Confidence is a skill more than a talent. Or at least, that's what the majority of us would prefer to believe. Were confidence something innate, something simply inherent to some at the expense of those not so naturally endowed, this ever-so-advantageous quality would reduce to something as meaningless as one's countenance as ensured by one's ready made neurological makeup.

It would be a proxy; a proxy for something as mundane as level of dopaminergic activity or serotonin uptake. Confidence would be the repository of the lucky few. It would be a pointless asset; empty, yet always and everywhere as beneficial as ever. The confident among us win in love and abound in opportunity; perish the thought that that be neuro cognitive luck!

No, confidence can be built. It can be artificially induced by either how we choose to see or what we choose to hear. This is the belief delusional or otherwise we all harbor. We cling to it like a pauper to his rags because we must. We cling to it because any outlook which subordinates luck to will is empowering.

We wrap ourselves around that mast because the storm-clouds of an indeterminate world are ominous. But is it really so unrealistic? If confidence operates as most of us perceive, if it vacillates with time in tandem with peer approvals or lovers' jeers, then it must in some sense be exogenous. It can't be all our biological makeup. It can't be solely nature, and none wise nurture.

But perhaps this role of external events isn't as important as we think. Perhaps these daily determiners-of-self-esteem aren't the conclusive counterevidence to the “nature” position as represented above.

After all, even if these events exert an influence independent of our biochemistry, it may be biochemistry in the end that makes a difference. Consider a poor performance evaluation at work: perhaps every one of us would feel a blow, but the extent of that blow would depend on our nature. In that regard, there may indeed be much to be said for the “nature” hypothesis.

But we can all still take comfort: nothing conclusively confirms this hypothesis either. And nothing ever will. For, whatever the argument in its defense, there will always be one objection. Theoretically, one (if only he or she possesses the requisite will) could discard all the sneers and jeers and forever believe in him or herself on the strength of his or her inner fortitude alone. And even if we ourselves are never so strong, never can we affirmatively declare that no-one is.

If you would like to read my article "Is Confidence A Matter Of Personality?", then click here: www.createselfconfidence.com/is-confidence-a-matter-of-personality/. And for more articles on creating self confidence, visit my website at www.createselfconfidence.com/.