[Parthon]

Yes, very much so.

Like you said, there's the current situation going on that can influence it, along with many other factors. That someone is sure of themself, know where they are going and are decisive about it isn't always reflected at all times. Plus "body language" is open to all kinds of interpretation. If a person is tired, distracted, relaxed or just lazing about, they probably don't look very confident, but the same person in a high stress situation brings forth heaps of confidence.

On the flip side though, there are those people who have memorised all the "moves" for being confident (chest out, head up, eye contact, etc etc), but are completely weak in all other areas. One of my managers in fact fits this perfectly, he walked tall and acted tall, plus smiled all the time, but he never made a decision, wasn't effective in his job and let his wife run most of his life. He was great at being confident, but was completely lacking in effectiveness.

Confidence is just a small part of a bigger picture. A person still needs to be effective and honest as well as confident in order to achieve.

ps. You did remind me of a personal anecdote. I know much of what I want, and go after it, but people genually call me a push over because I go along with whatever. I do this because going along with people can open up new experiences and makes things more interesting. They do owever act suprised when I flat out turn them down because I've either got something else on, or are just plain uninterested though, all because it goes against the image they have of me. Other people see me as agreeable, but in reality, they are just asking me to join them in doing something I would already like to do. It highlights the gap between who you actually are and how others see you. If you stick to being true to yourself, then let others make up their own minds about you.