How to Guide: Evidence-Based Confidence

Listen, some adults are “born on third base” in the realm of self-confidence. Socioeconomic factors, often gender, and other circumstances can set a young child into adulthood with low or high self-confidence without much effort. 

If the world tells you that you can do anything and to shoot your shot first and aim second, then you might be bathing in enough self-confidence to skip reading this. If not, hear me out. 

Regardless of your childhood and plight in life, there is something you can do about having less confidence than you’d like. In short, confidence is an evidence-based phenomenon. No matter where you’re starting from, if you have more and more confidence-worthy data under your belt, you’ll inherit the confidence naturally. 

Renowned sports psychologist, Michael Gervais, says that confidence is having good self-talk and believing what you’re saying. 

I empathize with men and women who find themselves lacking confidence in adulthood. And, the very next thought is, that they don’t have a body of evidence to support any other perspective. 

What do I mean by that harsh statement? 

If you haven’t showed up and done what you said you were going to do for an extended period of time, you’re likely going to lack confidence. If you haven’t been exposed to challenging environments (by choice or by circumstance) and overcome them, you’re going to likely lack confidence. 

What can we do about that?

Build a body of work that is worth having confidence. Make promises to yourself and keep them. Both difficult promises and promises that you keep for a long time will do. Also, find adversity. Do it often and be persistent to overcome these challenges. 

Confidence will follow.