Someone told me a couple of years back that self-confidence and the ability to take risks can take you a lot further in this world than almost anything else.
I've always been a kind of person who likes to try things out just to see what happens. Looking back, I think that curiosity is exactly where self-confidence and risk-taking start to feed into each other.
You try something because you're curious, you get a little better at it, and that little bit of progress is what makes you brave enough to try the next thing.
When I started my career, I wasn't all that competent, if I'm being honest. I couldn't have imagined being where I am today. Back then, my confidence stretched just far enough to believe I'd land a decent job and maybe figure out the rest as I went.
But the more time I spent on my craft, the more I started understanding its nuances, and that's when the real confidence started building.
There's something that happens when you put in the time. You start being okay with showing your work. You stop hiding it. And when you're not hiding it anymore, you naturally start doing better quality work, because now your name and your values are attached to it. That's the loop, I think.
Time invested in something you love builds your confidence, and that confidence is what eventually gives you the nerve to take risks, to present yourself in a way you couldn't have when you were just starting out.
This probably looks different for everyone. Maybe for you it's starting your own company. There's always doubt in the beginning, always that voice asking if you really know what you're doing.
But with time, with learning, and honestly with a lot of unlearning, you grasp that self-confidence. And that's the thing that pushes you to take the risk.
Taking risks is not easy. I say this with complete certainty, because I've lived it. If I wasn't doing what I'm doing today, I'd probably have ended up in an engineering role, the kind I'd dread waking up to every single day. I know I wouldn't have been happy doing that. The thought alone is enough to make me uncomfortable.
The traditional path made sense on paper. Study a certain thing, get a job in that field, settle in. But it never made sense to me, not really. At the time, writing online wasn't even seen as a real career, not where I came from. I didn't know many people doing it, let alone doing it well. That was the hardest part, honestly, not knowing anyone who'd walked that road before me. But I kept going anyway, mostly on instinct, because something in me refused to let it go.
Then, slowly, things started to change. I started meeting people in the space. I started seeing the ecosystem around it actually grow and evolve in real time. That's when my self-confidence jumped to a different level altogether, and I just kept going at it.
If I hadn't taken that risk, if I'd let that window close, I think I would have ended up somewhere pretty bad for me. Maybe I'd have made the same money, maybe even more.
But I know, without a doubt, I wouldn't have been as happy as I am today, and that, more than anything, is what makes me believe self-confidence and the willingness to take a risk are worth everything they cost you.