Confidence

We all need a dream, a goal, a driving passion. For me, I have a number of them. For example, I want to be a good son, an excellent father, an honorable friend. I’d like to live in a little cabin in Montana with a girl I once knew, writing novels about the world. I’d like to start at the bottom of a library and read my way to the top, consuming the knowledge of a millenium. Rather more prosaically, I’d quite like to sit on a couch and play videogames, with none of that silly motion-capture nonsense in the way. Of course, it would be helpful for all of these, and more, to be possible; perhaps outfitting my little cabin with a large television and private library. The plausibility of these dreams is not relevant, but it does matter that I have them.

For many, their dreams are rather more directed, such as joining company X, or achieving promotion Y. With these thoughts in mind, they naturally become nervous when on the brink of achievement. Who wouldn’t, with the object of their desire almost in their grasp? Unfortunately, these very nerves harm the attempt. You walk into the interview for your dream job, and realize that being that close to your goal is scary, so you clam up. What’s the fix? Dream bigger, longer, deeper. Don’t aim to join McKinsey or Bain, but to be the best damn consultant the world has ever seen. By the time you walk into your final interview, you’ll realize it’s just a little step on a long journey, and relax into your performance. With that, you’ll be a man, my son.