Self-confidence is an attitude that is learned — through successful experiences which have created the expectation of future successes. People who have high self-confidence aren't necessarily great at everything they do — they just have realistic expectations, accept both the good and the bad about themselves, and continue to be positive even after a failure. Their long history of successes negates occasional failure and never lowers their expectations of future successes for very long.
Unfortunately, when a person with low self-confidence fails though, they lose even more confidence and their expectations of future failures increases — creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. And since these people expect to fail, they tend to avoid risks, along with requiring the approval of others to feel good about themselves. They often feel like they don't belong with their families or to groups simply because they perceive a resistance to their unique individuality. Consider that this feeling of being an outsider is actually just an opportunity to learn unique lessons through specific experiences from people much different than yourself, thus contributing to your ongoing growth. Relish the differences and move beyond comparisons to take advantage of the unique possibilities.
Ironically, young and naive people who don't have many past experiences with failure often succeed when more experienced people wouldn't. They know just enough to expect failure. And that's what they get. Sometimes "knowing" too much is a hindrance, so ignorance can be bliss. You pretty much get what you expect — so imagine having already succeeded.
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