests.
D. Solve problems outside of your domain of expertise.
【答案】C
【解析】根据文章可以得出，达到最大潜力的最佳方法是专注于自己的专业知识而非自信心。文章中指出，专业知识是真正自信的基础，只有不断解决问题，积累经验才能获得专业知识，而且只有克服生活中的种种挑战，才能持续增长自己的专业知识。因此，选项C “持续克服生活中的挑战”是正确答案。选项A“专注于建立自信”与题意相反；选项B “追求有意义的事情”是文章中提到的克服恐惧的方法，但不是达到最大潜力的最佳方法；选项D“解决自己专业领域以外的问题”与文章中所说的专业知识不符，因此也不是正确答案。
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