There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and it’s one that many people find hard to walk.

In fact, confidence can be seen as arrogant if it’s not reinforced with some sort of evidence.

After all, confidence is rooted in real self-worth. 

Arrogance, on the other hand, comes from an inflated sense of self-worth.

It’s based on assessments of abilities and achievements that are exaggerated.

So, while both of these qualities may be shown in a person’s positive attitude toward themself and what they can do, confidence is appropriate while arrogance is inappropriately pushed too far.

Some people simply have limited experience with life and with others to be able to know just how able they really are.

These people come across as arrogant because they naively believe have skills and knowledge that they actually don’t.

Other people have an overly inflated sense of self-importance and talk up their achievements, knowledge, and skills because they have a strong need to be admired.

This normally backfires, however, and they’re often resented, rejected, or even ridiculed for their arrogance.

So, if you want to be confident but not arrogant, say goodbye to these eight habits and stick to the reality of your situation.

1) Talking over others or interrupting

Confident people can express their thoughts and opinions effectively because they’re not afraid of looking silly or being shot down.

They can also respect other people’s expressions and listen when it’s appropriate.

They may not agree, but they’re able to listen politely and give others the respect of paying attention.

Not arrogant people, though.

They don’t listen well and have no issues with interrupting others or just talking over them, so the conversation becomes a competition. 

They’re usually worried about one of two things. 

First, they want to show off their opinions or knowledge, so they don’t want people to pay attention to others instead of them.

And second, they may feel threatened by someone else they see as more intelligent or better-informed.

So they use aggressive tactics like interrupting to steal the attention away from the other person and thus block them from looking better.

We see this all the time as a tool used in political debates (not naming any names), and it becomes a matter not of who has the better policies but who speaks the loudest.

If you don’t want to come across as arrogant, listening politely to others, even if you really think they’re wrong, is one of the best ways to show some humility.

2) Dismissing other people’s ideas or opinions

If you’ve ever tried out for a part in a play or a talent competition only to be interrupted by a loud and jarring “Next!” then you know what arrogance sounds like.

Even if you haven’t had this opportunity yourself, I’m sure you can recognize it as a rude gesture that shows no respect for the person’s efforts.

And it doesn’t have to be an on-stage situation – this happens in regular conversations all the time.

Some people do listen to other people’s ideas, but instead of giving them some careful consideration, they dismiss them outright.

They basically tell them that what they’re suggesting will never work or, worse, that it’s stupid. 

Just like that abrasive stage director, this, too, sounds really arrogant.

Now, in some cases, the person doing the dismissing is a real expert who can very quickly assess other’s contributions and make pronouncements on them.

But if that’s the case, they can still take the time to give a quick analysis of the idea and their reasons for rejecting it.

Otherwise, they, too, will come across as arrogant.

3) Never apologizing

Even the most confident of people can still make a mistake.

When they do something wrong, a person who is self-confident will have no trouble offering an apology.

If they’ve hurt someone or done some other damage, they’re able to recognize it.

They have respect for themselves, yes, but they also respect others enough to admit when they’re wrong.

But arrogant people tend to almost never apologize.

Why?

Generally, they don’t apologize because they don’t recognize when they’ve done something wrong.

Because their self-importance and assessment of their skills and abilities are so inflated, they basically can’t even see their own faults and mistakes. 

But even when they can recognize that they’ve done something wrong, they see it as beneath them to apologize to people who they see as their lessers.

4) Not owning up

As with apologizing, taking responsibility is not a forte of arrogant people.

Wait, scratch that.

Someone who’s arrogant will gladly take the credit and take responsibility for things that go well.

When there are successes around them, they almost automatically assume that they have a big part to play in them.

Who else could be so great?

But when things go belly up, suddenly, they’re nowhere to be seen.

After all, they see themselves as so great that they can’t even believe that they could do anything wrong, so why would they take responsibility for it?

When someone has a lot of self-confidence without being arrogant, though, they can stand up and take responsibility when things go wrong.

They own up to their actions, whether constructive or destructive.

They also see this acceptance of responsibility as an integral part of learning from their mistakes and growing as a person.

5) Feeling entitled

If you don’t want to be seen as arrogant, you’ll have to say goodbye to the habit of feeling entitled.

If you think that you’re special and you deserve better treatment than other people, I’ve got news for you.

No one out there is going to like it.

Hey, you still might get that better treatment, especially if you have wealth and power and you throw your weight around.

People might try to ingratiate themselves with you just to prevent your anger or get a good tip.

Does this mean that people should treat you better everywhere you go? 

If you get used to special treatment and then suddenly don’t get it one day, you might feel very disappointed and even insulted.

But the truth is that you’re probably just being treated as though you’re equal to others.

Do confident people expect special treatment?

Absolutely not, but they can definitely recognize and be thankful for it when they receive it.

6) Being loud and seeking attention

If you want to be seen as confident, do you need to raise your voice and act dramatically so that you get everyone’s attention?

Absolutely not.

But you should show your confidence through the way you communicate. 

Speaking with a clear tone and enough volume to be heard can certainly make you seem confident, as can asserting yourself when you need to.

But being unnecessarily loud and attention-seeking isn’t something that most people will admire. 

It will seem like you either have poor social intelligence because you don’t know how loud to be, or it will seem arrogant.

It will essentially seem like you’re demanding that everyone pay attention to you instead of getting attention be first gaining respect.

7) Being a know-it-all

No one likes a know-it-all.

Even if you’re truly intelligent and know lots about something, you certainly don’t know everything, and if you pretend you do, people will see you as dripping with arrogance.

There’s no way you actually know it all.

If you’re an expert, you’re probably not the world’s foremost authority on your subject.

And even if you are, someone is coming up right now with the skills and abilities to dethrone you.

Should that worry you, or should you see it as an opportunity to improve and learn from others just as you’d like them to learn from you?

Confident people are in touch with what they actually do and do not know and don’t try to inflate their knowledge past the level it’s at in reality.

But arrogant people would have us believe that they know way more than they do.

That almost always comes back to bite them in the bottom, however.

8) Bragging

Talking about your achievements is one thing, but bragging about them is quite another.

If you want to seem confident, you should learn to talk about what you can do or have done with enough humility to show that you recognize your limits.

This will make people believe and respect you.

If you want to be certain that people aren’t going to view you as arrogant, you can give up the shameless advertising of your wins and at least wait for someone to ask before you talk about them.

Say goodbye to arrogance

If you want to be confident but not arrogant, say goodbye to these eight habits.

They’re hurting the way other people perceive you and making you detestable instead of admirable.

People can deal with strong personalities and confidence that’s based on fact, but if your view of yourself is so far beyond reality, everyone will see the truth and find your arrogance ridiculous.