Nick HutchisonFounder and CEO, BookThinkers

Is total preparation the best way to build trust with yourself?🤔 @HasardLee

11 Oct 2023 · 1 min

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In this conversational segment, Speaker A asks how to cultivate trust in oneself. Speaker B, drawing on experience as a fighter‑pilot instructor, argues that preparation is the cornerstone of self‑trust. He cites the adage “you fall to the level of your preparation,” noting that real‑world missions are deliberately made harder in training to compensate for the cognitive drop that occurs when a person dons gear (helmet, suit, tie). Over‑preparing creates a buffer that maintains performance under pressure. Speaker B then describes the importance of a feedback loop and staying within a “zone of excellence,” where tasks are challenging enough to promote growth but not so hard that they shatter confidence. He emphasizes the balance between confidence and arrogance, and warns that pushing trainees too hard can erode their self‑trust, while tasks that are too easy fail to build it. The overall message is that systematic, slightly beyond‑required preparation, coupled with calibrated difficulty and continuous feedback, builds reliable trust in one’s own abilities.

Chapters

How can we begin to build trust with ourselves? Because I know in my life and then others that I've seen, it can be a very difficult thing to cultivate in your life. So like, what are some tips that you have to build that trust with yourself?
So the first thing is just preparation. So we have a saying, you don't rise to the level of your expectation, you fall to the level of your preparation. So no matter, you know, what field you're going into, you have to be able to prepare for it. And so when we're flying missions, we're often doing missions that are significantly more difficult in training than we do in combat. Because like I said, as soon as you put on your helmet— it's a helmet for us, I'm sure it's, you know, different things for other people— but as soon as you put put on your tie or your suit, whatever, your IQ drops 20% or 20 IQ points. So you really have to be able to over-prepare. After that, it's just a matter of getting into the proper feedback cycle, maintaining a proper zone of excellence. You don't want something that's too difficult. So as an instructor, we'll fly with students, and one of the big differences that we do now from past training is really trying to push them but not push them too hard. You push them too hard, you can break them. They can break down their confidence. That's an important aspect of being a fighter pilot, to be confident but not arrogant. But if it's too easy,