-Today we're talking about ways to be more confident. -Yo man, I eat confidence for breakfast.
-You know there's a fine line between being cocky and being confident. -I know man, I totally hate those guys! Let's talk about that vid!
-Hey you're watching VidTalk on VoiceTube TV, I'm JR. -I'm Ray, and JR can you tell me again the phrase you just threw at me? What was it?
I eat confidence for breakfast?
-You eat confidence for breakfast. -Kind of delicious.
You know I have to reiterate, there is a fine line between being cocky, the obnoxious kind of confident, and being confident.
Yeah tell me about it, people are not modest these days. They totally need to learn about it.
But anyways, being confident to me, confidence.
You know it's about staying true to yourself and staying true to your goals in life, no matter what kind of pressure you're under.
How about you though?
To me, I think being confident is the belief in yourself and your ability and mastery to be able to achieve a goal?
-That doesn't sound quite confident. -That's a good point, because despite the fact that you know you might fail.
You're still going to go for it, you're still going to take the plunge.
That's blind faith. That's another thing.
Well we kind of disagree on the definition of confidence, but let's settle it with the standard definition from a dictionary,
so let's hear what the dictionary has to say about the word "confidence".
So the word "confidence" in the dictionary, its definition is "the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something".
So according to the dictionary, confidence is not just about believing in yourself, you can also have confidence in others.
So you can have faith in others or yourself.
So we're talking about this topic, this specific video today because me and Ray, you know we've been doing speeches all around Taiwan, on campus.
And we've been observing a lot of young students, and this is a general trend, something in common that we found together.
And it's that a lot of young Taiwanese, they lack confidence. They truly lack confidence.
A lot of times, there's a lot of great opportunities lying at their doorsteps, but they shy away from it.
-They don't dare to take that one first step. That first step out right there. -Out of their comfort zone.
Yeah and get out of their comfort zone, and try to do something new or fresh. They instead stay in their comfort zone.
And it's not because they don't have what it takes, it's because they're just too unconfident.
So today we're talking about this topic, this is going to be tips coming from us.
-I would like to think that I'm confident. Do you think you're confident? -I'm cocky!
So we've been to various speeches, public speakings, we've hosted various programs, so we have some experience giving tips to people
who are not confident enough, so today we're gonna share with you some tips but in particular we're going to talk about a video.
So this is a Ted-Ed video that is on the topic of how to be more confident, so we're gonna elaborate on some tips
and share with you some of our personal experiences, our stories, so that you can also learn to become more confident.
So our first tip for you is to believe in your ability to improve.
There's a catch here, you see, not just your ability but your ability to improve.
So you're not believing in your current ability, you're believing in the future basically.
-The potential. -Your potential to become better.
So if you have a fixed mindset where you think your talents are fixed and you can't go anywhere.
Then everything is gonna be like a dead end for you. But if you view every single challenge as a way to improve,
then that way, you will make slow progress but then you will get better and better and you will have more and more confidence.
So this is what the video calls the "growth mindset". It's just mainly talking about how people can grow in the future, and just picturing that in your mind.
And that's actually something I do with my own students. I'm a counselor for young college students at my church.
And usually I get a lot of questions from them, a lot of problems from them, saying that they don't have confidence.
How about this, let's do some roleplay, you be my young student.
-So my character is... -You're a student who lacks confidence and thinks he's not doing good in his faith. -Okay.
I'm so depressed, JR, I feel like a rotting pile of junk.
Well, maybe it's true.
What the heck! You have to stay in character! You're a counselor! You have to console me.
I'm sorry I couldn't help it. I'll do good this time.
-Take two! -Take two.
JR, I just feel like a rotting pile of junk.
Okay so Ray right? That's your name? Ray for how long have you come to church so far?
-About seven years. -Seven years and you haven't made any progress?
-What the heck! You have to stay in character! You're a counselor! You're supposed to counsel me.
Okay one more take, I'll do this right this time. I can't help it.
-I've been here seven years. -That was so fun. -I've been here seven years.
So you've been here for seven years, okay Ray I want you to picture yourself sevens years ago. Look at yourself seven years ago.
Have you made any changes? Have you made a difference? In your personality, in your attitude in life?
Come to think of it, yes I did. I changed quite a lot.
Right! You changed quite a lot! Now picture yourself seven years from now. Is it fair to say that you'll make quite the same amount of change?
Or even more change in the future?
It's kinda hard to picture it but if I imagine the last seven years of progress and I replicate it to the future.
Then maybe yeah, that seems really plausible.
Right. That's exactly right. That's how you build confidence. That is the so-called growth mindset,
when you picture yourself the potential to grow, so that's how we do it.
So as a counselor you're kind of implementing the growth mindset into your students,
so that they can believe not just in their current ability, which is kind of lacking, but also in their future ability.
And it's not a trick, cos you're actually thinking about your past, the things you've actually done in the past
-and then you just replicate it to the future. -Thinking more positively. -Wow I can do the same or even better than before.
So that's a very good first tip.
