Comment by vanderZwan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by vanderZwan | Hacker News Reader

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I'm sorry, I'm all in favour of loving what you do and agree that this generally leads to good results, but that interpretation frames the sentence in a completely different context than the original story, which is the following:

> So fundraising is a psychologically trying experience that depends very little on any sober analysis of the quality of your product

Smile or die, motherfucker!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo

> It's unquestionable that you need energy, excitement and confidence to be good at something. Anything from being a doctor, lawyer to professional athlete.

Oh, that is VERY questionable. The first two are focussing on positive emotions and ignore the important role negativity plays. Smilarly, confidence does not in any way equate capability.

> Projection (The act of projecting or the condition of being projected.) is going to be the only thing people can fall back on.

No, that's just our intuitive mind being too lazy to do a rigorous analysis of the situation. I recommend "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Kahneman to fix this.

> The first two are focussing on positive emotions and ignore the important role negativity plays.

There's no definition of either that I know of that includes "positive emotions" and ignores "negative emotions". That's a made up definition.

> Smilarly, confidence does not in any way equate capability.

Never said it did. I also never said these were the only things you need. But you do need them.

There's no way forward without going to specifics. I guess I'd need to see an example of 5 or 10 industry leaders or greats, from any industry; Linus Torvald, Mary Roach, Warren Buffett, Jon Stwart etc... that did not have energy, enthusiasm and confidence.

Have you ever listened to an interview with Michael Jordan? He specifically stated he "knew" he'd make the next hoop.

Confidence is extremely important in athletics, engineering, business, etc. Some more than others. But someone with confidence issues will never be as efficient and consistent as someone who is not. You must have personal belief invested in yourself and your corresponding ability before you can really use it effectively.

I agree with excitement and energy though. I know quite a few people who hate their jobs but do them successfully.

My point was that being confident in itself doesn't make you good at something.

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