Firstly we need to understand properly what the concept of self-confidence is.
It doesn’t mean simply that a person “believes” and is “confident” in himself.
A person has no intrinsic power of his own, without Hashem.
Rather, self-confidence means that a person needs to believe that Hashem gave him certain abilities and capabilities, which he is able to actualize from their potential.
(//question.bilvavi.net/blog/2019/03/04/renewal-of-the-self/—How to follow this advice is copiously detailed in the link.)
One can also extrapolate from this that if a person insists on believing he is the hopeless exception, like if he refuses to believe he too possesses certain abilities & capabilities AND if he refuses to believe he possesses the ability to actualize them...
...it's a kind of heresy.
The authentic Torah belief is:
- You DO possess certain abilities & capabilities.
- You DO possess the ability to actualize these abilities & capabilities.
Hashem infused these into every person.
So if you think you lack those, then what are you saying about Hashem?
What are you saying about authentic Torah knowledge?
You MUST believe this!
It's daat Torah.
(Hopefully, you know this in a happy way.)
And like many other real talmidei chachamim, Rav Schwartz encourages us to discover this potential by investing in the following:
Think about the good abilities which Hashem has implanted within you, and then think about what your most special ability is, which is hidden within you.
Then after discovering it, try to use access your best ability more often, so that you keep actualizing its potential.
(//bilvavi.net/qanda-weekly/eng/Bilvavi_..._Bilvavi%20Q&A_Assortment%20for%20years_5788-9.pdf, page 10)
- We must know we innately possess certain capabilities & abilities—implanted within us directly by Hashem.
- We must know we DEFINITELY possess the capability to actual these qualities.
- We must identify these good abilities.
- We must identify our most special ability.
- Upon identifying our most special ability, we must strive to access our most special ability more often to actualize its potential.