Difference between ‘Arrogance’ and ‘Confidence’

2.2.3

       Having self-confidence is wonderful and a positive quality to successfully navigate life. Overconfidence is a weakness and most would agree that arrogance is undesirable.

      Confidence and arrogance come from different sources. Arrogance is rooted in insecurity - a defense from feelings of weakness that are unacceptable and unclaimed. However, a confident person can accept their weakness or faults with grace - even though they may not like them. 

       An arrogant person generally has a skewed view of the world and a warped understanding of themselves. Buddhism asserts that arrogance is to judge one's self-worth by comparison with others. Arrogant people feel good about themselves only through affirming their superiority to others. Genuinely confident people feel great about themselves without comparing with others. People who are self-confident show it with their actions, not by their words. Self-confidence is knowledge of ability while arrogance insists on sharing successes with others.

      Arrogant people can and often do have successes but there are significant costs. Additionally, professional successes can fragile due to difficulties in accepting guidance and feedback and impaired abilities to accept and learn from mistakes. 

     While,not always arrogant, some are plague with an overconfidence that can be problematic. This is most typically seen with inexperience and immaturity. By definition, an overconfident person tends to overestimate the chances of success of an endeavor and underestimate the risks. because of the self-deception involved, overconfidence tends to make people unable to make effective and successful decisions.

      Strive for honest self-acceptance and nurture self-confidence. Beware the pitfalls of crossing the line into overconfidence or arrogance. As with most things in life, the healthy place is always with balance in the middle.