Be a Cocky Bastard

Confidence is one of the most essential things in the world to have if you want to succeed in anything that you do. Lawyers, doctors, even physicists have to be cocky bastards if they want to move ahead in their given field. Some good, albeit fictional, examples would be the lovable Sheldon of THE BIG BANG THEORY, Dr. Gregory House of HOUSE, and Dr. Perry Cox of SCRUBS. They all have confidence in their abilities and know that they will be able to solve any problem that may come their way. Sheldon always puts down his 3 friends to show that he is superior to them in intelligence, even though he is a socially inept, overgrown 8 year old. House continually puts down his subordinates and miraculously saves the patient’s life in almost all the episodes by getting an epiphany and subsequently rubbing in his underlings’ faces. Finally, Dr. Cox has an incessant need to show that he is the hospital’s best physician and cannot stand it when another doctor fails to meet up to his standards. These fictional characters all represent the extreme type of arrogance that people exhibit when their confidence makes them narcissistic. When going to an interview, if you don’t show any confidence, then you’re probably not going to get the position that you’re applying for. I don’t do interviews well, because though I am confident in my academic capabilities, talking to a bunch of old people that determine the future will intimidate anyone.

The reason for this talk about confidence is because I know that I am smart, but unfortunately my bad choices don’t always show that. I am praised by my friends and other students as being super smart but that really is starting to get to me. As in, I don’t like the fact that they say that they are not up to my intelligence. Most everyone I meet and associate with, I judge them to be as intellectual or intellectually superior to me. People shouldn’t say that another is smarter than themselves, because sooner or later it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you have confidence in yourself and trust in your abilities, then you can reach whatever heights you want. I too am guilty of saying that some of my friends are super geniuses or something to that effect because I believe it to be true. I don’t work as hard as them, but I am able to make do with whatever I can get done.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that don’t put anyone on a pedestal because at one point or another, they were at the same stage as you are now. The only difference between the accomplishments of others is the innate desires that lead the person to his or her achievements. Intelligence may be somewhat genetic, but that doesn’t mean hard work can’t close the gap between those that are actually smart and those who work their asses off to get achieve their goals in life. Stop being a pansy and believe in what you can do. I know that this rant may seem narcissistic, I don’t care because I know that there are those in the world who are much smarter and more capable than me. That doesn’t mean that I won’t stop trying to surpass them, because competition is one of the best things in life and helps to make life worth living.