Confidence is really just the ability to be comfortable with the person you are. I would suspect this is why you are confident with your friends but not with o

Confidence is really just the ability to be comfortable with the person you are. I would suspect this is why you are confident with your friends but not with other people. When you are with your friends, you are comfortable with what you say, how you act, what they are thinking but with other people, you are probably second guessing some aspect of your nature. If you want to be confident with a wider group of people, you need to understand what part of you are you not comfortable showing to other people. For some people, it is physical. They do not believe they are attractive enough and so it holds them back. For some, it is intellectual, "what if I say something dumb or unimpressive". There are a myriad of possibilities and it is probably a good use of your time to understand what your issues are (and why you have those hangups). There are a number ways to deal with your hang ups. One way that works is to apply brute force. Just act inspite of your anxiety. I suspect that a majority of people that appear really confident just take this approach. They're scared but just do it anyway. Another approach is to try and remove the root of the fear altogether. Some people do that by actually courting failure. You think people are judging your intellect, then say the dumbest thing you can think of and see what happens. Scared people don't think you're good looking, approach people completely out of your league. The idea is to actively cause the situation you are afraid of so that you can experience it (instead of imagining it) and realize it isn't so bad. Whichever approach you decide to take, I would suggest you ensure you do take action to deal with it. Anxiety has a way of making you feel like crap, which leads to further inaction, leading to more anxiety and then a spiral of regret and wasted time. The truth is there is not much that can happen to you that will crush you completely. Time and the love of a few heals all wounds. Good luck!