Self-confidence

Self-confidence

Introduction

Self-confidence is nearly the most important in all aspects of our lives, and so many people struggle to develop it. Talking about confidence, at times, we discover that the most significant barrier to people’s success isn’t lack of skill or experience. It is not about getting the right training or qualifications; however, it’s often psychological, about not having enough confidence to take those steps. We can build our confidence and expertise one step at a time (Edison, 2016). Self-efficacy is a sense of personal power and self-belief that our efforts can spark a significant change in the real world. The more our self-efficacy builds, the more one can achieve. The building of self-confidence is an effective weapon in various fields of study and generally in pursuit of career objectives. As the old adage goes, the first impression is the best impression, most cynics and researchers take the saying as a self-confidence asset that makes people have a view of you and notice you, and to show some respect to you by estimating your potential confident in handling situations.

In an approach to build self-confidence, various boosters are key points of concern in strategizing possible and effective ways. Firstly, the main booster to self-confidence is being successful; considering failure as a stepping stone to approaching and exploring more opportunities, success stands out as a booster to self-confidence. The second approach is our previous experiences. Situations are more tricky and difficult when one is exposed to it for the first time. Approaching a situation for a second time feels more easy and confident due to familiarity. Other key concerns are not limited to the number of trials, peer approval, the admiration by adults, congenial atmosphere, motivation level, and resilience (Charness, 2018).

In a study focusing on the self-efficacy concept of children living with HIV/AIDS in a residential institution in the USA, in investigating the influence of gender, age, HIV status, and orphanhood and suggesting policy implications towards addressing the findings towards enhancing self-concept among children. This data was built on children between the ages of 7years to 10years. The sample comprised of 30 children from institutions dealing with caring for HIV affected individuals. In findings, children living with HIV had high levels of self-worth but low social acceptance, orphanhood majored on total orphans and partial paternal children. Most children showed low self-esteem in socializing (Kim & Manion, 2018). The stigmatization was as a result of low self-confidence. In review to this, not only age, HIV status, and other reasons, but also depression, physical disabilities, lack of enough knowledge, illiteracy, increased or repeated failures among others are deterrents to self-confidence. Other influences on low self-esteem are cultural difference, different cultures have various reviews on what is right and what is wrong. In a school set up, the expectations of teachers and other support staff influence the performance of students

Improving self-confidence requires practice and application of various ideas and findings as a gateway to building strong confidence. Becoming an effective teacher, speaker or moderator in conferences, talking to a large number of participants require a high level of confidence. This calls for proper application of knowledge and experience. In helping one another to build confidence, the following stands out as the best practices for achieving self-confidence. Appreciation of micro-gains of a person, this may be between employer and employees and amongst working staff or by parents to children. One feels more appreciated and encouraged to do even better. The second practice is through ignoring other people’s failures. Instead of keeping on with criticizing, help the person to do introspection about where they went wrong and how to improve on the failures. Thirdly, foster and encouraging and warm environments, in whatever places it may be, either in school, at the workplace or at home, create a convenient and friendly environment for one another. The fourth practice of achieving self-confidence is through talking about other people’s strengths to others. Talk to families, friends, and relatives about another person’s good performance. This makes the person gain more courage and confidence to succeed in their future practices. It boosts self-efficacy and a supplement to personal power to growth and achievements (Kilic, 2017).

Another fundamental practice is spending time with positive people; unfortunately, there are people who would knock other people to make them feel good, this is out of their own insecurities, spending time with such negative people would ruin one’s self-efficacy. Spending more time with those who appreciate you and encourage you is a path for gaining self-confidence. Lastly, learning to be more professional, to become an effective teacher, you need to learn more about teaching skills and approaches to various topics; this would improve a teacher’s confidence in the best way. Other practices of embracing some positive qualities, being kind, not thinking about failure, practicing empathy and objectivity among others are chances to succeed in achieving self-confidence.

Conclusion

Conclusively, self-confidence is therefore evident as the quality and personal strength of power in presenting a persons’ attitude. Remember “the loudest is not the most confident,” we tend to look into the blow-your-own-horn types as the most confident individuals, but some of the most successful individuals and worlds heroes are gentle kinds, humble and self-centered individuals who turn out to be the strongest. Judging yourself in your own realistic expectations is the best way to achieve, looking at a hero is motivating, but they also have their own problems, accepting one and not worrying about things we cannot change. Today, everybody is interested in changing the world and not concerned about changing his/her self. Self-confidence is the might supplement that propels one into achieving success; it makes one feel comfortably accepted, secured and with the ability to rely on oneself and own personal resources. Therefore, developing this personal interest of confidence will have far manifesting effects in changing people’s perspective on various issues and subjects. Self-confidence is a weapon of growth and development from one stage to another (Van de Ven & Rustichini, 2018).

Eye contact, positive strokes, appreciation, hugs, focused attention and touching are some values that build a child’s self-efficacy. Not only children would need motivation and appreciation, adults too need more acceptance in all forms of life. This improves one’s performance and changes the thinking and belief of a person. Confident people inspire confidence in other people and also gain the confidence of other people. The good news about confidence is that it can be learned, practiced and built on (Edison, 2016). You can build your own confidence or help others in building their own confidence, and on the process, you learn more and become more confident. The level of confidence can show up in behavioral acts, body language, how you speak among others. With this mighty weapon, one can face any challenge.

References

Kim, L. M., & Manion, A. B. (2019). Improving Self-Esteem and Building Self-Confidence in Adolescent Mothers: Implementation of Self-Efficacy–Focused Activity Sessions. Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services, 57(8), 11-15.

Edison, S. J. (2016). Building Self Confidence and Competence.

Charness, G., Rustichini, A., & Van de Ven, J. (2018). Self-confidence and strategic behavior. Experimental Economics, 21(1), 72-98.

Kane, A. (2018). Self-confidence at work: understanding and developing the construct (Doctoral dissertation, Kingston University).

Kilic, D. B. Ç. (2017). Examining Music Teachers’ Self-Confidence Levels in Using Information and Communication Technologies for Education Based on Measurable Variables. Educational Research and Reviews, 12(3), 101-107.