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Confidence - is it important?

This has been brought up several times around the design community in pertaining to selling yourself, but I ask the question to you. Is confidence important to how you work and/or run your business?

My answer is yes, but learn the difference between confidence and an ego. Confidence is what you need to succeed both as a designer and as a business. A lack of confidence reflects poorly to your clients and they may be unwilling to hire you. However, I would never suggest being egotistical because that could damage your reputation severely by coming off too strong to clients and other members of the design community.

 

Discussion (21)

You definitely need confidence because there will be a lot of times that you will get knocked down by a client, a boss or the competition and you have to have enough confidence in your abilities to pick yourself back up. This doesn't mean you have to be full of yourself, but the design world is a giant, friendly competition and to compete you need to know you deserve to even be in the game.

 
 
 

Confidence is definitely important, but as you say the line between confidence and ego is vital. You dont need masses of confidence, just enough to be able to talk comfortably to prospective clients, and be able to sell yourself and, most importantly, not undervalue your work because you're not confident in your abilities.

 
 

Absolutely. Confidence will carry you out of the lowest parts of your career, and will allow you to stay at the top of your game! Understanding what you're capable of and knowing your realistic limits goes hand-in-hand as well.

Having self-confidence in any field will allow you to grow as an individual and we're all seeking strength, stability and prosperity and nothing can do this better than having Confidence.

 
 

Confidence is important because it is an attitude that gives you permission to succeed. It is also the attitude that allows you to experiment and not be crushed when you fail.

Confidence also allows you to explain to a client why a particular technology that they have their heart set on (like flash) is not suitable for their site or in a particular circumstance. (And it makes it more likely they will listen to you).

Of course, confidence and arrogance are not the same and the moment that arrogance starts replacing confidence you are in danger of making the same mistakes that a lack of confidence often causes. (E.g. inflexibility and unwillingness to experiment and one-true-wayism).

 
 
 

One key to remember: confidence != ego and never should. Neither should it = arrogance or even be a bad thing. I think even in life you need some confidence let alone as a designer. Anyone that thinks being a designer isn't going to challenge your self view will soon find that change. If you go freelance be even more prepared for a roller coaster. Self doubt is just part of the job description and we all find ways of coping / bolstering in the low times. To be fair that little voice of doubt if kept in check will both spur you on and push your work to be better - it will never settle for just good enough and neither should you as a designer :)

 

I would say confidence is integral to design. You need to be able to confidently make design decisions, big and small, in order to be a good designer.

In some ways confidence trumps talent: Talent is gold, but it's not much without confidence. Confidence, on the other hand, will help you on your way even if you haven't got that much talent.

(PS: A dash cut off half of my response, and I swear I phrased everything better the first time. Oh well.)

 

I think there is a distinction between confidence and belief. I think it's important to have belief in yourself and your abilities. If you have that it will breed confidence.

Your confidence can be eroded through the many knocks and put-downs working as a designer can send your way, but as long as you keep believing in what you can do it will give you a good base to re-build any confidence you might lose.

 

I’ve always had a little trouble differentiating confidence and arrogance… Plus, different people seem to have different thresholds of when confidence becomes arrogance.

I think you need to be able to stick up for yourself and not be afraid to recommend things that other people may disagree with.  If you can do that politely and respectfully, people will probably value your time and skill.

Here’s my particular threshold:

Once you fight for an idea, not because it’s the best idea, but because you came up with it, you’re a douche.

That also applies to ideas from other people you fight against.

 
 

To be honest I think it is major to be high in confidence. You need to have confidence in yourself and also your work. Confidence is a major key in life because you need to think positive and have a positive attitude towards your own work. Don’t let other people bring down your confidence just because they don’t like your work and they may not know anything about your web page. Just keep your head high and stay confident in everything you do!

 

Does it definitely show if you DON’T have confidence? Absolutely. So confidence is important, but like you said, temper the ego. When someone lacks confidence though, it’s often difficult to build it. The first step of course is realizing that you lack it and where exactly you lack it. Maybe you’re an awesome designer, but you aren’t a “people person”. I’ve dealt with that myself and while I still don’t enjoy going to a big meeting or doing a presentation in front of a small audience, I can do it and once I do and it is successful, my confidence level raises a little higher. The things that you lack confidence in are those very things that you should push yourself to do and slowly get better at.

 

The things that you lack confidence in are those very things that you should push yourself to do and slowly get better at.

I agree with this statement. I too am not what you call a “people person”. I have nervous habits like stuttering and it can get the in the way, but I learn how to control it by having confidence in myself and my selling abilities.

 

+1 on checking your egos at the door.

I’ve run into too a few designer/developers who say they can do one thing when they really can’t. I’ve had previous clients who have dealt with web designers that failed them in creating the site they needed.

I definitely don’t think anyone on this site is that type of designer but just wanted to mention that.

I prefer an honest & humble stand point but I definitely am confident in what I do.

 
 

I’ll chime in here: since I’ve been getting more and more into freelancing and web design (vs. web programming) what I’ve noticed is that it’s 2011 and doing anything on the web is still hard for anyone that isn’t a designer or developer. How that affects my behavior is that when I talk to clients it requires absolute confidence that I can say “yes, I can do that” and “yes, I know how that works”. If I don’t know then I can at least tell them “that isn’t my strength but I can learn that pretty quick”. And if it’s something that I won’t do then it’s more “I know people who would love to do that”.

People want to feel that you are in control and that you are a professional, especially if they are spending money from their own pocket. They want reassurance. They want honesty. They want simple and brief answers.

 

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