Blog
What is confidence?
The word will convey different things for each of us, conjuring images of performers, entrepreneurs, and extroverts. The source of confidence is generally misunderstood and often perceived as something that we are born with. But confidence is not a genetic trait. Nor is it bravado, swagger, or an overwhelming self-belief in our own abilities.
Common myths
and misconceptions
‘People are born confident’
It may seem this way, but we all have the ability to be more, or less, confident. With the right tools, we can develop, harness, and enhance this skill, just as we can with many others.
‘You have to be successful to be confident’
The actions of confidence come before the feelings of success. In reality, we can flip this: confidence leads to success.
‘Confident people are confident all the time’
This isn’t true, despite how confident someone may appear. There are always going to be situations that make us feel anxious, nervous, or insecure.
‘Criticism destroys confidence’
Criticism is an extrinsic factor, but confidence comes from within. Owning criticism and being more aware of your own abilities allows you to become more confident.
‘People are born confident’
It may seem this way, but we all have the ability to be more, or less, confident. With the right tools, we can develop, harness, and enhance this skill, just as we can with many others.
‘Confident people are
confident all the time’
This isn’t true, despite how confident someone may appear. There are always going to be situations that make us feel anxious, nervous, or insecure.
‘You have to be successful to be confident’
The actions of confidence come before the feelings of success. In reality, we can flip this: confidence leads to success.
‘Criticism destroys confidence’
Criticism is an extrinsic factor, but confidence comes from within. Owning criticism and being more aware of your own abilities allows you to become more confident.
Extrinsic vs
intrinsic measures
When measuring confidence, it’s easy to look to the extrinsic factors – a personal best, medal, or promotion – a box we can tick to reassure ourselves that we’re doing well, that we’re on the right track. But these things aren’t within our control and the crazy nature of winning can send us spiralling.
To avoid that rollercoaster ride – the ups and the downs of perceived ‘success’ – we need to focus on what is within our control, decide what winning looks like to us, define our own criteria, and not let others determine our success for us.
At Track Record, we define confidence as “the extent to which we believe we have control over the choices we make, and how much we trust that these choices will increase our chance of success.”
This and self-efficacy – a person’s judgement about how well they can perform in a certain task situation – combined, allow us to take control of our own motivation, behaviour and environment.
Why enhancing
confidence is important
People with higher levels of confidence are much more inclined to view challenges as things to be mastered, see obstacles as opportunities to learn and develop, recover quickly from setbacks and be intrinsically motivated to achieve their goals.
Someone with this sort of mindset is more likely to succeed than someone without. Confidence is one of the most important psychological contributors to how we perform and a powerful differentiator between winning and losing teams. If identical in all other aspects, the more confident team will win.
When we’re more confident, we’re able to make more impactful choices and access our full selves, rather than a version of this. When confident about how we’re coming across and the choices we’re making, we create meaningful connections within the workplace. By taking control of our confidence, we’ll feel more in control of of our choices and more in control of the subsequent results.
Are you ready to take control?
At Track Record we provide the skills to develop good habits, choose your mindset and take control of your choices.
Find out more about our Confident Leader Programme.
