{"id":17012,"date":"2011-05-02T20:54:25","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T01:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artofmanliness.com\/?p=17012"},"modified":"2021-06-04T09:43:34","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T14:43:34","slug":"how-shifty-powers-regained-confidence-and-how-you-can-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/manhood\/how-shifty-powers-regained-confidence-and-how-you-can-too\/","title":{"rendered":"How Shifty Powers Regained Confidence, and How You Can, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"APhoto courtesy of the Powers family.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Marcus Brotherton<\/a>, <\/em>the author of 3 books about the legendary men of WWII\u2019s Easy Company, including the newly released <\/em>Shifty\u2019s War.<\/a><\/p>\n

Confidence can be a sneaky thing, playing hide and seek throughout life. No, it\u2019s not something we\u2019re born with and never lose. It fluctuates. Our confidence can become low at the start or end of a big project, if we\u2019re nervous or feeling deflated, or after a setback such as a botched relationship or business venture.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re seeking confidence, particularly if you\u2019ve had it once and it doesn\u2019t seem to be around anymore, what do you do?<\/p>\n

One man\u2019s example shows confidence can definitely be regained if it\u2019s been lost. Sergeant Darrell \u201cShifty\u201d Powers started life as a confident young man. One of the original Band of Brothers, Shifty was one of only two men in an elite company of 140 soldiers who initially achieved the designation of \u201cexpert marksman.\u201d When it came to shooting rifles\u2014and hitting precisely what needed to be hit\u2014Shifty\u2019s self-assurance was equal to none.<\/p>\n

Yet at the end of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers<\/em>, when the men are shown reflecting on their experiences, Shifty (the real man, not the actor) made this startling statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou thought you could do just about anything. [But] after the war was over and you came back out, why, you lost a lot of that. Or at least I did. I lost a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I recently completed a book about Shifty Powers\u2019 life. During my research, I spoke with Shifty before he died in 2009 at age 86, as well as interviewed those who knew Shifty best, and studied numerous recordings of his stories. Undeniably, Shifty finished life as a confident man. In later years he palled around with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, went on USO tours overseas, and signed autographs for long lines of fans. But his confidence proved even deeper than those markers.<\/p>\n

Once, a motorcycle gang rumbled up to Shifty\u2019s property in rural Virginia and began to raise Cain. Shifty, then elderly and home alone with his wife, hiked to the center of the bikers\u2019 party, knocked out their fire with a stick, and told them\u2014Walt Kowalski style\u2014to kindly shove off.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bikers obeyed. How\u2019s that for boldness?<\/p>\n

Consider three methods Shifty used to regain confidence, and how his gutsy examples of living might apply to our lives today:<\/p>\n

\"OlderPhoto courtesy the Coalfield Progress<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Shifty went to work. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Shifty was severely wounded in a bus accident at the end of the war. But as soon as he returned home and healed up, he went back to work. For Shifty, that meant working as a machinist for a coal mining company. It wasn\u2019t grand work, but he flourished there. He described how the job gave him a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and order to his days.<\/p>\n

Shifty knew he couldn\u2019t regain confidence if he shrunk back. Confidence emerged when he purposely stepped forward and engaged in the task that lay ahead. The same is true for us. It takes guts to go to work, and continue working, but that work helps shore up our assurance.<\/p>\n

2. Shifty gave back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shifty worried when he heard other veterans were having a rough go of it, drinking too much or tearing up bars. He described how he \u201cdidn\u2019t want to end up like one of those sad-stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find a new sense of purpose, Shifty became involved with coaching high school basketball and community Little League. He found that his mind rested best when he coached. His mind fixed on the game and focused on something good.<\/p>\n

Shifty coached boys\u2019 teams for decades. He described how, when he chose to move his feet in a good direction, he could consciously tell his mind to go to a good place also. The same is true for us. Whenever we give back, we find new realms of security.<\/p>\n

3. Shifty made his home his place of refuge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One afternoon soon after Shifty returned from war, he borrowed his dad\u2019s car to see a friend about 15 minutes away. But before Shifty arrived at his destination, he pulled a U-turn on the road and drove home again. His younger sister met him in the front yard, confused.<\/p>\n

Shifty explained that there wasn\u2019t enough distance yet between him and the horror he had seen during the war. He didn\u2019t want to give up the feeling of security he was soaking in at home, even for a short drive down the road.<\/p>\n

While he eventually regained the ability to move in and out of the home environment with ease, Shifty established this life pattern of gaining strength from home. Aside from a few years he spent working in California and his years in the war, he seldom travelled outside his tiny hometown. For him, it was part of the solution. He loved the life he created for himself, a life that involved family, home, and hobbies of hunting and fishing. For him, that sense of refuge helped refuel his confidence.<\/p>\n

Surely there were other ways Shifty Powers regained his confidence, and other ways that any man can do so. But the foundations are all in place here in Shifty\u2019s example. If you want to regain confidence, go forward, not back. Seek occupation, not idleness. Create your refuge and recharge there.<\/p>\n

And, if a motorcycle gang ever shows up to party on your property, grab the biggest stick around, and head straight toward the fire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you ever lost confidence after leaving the military or from another kind of change or challenge? How did you get your confidence back?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of the Powers family. Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Marcus Brotherton, the author of 3 books about the legendary men of WWII\u2019s Easy Company, including the newly released Shifty\u2019s War. Confidence can be a sneaky thing, playing hide and seek throughout life. No, it\u2019s not something we\u2019re born with and never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":17018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[502,6,42272],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-character","category-featured","category-manhood"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2011\/05\/11.-Shifty-in-woods-with-rifle-347x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2011\/05\/11.-Shifty-in-woods-with-rifle-347x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2011\/05\/11.-Shifty-in-woods-with-rifle-320x461.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17012"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136339,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17012\/revisions\/136339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17012"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}