How to Build Confidence Through Competence

Research & Sources / Personal & Career Development

Nobody becomes a confident cyclist by reading a book about cycling or by being told “you can do it!” Confidence comes from wobbling around the garden, falling, getting back on, riding to the end of the street, then to the shop. Each small ride proves something. By the time you cycle through town, the confidence is simply there. It was built ride by ride.

Fake confidence and real confidence

Much advice about confidence is about feeling or looking confident: power poses, positive affirmations, “fake it till you make it”. These may help for a moment. But they are fragile. One difficult meeting and the feeling is gone.

Real confidence is different. It rests on evidence: I have done similar things before, and I know I can handle this.

What research shows

Psychologist Albert Bandura spent decades studying what he called self-efficacy: our belief in our ability to succeed at specific tasks. He found that the strongest source of this belief is mastery experiences, our own experiences of succeeding.¹ Watching others succeed helps a little. Being encouraged helps a little. Doing it yourself helps most.

That means confidence is not something you need before you start. It is something you build by starting.

Build competence in small steps

Choose tasks slightly beyond your comfort zone. Not so easy that they prove nothing, not so hard that failure is almost certain. The bike ride to the end of the street, not across the country.

Practise deliberately. Anders Ericsson’s research showed that expertise grows through focused practice on specific weaknesses, with feedback.² Random repetition builds less.

Collect evidence. Keep a short list of things you did well, especially new things. On difficult days, read it.

Celebrate small wins. Teresa Amabile found that making progress on meaningful work is one of the strongest motivators there is, even when the steps are small.³

When confidence is low

Everyone has phases of doubt: a new role, a big project, a setback. In these moments, it helps to remember that confidence follows action, not the other way round. Do the next small thing. Then the next.

And it helps to have someone who reminds you of the evidence you already have, when your own mind forgets it.

What this means for you this week

• Write down five things you once found hard and can now do well.
• Pick one skill where you lack confidence and define a small next step.
• Do that step this week, and note what happened.
• Start a “done well” list and add to it every Friday.

Get on the bike. Confidence comes along for the ride.

Sources

1. Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191-215. doi.orgBelief in one’s ability grows most strongly from one’s own experiences of mastery.
2. Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T. & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406. doi.orgExpert performance grows through deliberate practice: focused work on specific weaknesses with feedback.
3. Amabile, T. M. & Kramer, S. J. (2011). The Power of Small Wins. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgOf everything that can boost motivation at work, the most important is making progress in meaningful work, even in small steps.