Regent's International School, Bangkok

Below is a well-written speech from our TEDX Conference from May-May in Year 8. A great example for everyone to see!

Confidence Conquers All

By May, Year 8

What is confidence? Confidence means to believe in the power of yourself. Self-confidence is extremely important in our lives. Many people struggle to find it or to be confident, even me. Having confidence is great, but sometimes having it too much can be a bad thing.

Firstly, a good reason for being confident is because confidence makes you successful in life. For example, getting a job. If you look really confident, you will always be expected to get a job, or be more lucky, you will get even better job than the first job that you choose. And if you get a really great job, you will be really successful. I can advise you how to win a presentation. Speak in normal tones, always look at the audience, don’t read out from a paper, stand up straight and always have a smile on your face, use body language. Always practice before the presentation day. Remember the script and stand up straight in front of a mirror. Read out the script and do what I told you to to be successful in a presentation.

Secondly, the more self-confident you become, the more you know how to handle or act in situations.This means that, any time you’re being confident, you will know how to handle the situation. For example, you are invited to a challenging race. There’s need to present something in front of the stranger, in that situation, you just need to be confident. Confidence will help you to win it. If you are confident, even the hardest situation, you can handle it easily without any worry. I can tell that if you are not confident, everyday of your life will be a struggle. If you don’t have confidence, you wouldn’t be able to do anything because you’re scared.

Furthermore, being too confident is not always good. Overconfidence can lead to a disaster instead of success. Overconfidence is when you go over your ability level. Overconfidence can happen anywhere, at school, at work, or in relationships.It is easy sometimes to become overconfident. Overconfidence can destroy your life; avoid it. For the strong and powerful, confidence is an ocean. The ocean is powerful and conquers all. But if you are being overconfident, the ocean might pull you down and make you drown. For example, you start taking a class that is easy for you. You already know what to do and how to do it. Then you need to start a project that is so easy you can laugh. So you didn’t care about it so much. A few week pass, the old work starts piling up, as you rush to do it. Suddenly, it’s not as easy any more. This is how overconfidence can be damaging.

Lastly, you now know what confidence is and how it can affect your life. I would advise you to be confident but not overconfident. ‘With confidence, you have won before you have started.’ as Marcus Garvey said. Thank you.