What is the difference between confidence and overconfidence?

Hi, Alice123!

To me, having confidence is knowing that you have prepared well for what you need to do and that because of the preparation that you have done, if you try hard enough, then you will be most likely to succeed at your task.

To be over confident to me, means that simply having been successful at something in the past, a person thinks that they will have no problem doing a task because of the success that they have had in the past with similar projects, even though some refresher or additional preparation might be needed for the new task.

To put it simply:

Confidence ='s adequate preparation and knowing that you can do the task because you have been adequately prepared.

Over Confidence ='s perhaps some arrogance because of prior successes, that you can do something simply because you have been successful at doing it previously.

That's my opinion, anyway. I would think that there would be a number of different ways of looking at this depending on the situation.

Hopefully, others will also be along to address your question.

I am curious as to why you are asking the question. Would you please mind sharing that?

Thanks!

First of all thanks a lot 4 your reply. It was a great answer, the one I needed. I just wanted to know what is the demarcation line between the two. Well thanks 4 making me more clear about that.

Overconfidence is akin to being foolhardy. There was a movie out that showed some guys doing reckless and stupid stuff like jumping off a roof into danger, and all sorts of stuff people laughed at.

Confidence is approaching life feeling you can be a success at what you decide to do.