Why You Should Stop Being “Realistic” About Your Goals Most people wait until they feel confident before they act. That’s usually a mistake. In fact, the people who achieve the most rarely wait for permission, proof, or perfect conditions. They move first. They believe first. And the confidence often comes after the action. There’s a name for this mindset, and once you understand it, you’ll start seeing it everywhere. It’s called irrational confidence. I came across the phrase "irrational confidence" when a sports psychologist who has spent decades coaching and studying peak performers used it. According to him, one trait shows up again and again among the best of the best and it was what he called “irrational confidence.” Now that’s a fascinating idea isn’t it? Logic on one side. Emotion on the other. Now what exactly is a “rational” amount of confidence anyway? Who gets to decide how much confidence is appropriate for you? So why not dial it all the way up to 11? If confidence fuels action, and action creates momentum, then it makes sense to grant yourself as much belief as you possibly can. After all, as Henry Ford famously said, whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. I’ve long believed that if we genuinely thought we couldn’t fail, we’d behave very differently. We’d be bolder. We’d hesitate less.We’d stop overthinking every move. And history shows us again and again that fortune favours the bold. In my book, Rich Habits Poor Habits, I explained that people who believe they’re lucky don’t just sit around waiting for good things to happen. They put themselves in situations where luck has a chance to show up. They enter competitions. They buy the raffle ticket. They raise their hand. They take the risk. In other words, they create more opportunities for luck to find them. Irrational confidence works the same way. You see it in sport, from Mike Tyson to Michael Jordan. You see it in business, from Richard Branson to Elon Musk. Every major achievement you admire today began with someone believing in the outcome long before the evidence existed. Long before success wa

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