Watch these recommended TED-Ed Lessons:
3 tips to boost your confidence
When faced with a big challenge where potential failure seems to lurk at every corner, you’ve probably heard the advice, “Be more confident!” But where does confidence come from, and how can you get more of it? Here are three easy tips to boost your confidence.
What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it?
Even after writing eleven books and winning several awards, Maya Angelou couldn’t escape the doubt that she hadn’t earned her accomplishments. This feeling of fraudulence is extremely common. Why can’t so many of us shake feelings that our ideas and skills aren’t worthy of others’ attention? Elizabeth Cox describes the psychology behind the imposter syndrome, and what you can do to combat it.
Why incompetent people think they’re amazing
How good are you with money? What about reading people’s emotions? How healthy are you, compared to other people you know? Knowing how our skills stack up against others is useful in many ways. But psychological research suggests that we’re not very good at evaluating ourselves accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities. David Dunning describes the Dunning-Kruger effect.
How to practice effectively… for just about anything
Mastering any physical skill takes practice. Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence. But what does practice actually do to make us better at things? Annie Bosler and Don Greene explain how practice affects the inner workings of our brains.
How to be confident
The fastest route to confidence is to stop being so attached to one’s dignity and seriousness; and plainly admit that one is – of course – an idiot. We all are.
The School of Life explains.
Some displays of confidence may be outside of the traditional paradigm of confidence that we have. Speaking up is a confident thing to do, but speaking out of turn is disrespectful. Asking a basic question is something that requires confidence, but may also been seen as "dumb". These and other situations show that we don't always recognize confidence, and may in fact punish some display of it. It is important that we have empathy for different displays of confidence, and while we may have something to say about the behavior itself it may be worthwhile to recognize the confidence behind it so that it isn't squandered.
Society rewards those who have confidence in some thing that is going to help their certain issue profit from it. Some confidence is punished because people feel threatened by your ideas and the way you approach things.