How Your Beliefs Affect Your Confidence

Our confidence is affected by our beliefs. But how do these beliefs come about and how do they exert their effect?

From the moment we are born, we are having experiences. All of these experiences have had an effect on us. Every single thing that happens to us helps us form a picture of the world. Some experiences make us realize what we are capable of. Other experiences make us realize what we aren’t capable of.

For instance, when you were a young child, if your best friend was able to run faster than you, you might have formed the belief that you are not a fast runner. On the other hand, if you were a faster runner than your best friend, you might have formed the belief that you were a good runner.

Over time, these experiences add on top of each other to become beliefs. These beliefs determine how we look at ourselves and the world.

In the above example, can you see how simply the speed at which your best friend could run, determined your appraisal of yourself. Of course, the fact is the speed at which your friend runs has no actual impact on the speed you can run but it nevertheless had an effect. And it had an effect, because beliefs are often more related to interpretation than fact.

“My friend runs faster than me. I must be a slow runner”
“My friend runs slower than me. I must be a fast runner”

And that’s the amazing thing about beliefs. They have a very tenuous link to reality. It’s all about how you interpret that reality.

This explains why two people with the same level of ability can have two totally different views of themselves. They have each chosen to interpret their reality in a different way.

This applies to your beliefs about confidence. Whether you are confident in a particular area will have nothing to do with your actual abilities but more often your interpretation of previous events in your life. If you change the interpretation, you change your belief.

By: Doctor K

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Doctor K is the editor of the website: howtogainconfidence.net/ the home of Doctor K's 30 Day Confidence Builder Progam. It's a site where you can get confidence building tips and info on how to improve your self-esteem. How to Gain Confidence For other confidence tips also visit: ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Gain-Confidence---A-Quick-Way-to-Boost-Your-Confidence&id=3581831