Shift - the concept refined

I sat down today and got some perspective on the essence of confidence building as people and within society as a whole.
When we look at the foundations of confidence building, we view a perceived lack of ability or life-skills. When we wake up in the morning for university or work, we turn to the clock beside us and review the time, then we turn over in bed and rapidly calculate how many minutes we have to shower, brush our teeth, eat breakfast, possibly review the news, get dressed, transport ourselves to our destination and pick up a coffee on the way.
The question I asked myself when waking up this morning was; how many skills are required to complete these menial tasks taken for granted for just one hour at the beginning of our day?

• Reading time
  
• Simple maths
• Hygiene
• Telling hot from cold
• Gaging how much shampoo is the right amount to wash your hair
• Brushing your teeth
• Getting dressed
• Matching your socks
  
• Placing your shoes on the right feet
• Tying your shoelace
• Toasting the bread
  
• Getting to the bus on time
• Having the correct change
• Pressing the button at your stop
• Lining up
  
• Placing an order for coffee
• Meeting your class

A person's experience of confidence is relative to their situation. It reminded me of an experience I had at the beginning of this year, whilst living in the United States of America. I visited a life skills program from which emerged, confident, adept, skilled and enthusiastic young people, all of whom had varying degrees of disability. These developed skills were all relative to and challenged society's perception of what is normal.

What is normal??

So....I had a "light-bulb" moment; maximizing a person's absolute potential in society is about attaining life skills relative to each person's own capabilities. That is, being confident is being the best YOU can be.