Overconfidence can cloud judgment

A short but sharp statement from my wife. How true it is! In the past one week, I became even more confident after I passed my 2B practical test after 5 years and 4 months. It was great in the sense that it changes my mindset and gives new encouragement that if God allows, all things are possible. It may take time but it will happen. At the same time, it is written that “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” So I need to remember and be careful that overconfidence can cloud judgment and make us fall unnecessarily.

When things are going well, it is very hard to remember that we can be wrong, even in the good thing such as confidence. Too low confidence causes us not moving. But overconfidence can bring us danger as well as we move recklessly.

For example, in the past 2 days, I was emotional. It is good to be vocal but I might be too emotional in giving the feedback both during the staff meeting and yesterday’s technical meeting. I was also not controlling tightly my emotion that I decided to e-mail my manager on what makes me upset and then shared to the technical director which stir some potential conflicts among my teammates. There are also many other ideas which seem to be good and heroic, but behind those good things, there is arrogancy in my heart that starts creeping.

I need to remember that I am just a channel of blessings by God to others. There is no need to be superhero. There is no need to show off my thoughts and ideas and how I can think better and faster than the rest. Instead, I need to be humble and focus on the process of learning to become experts in defining problems, experts in listening so that the solutions will flow, not from me, but from the others.

As things are going well, I may also overlook that inside my heart, I am actually not doing well. One of the indications is that I started to waver off in terms of the good habits that I planted. I seldom write in this blog even when the time commitment is actually only 5 minutes. I seldom do breath exercise, my physical exercise frequency also starts to drop. The articles on perfectionism cycle which was planned to read once every week is not yet read at all. The review paper which is due in 3 days are also not yet started.

So remember, focus on changing yourself and not the others. Keep in my heart that overconfidence can cloud judgment and therefore let’s go back to the spirit of being humble, listening, and observing our surroundings while building the good habits, the little small things in my life.