When you’re facing a big challenge
where potential failure seems to lurk around every corner,
you’ve probably heard this advice before:
“Be more confident.”
And most likely, this is what you think when you hear it:
“If only it were that simple.”
But what is confidence?
Take the belief that you are valuable, worthy, and capable,
also known as self-esteem,
and add to it the optimism that comes from being confident in your abilities,
and then, with those abilities,
act with the courage to face the challenge head-on.
That’s confidence.
It turns thoughts into actions.
So where does confidence come from?
Several factors influence confidence.
First, what you’re born with, such as your genes,
will affect things like the balance of neurochemicals in your brain.
Second, how you’re treated.
That includes the social pressures of your environment.
Third, what you have control over, the choices you make, the risks you take, and how you think about and respond to challenges and setbacks.
It’s impossible to untangle these three factors completely, but our personal choices certainly play a major role in developing confidence.
So, by keeping a few practical tips in mind,
we do have the power to develop our self-confidence.