BE CONFIDENT

                                                     CONFIDENT

                AWKWARD AND SHY DURING MY TEENAGE YEARS AND ALWAYS OVERWEIGHT. I REMEMBER ATTENDING PARTIES WITH THE NAGGING FEAR OF NOT KNOWING ANYONE, OF HAVING TO SIT ALONE IN A CORNER NURSING A DRINK. I INEVITABLY ENDED UP DONE PRECISELY THAT. 

              DURING MY LAST FEW YEAR IN SCHOOL, SOME TEACHERS FORCED ME INTO ELOCUTION, DEBATES AND DRAMATICS. THROUGH I WAS INITIALLY NERVOUS, MY SELF- CONFIDENT INCREASED WITH EVERY SUCCESSIVE COMPETITION. I EVENTUALLY REACHED A STAGE WHERE I ACTIVELY SOUGHT OPPORTUNITIES TO SPEAK A STAGE ( AND HAD TO BE GENTLY REMINDED TO SHUT UP).

          SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO ACQUIRING CONFIDENT?  ITS SIMPLE. CONQUER FEAR.

           OVERCOMING FEAR- OF ANY SORT- ALLOWS ONE TO OPEN UP TO THE FLOW OF OPPORTUNITIES. BERTRAND RUSSEL, THE BRITISH PHILOSOPHER AND MATHEMATICIAN, OBSERVED, 'TO CONQUER FEAR IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM'.

             CITING THE WORK OF PSYCHOLOGIST DANIEL GILBERT AND TIMOTHY WILSON, SCHWALBE EXPLAINS 'THE IMPACT BIAS'. THE IMPACT BIAS IS OUR TENDENCY TO GREATLY OVERESTIMATE THE INTENSITY AND EXTENT OF OUR EMOTIONAL REACTIONS. THE NET RESULT OF THIS BIAS? WE EXPECT FAILURES TO BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE, SO WE FEAR THEM MORE THAN WE NEED TO.COSIDER LEGENDARY INVESTOR WARREN BUFFET WHO HAD A FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING.

          BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR WARREN BUFFET WAS PETRIFIED OF PUBLIC SPEAKING. HE WOULD PICK HIS COLLEGE CLASSES CAREFULLY TO ENSURE THAT HE WOULD NOT HAVE TO ADDRESS THE CLASS.

         BUFFET JOINED A PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE BUT NEVER ATTENDED ANY OF THE SESSIONS, I' LOST MY NERVE' HE SAID IN AN INTERVIEW LATER. 

                  HE WAS NOT ALONE. COUNTLESS FAMOUS PEOPLE INCLUDING  BRUCE WILLIS, TIGER WOODS, JULIA ROBERST, ANTHONY QUINE , JIMMY STEWART HAD ISSUES WITH PUBLIC SPEAKING. AT TWENTY - ONE , BUFFET STARTED HIS INVESTMENT CAREER AND REALIZED THAT HE SIMPLY HAD TO OVERCOME HIS FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING.

                    BUFFET SIGNED UP FOR A DALE CARNEGIE COURSE WITH MANY  LIKE WHO WERE SCARED OF GETTING UP AND SAYING OUR NAMES. FAST FORWARD TO THE ANNUAL MEETING OF BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY'S SHAREHOLDERS. EACH YEAR MORE THAN 35000 SHAREHOLDERS DESCEND UPON OMAHA. IT IS BUT OBVIOUS THAT BUFFET IS THE STAR ATTRACTION. BUFFET NOT ONLY SPEAKS, BUT MANAGES TO SING, DANCE AND POSE FOR PHOTOGRAPES!