Self-confidence is an intangible quality that exerts a tremendous influence on your happiness and sense of well-being. Some people believe it is inborn---you either have it or you don't. Other people believe that it is a skill that can be developed. While evidence exists to support both points of view, there is no doubt that self-confidence is positively related to performance in many endeavors.
Definition
Princeton University's WordNet defines self-confidence as "freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities." Self-confidence is often confused with self-esteem, which Winning Teams defines as "the degree to which one values oneself." In a nutshell, self-confidence is about what you think you can do, while self-esteem is about how much you think you're ultimately worth.
Origins
The evidence indicates that self-confidence derives from both environmental and genetic influences. Jim Taylor, Ph.D., performance psychologist at the University of San Francisco, asserts that self-confidence is a skill that you can develop through mental training exercises. Nevertheless, this view has been recently challenged by geneticists Corina Greven of King's College in London and Robert Plomin of the Institute of Psychiatry. In a 2009 article published in Psychological Science, they characterize the genetic influence on self-confidence as "dominant" based on a study of identical and fraternal twins.
Collapse of Self-Confidence
Collapse of self-confidence is almost always rooted in some type of failure, according to Taylor. Nevertheless, emotionally resilient people have the ability to maintain self-confidence despite repeated setbacks, a quality that often separates the great from the mediocre in any endeavor. People lacking in confidence tend to take failure to heart more easily and to become overconfident in the face of victory, says Taylor.
Stability
Taylor says people can develop what he calls "prime confidence," a high baseline level of confidence in one's own abilities, resourcefulness and resilience that will apply across a broad range of endeavors---from playing ping-pong to negotiating a raise with your boss. One of the keys to prime confidence, according to Taylor, is to compete against your personal best and refuse to compare yourself to others. Such an attitude prevents both the collapse of self-confidence in the wake of failure and the development of overconfidence after a big victory.
Enhancement
Psychotherapist Barton Goldsmith emphasizes a number of methods you can use to enhance your self-confidence. These include boosting your self-esteem through an encouraging attitude toward yourself, engaging in selfless contributions to others, living an energetic lifestyle and being honest with yourself about your feelings.
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