How can feeling confident be a placebo, and even if it is does that matter?
How It's A Placebo:
It's a placebo because confidence without competence is nothing but delusion. If you are 5'4", poor and ugly, you can be as confident as you want, reality will keep reminding you that you don't have what it takes to be romantically successful.
Yes, exceptions to the rule exist, but the exceptions don't disprove the rule.
Confidence that isn't rooted in a history of success or an increased potential for success, is delusion.
A man in wheel chair can wake up one morning confident that he's going to get up and walk, him just believing so isn't going to have that result.
The difference between bravery and foolishness is the outcome, and someones actions are always judged in hindsight.
If an untrained male civilian rushes into a burning building when firefighters are on their way, and he successfully rescues a mother and a child, people will call him brave. If he instead gets himself and the mother+child killed due to his lack of capability and knowledge people will call him foolish and say he should have waited for professionals.
Believing you can do something without taking your own capabilities into consideration is foolishness, but people only ever see the outcomes, maybe you'll get lucky or maybe you won't.
It reminds me of this quote -
"The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success and failure"
Why That Matters:
If someone wants to use their time and energy effectively, they have to be honest with themselves about their own capabilities.
If you have a double digit IQ, you can want to be a world renowned theoretical physicist as much as you want, you can hope and dream, but it's statistically unlikely that you can achieve that goal.
If you are born with a genetic disease like muscular dystrophy, you can want to be a world famous body builder as much as you want, you can hope and dream, but it's statistically unlikely that you can achieve that goal.
Every human has a cap on their potential for various facets of their biological existence:
Height
Intelligence
Strength
Life Span
Physical Capabilities
Mental Capabilities
Etc
Heck even empathy is included in that, the brains of psychopaths are different to that of the brain of a regular person. Some people are handicapped in the sense that they struggle to empathize with others. (In some circumstances it's a perk, CEO's often have psychopathic traits)
To get to the point, not everybody is going to get the things they want in life, not even the things you consider "basic". If you waste your time chasing after what's statistically less likely, instead of pursuing what's statistically more likely, you may end up being left with nothing but regret at the end of your life.
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