What is confidence?

According to the American Psychological Association, self-confidence is the belief in your own abilities and skills. It is an awareness of both your strengths and weaknesses while still regarding yourself positively. However, confidence is not based on your abilities but your perception of yourself and your abilities. Being confident means having a realistic sense of your capabilities and feeling secure in that knowledge.

There is a difference between confidence and narcissism. Confidence does not mean extreme self-interest or egotistical self-admiration. Genuine confidence does not involve pretense. It cannot be faked because pretending to be confident comes across as inauthentic. There are three basic aspects of confidence. 

3 Aspects of Confidence

Genuine confidence is unpretentious and authentic. There are three key aspects to true confidence:

1. A feeling of self-assurance, trust in yourself, courage, and overall competence.
2. An attitude that you can rely on yourself appreciate your own abilities and qualities, and believe that you can achieve a goal or succeed—also, a willingness to try new things, openness to experience, and constructive self-talk.
3. An action - doing something unfamiliar or challenging with both a chance of success or failure when the outcome is uncertain.

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Confidence Can Change

Confidence is not static but tends to be context-dependent. For example, you may feel confident at work but not socially. Confidence can change with other factors like stressful events or internal experiences such as emotional thoughts, how the body feels physically, etc. Luckily, there are numerous ways to increase self-confidence, such as recognizing your strengths, treating yourself with compassion, setting realistic goals, expressing your emotions, and more.

Building your confidence is a worthwhile endeavor as it can help you gain credibility, deal with pressure, and tackle any personal or professional challenges.