Okay tip number two, practice failure.
Now face it! You're gonna fail in your lifetime once in a while. Well it doesn't apply to me but for you muggles, pretty true.
You're gonna fail once, twice, three times, a hundred times in your life. Everybody does. Except for me.
You're really trying to get that point across, are you?
I'm just kidding. I'm just joking. Just playing with you.
But according to studies, according to this video, it says that people who fail regularly and get back up again, challenge again.
They eventually get better equipped to respond to challenges and setbacks in their life, in a very constructive way.
You know to me personally this is very true because I think in my sophomore year, I've always aspired to become a broadcaster.
You did? So this is the dream for you. We're living it.
Right that is, but I've come a long way. In the past when I was still in college it was really a far-fetched dream
because it's really hard for me to get into any kind of radio station, but eventually I did,
I got into National Education Radio, and then I was a news anchor.
And boy did I fail hardcore. I missed lines, I stuttered, my mind went blank. I made really bad mistakes.
-I know how that feels. -And after every broadcast I'm kinda like a little bit worried, because I'd be like thinking, will they fire me after this?
-Should I resign? -Right. I made really glaring mistakes.
-As an ICRT broadcastor in the past, you should relate to this right? -Yeah I was a broadcastor there.
-However, there is a dividing line between amateur and professional. -That is the definition of cockiness right here. -I'm just playing.
But the message we're trying to deliver to you, the takeaway from the video is,
you should not just look at your current ability. However incompetent, however miserable, however failing you current situation is,
you should always put faith in your future self as long as you have this growth mindset, as long as you are developing,
you should believe in your future ability to improve and to conquer different obstacles.
So every failure that you're facing, every hurdle that you're taking. It's for your better good and in the future, you will reach your goal and your milestone.
Wow I feel all pumped up right now, and if you wanna find out where Ray's inspirational speech came from,
well check out this video right now and we will be back with our weekly challenge.
It isn't possible to completely untangle these three factors, but the personal choices we make certainly play a major role in confidence development.
So, by keeping in mind a few practical tips, we do actually have the power to cultivate our own confidence.
Welcome to the weekly challenge section of VidTalk, today we've chosen one sentence out of the video and here is the sentence.
So, by keeping in mind a few practical tips, we do actually have the power to cultivate our own confidence.
So here we're looking at the phrase keep in mind, so what does that mean JR?
-Well keep in mind means to, you remember this. -I don't think that's it, no. -Not in that tone, but it does mean to not forget.
But there's kinda a difference between remember and keep in mind, cause like your mom would tell you, on your way home remember to...
buy some eggs. Remember to buy some eggs on your way home. But you wouldn't say, on your way home keep in mind, buy some eggs.
-Sounds really off. -It's wrong.
The reason why is because remember is more used for a single event, like a short one.
But keep in mind is something you need to focus on, something important. So that's keep in mind.
So you can make a sentence using keep in mind, for example, by keeping in mind something, you can something.
Or you can say keep in mind that something, but remember it needs to be important things that you want to remember for a long time.
Like in the movie, they usually say, keep in mind I'll be watching you.
Right, so that's a good example.
Alright. So leave your comments below and we just might choose your comment for the show next week.
Thank you for liking, commenting, and sharing this video!
And remember to subscribe to VoiceTube TV right up here and come back every Thursday night for a new episode of VidTalk.
Remember to subscribe to us, JR and Ray. This is rayduenglish down here and jrleeradio down here. Subscribe.
And right now let's go to our comments left by you guys in our last episode.
Alright so this is what we got, and last week we were talking about the phrase "call it a day", "call it a career". What does that mean?
So to end a day's work, or to end one's career.
Right and we got four comments right here. This is from Taboffer, one of our favorite listeners by the way.
He said: "JR and Ray will not call it a career until they're eighty." Really?
-I think that's too long. Thirty-ish? -You wouldn't want to see us on the screen when we're thirty.
Anyways he keeps on saying: "So we are gonna have thousands of episodes of VidTalk".
That is... well if you subscribe to us, we won't have to pack up and go home. Subscribe up here.
This is the next one funnyputz: "Since I learned the phrase call it a career from this video, I decided to call it a day and go to my warm bed. Choose me!"
-Didn't we? -Yeah we did choose you.
Next one is Mong Chi Shih, I think we selected yours last time, but this is a good sentence.
"Undoubtedly, the best way to call it a night is relaxing by watching VidTalks on VoiceTube and to be happy with what Ray and JR share."
That's sweet. That's sweet and a good sentence. And by the way he says "I really look like a monkey."
-Too much information. -(monkey sounds). That was hello.
Last but not least, Mou Brent, he said: "Allen dedicated to follow his father's footsteps to be a real estate agent, after his father decided to call it a career."
-This is like a sentence that came out of a textbook. -Yeah this is a really good one. Good job.
These are the comments for today, remember to leave your comments for this week's challenge below within the comment section right here.
And that wraps up the day!
-I'm JR, -I'm Ray, -And we'll talk to you next time.