Self-Confidence

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Study Skill 5.4 Self-Confidence

Introduction

“You’ve gotta believe if you’re gonna achieve” It may sound silly, but it’s true.  Where does that belief come from? How can we develop it? A lot of is often said about self esteem, or a good general feeling about yourself.  Self esteem feels good but it’s only a start.  If all we have is a good feeling, when faced with adversity we may not persist.  To reach our goals and become who we want to be, we need more.  We need to develop self-efficacy – the core belief in our abilities to accomplish a goal and to handle the challenges that come our way.   Once we have self – esteem AND self- efficacy, we can truly be self-confident.

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Key Ideas

  • Be willing to practice – to try, fail, and try again – without giving up.  We must persist and this persistence itself takes practice. That way, when things get hard we can look at our experiences and say, “I’ve been here before – I can do this.”
  • Develop a positive inner monologue known as “self talk,” which includes recognizing and stopping negative thoughts when they creep in.
  • Choose how you interpret the world and your experiences in it. See the good in what you are able to do, take responsibility for where you can improve, but don’t dwell on what’s out of your control.

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  • Take a Risk:  Take on a challenge you’ve been too nervous to tackle. Practice and prepare and be willing to come back and try again when you struggle.  Focus on effort rather than outcome. Don’t expect to be great at anything the first time you try it, but believe in your ability to improve.  
  • Power the Positive:  Write yourself a letter or a personal brag sheet (https://goo.gl/3KAVTE Links to an external site.), or create a poster board highlighting all of your positive traits, abilities, accomplishments, and experiences.  Refer back to this in times of adversity or doubt to shape your belief that you DO have what it takes.
  • Squash Your ANT’s: Change the way you talk to yourself by recognizing and stopping ANTS, or Automatic Negative Thoughts.  Visit  https://goo.gl/pNVv5a Links to an external site. for guidance
  • Get a Cue: Develop a mantra that you repeat in your head or an action that you take to cue you to stop and replace negative thoughts.  
  • Be Generous:  Create a culture of positivity in your class, school, team, or family by recognizing and telling others what you see them doing well, particularly when you see them overcoming a challenge without giving up.  These comments have a way of coming back to you when you need them most.