There

is a difference.

A big difference.

con·fi·dent

ˈkänfədənt/

adjective

1.feeling or showing confidence in oneself; self-assured.

"she was a confident, outgoing girl"

synonyms: self-assured, assured, self-confident, positive, assertive, self-possessed, self-reliant,poised; 

cool headed, phlegmatic, levelheaded, unperturbed, imperturbable, unruffled,at ease; 

informal together, can-do

"a confident young man"

ar·ro·gant

ˈerəɡənt/

adjective

having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.

"he's arrogant and opinionated"

synonyms: haughty, conceited, self-important, egotistic, full of oneself, superior; 

overbearing, pompous, bumptious, presumptuous, imperious, overweening; 

proud, immodest;

informal high and mighty, too big for one's britches, too big for one's boots, big-headed, puffed up; 

rare hubristic

"success has made him arrogant"

I think a lot of times people say arrogant when what they really mean is confident.

If I was arrogant?

I wouldn't have worked at 

Hillbilly's or as a general laborer for Ricky and Karen.

I would have seen it as beneath me.

I never did.

Not once.

I was however, confident in my ability to at least become proficient enough at whatever task was at hand to make it worthwhile for whoever was paying me. 

Again, big difference.

This olympian who won a gold medal was being interviewed and she stated, "I knew who was going to win the race." 

People were just aghast at her for saying it.

I'm like, "What in the world do you people want her to say?" 

"Here's what may be my one shot at being the best in the world at something, I hope I do good"?

Hell no you don't want her saying that, I mean what is the point in getting on the starting block to begin with if you don't think you're going to win?

There's this NASCAR driver, pretty much the same thing.

Young guy.

Already won a series points championship.

He's won as many races this year as anybody.

Twice as many as most of the other winners this year.

He's kind of a jerk but that's another story.

The guy is confident all things being equal that he can out drive anyone out there.

If you were a team owner?

You're gonna pour millions into a NASCAR Team?

Who do you want drivin for you?

The guy that says. "I'll do as good as I can for you."?

Or the guy that says, "I'm the best driver out there, give me a good team and good equipment and let me prove it to you."?

I know which one I'm hiring if I'm that team owner.

They interviewed Emmitt Smith who used to be a running back for the Cowboys.

I could be wrong but I believe it was in the preseason of his rookie year.

He was a good running back coming out of Fla and the press were asking about his goals.

He said he wanted to break Walter Payton's all time rushing mark.

This was seen as sacrilege.

This record in particular was seen by many as unbreakable.

The league had changed it's rules to become more pass-happy.

Teams scoring more often put more fans in the seats and better ratings on TV.

People thought, "Who the hell is this rookie to be talking about breaking Walter Payton's all time rushing mark? He hasn't even played one down in a regular season game yet."

Guess what?

Yeah, he went on and did the impossible and broke Walter's record.

SRV played Hendrix's Voodoo Chile (slight return).

Went so far as to record it and release it on a record.

Nobody played Hendrix, let alone records it and releases it on a record.

I mean nobody.

Again, it was considered sacrilege.

Well guess what?

He did it alright and by most accounts out Hendrixed Hendrix in the process.

One of those rare instances where the cover is better than the original.

So there are a couple of points to consider here:

Would any of these people went on to accomplish what they managed to accomplish if they didn't think they could to start with?

Doubtful.

You're beat before you start if that's the case.

If you don't have confidence in yourself?

Who else is going to?

Don't hold it against the people that do.

That's not their problem.

That's your problem.

Go find ya some self-confidence somewhere.

I guarantee you it's in you if you look long hard and often enough.

People just don't wanna do the damn work to find it if you ask me Lucy.

Love you.