Why Confidence?

Magazines, movie stars, moms, and students claim to have discovered the key to unlocking all hopes and dreams in life: self-confidence. Does this simple solution sound too good to be true? Or, on the other extreme, is it too impossible to pursue?
Self-confidence has become one of the most popular buzzwords in modern society, thanks to how frequently it comes up in interviews, articles, and advice columns. Cosmopolitan, Shape, Sports Illustrated, and almost every other publication tout confidence as the secret to capturing a man, losing that extra weight, achieving success, and basically getting everything you could possibly want out of life, but they stop there, forgetting to share with their audience exactly how to emulate it in their own lives.
Self-confidence has almost become a specific “X-factor” that people are either born with, or discover accidentally somewhere along the way. Because of this, we now have a fabulous abstract idea, with guaranteed positive results, but no idea how to make it a tangible reality in our own lives.
I am a student at student at the University of Southern California, where I am majoring in Broadcast Journalism. Through this discussion, I hope to find a way to share with students (and the rest of us) how to win confidence, and, by doing so, develop positive character traits and pursue life goals. As a spokesperson for Character Counts! in high school, I showed organizations the need for character education in school systems. I strongly believe that positive character traits, such as honesty and responsibility and perseverance, are crucial to the development and success of children and young adults. While I was traveling and installing these programs, though, I asked thousands of students about their opinion on the matter. I discovered that the root of the problem is not necessarily a lack of morality, or even positive role models, but a lack of sincere self-confidence.
In my opinion, if a child has confidence in himself or herself, he or she will be able to stand strong in their convictions. Confident children will not be afraid to resist peer pressure or to prevent bullying, and they will be more likely to be leaders. They will want to make goals because they are confident in their abilities, and their independence will help them achieve those goals. The media has already instilled a positive connotation with the word “confidence” in society, but I want to take it a step further.
I hope to first sort out the contradictions of confidence in society, help define the term in an “easy-to-understand” way, discuss its challenges, and, finally, to confirm its results.
I believe that if students find a way to be confident in themselves and their ability, then many of the magazines’ enormous promises can be possible. Not only will they hopefully grow as leaders and upstanding citizens in the community, but they will start achieving high goals, whether those goals are to get in shape or to get into college, because they believe in their ability to do so.