How confident do you feel?
Antony Adams
Creating confident students through coaching and events. Founder of the Careers Confidence Score.
On its own, this is a useless question. The question causes more harm than good.?
“Feeling confident” implies you can only start when you feel confident.? You need to start something to begin feeling confident - a message I’ve shared previously. But what does it have to do with today's newsletter?
Confidence comes and goes. It moves as you get new information and it is tested with each new experience. Confidence isn’t a fixed state where everything suddenly aligns, and you feel confident forever
Young people tend to miss this.?
Confidence can fluctuate daily— I started this week at an 8 out of 10, dropping to a 2, and climbing back to a 7 by the weekend. If there’s one thing I learned this week, it is “What do you do when your confidence is tested”??
I have no doubt it will be different for different people.
The focus shouldn’t be on building confidence. It should be on protecting and maintaining confidence. Kids are normally pretty confident growing up. It is our lived experience that prevents us from growing confidence. We can’t ignore or avoid the lived experience. Therefore, we need to think about how we react to external events that test our confidence.?
Reflection time
What specific situation this week tested your confidence??
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How did you respond??
What went well??
What didn’t go well??
What would you do differently next time??
This moment of reflection which you give yourself is far better than any piece of content I could write. In every reflection lies a story you tell yourself. Watch your story closely. Check for flaws in your thinking.
My professional practice is evolving and I want to share this with as many people as possible especially professionals who are supporting people into the world of work. Please like, share and comment.
Career Developmental Professionals across the country provide the time and space for young people to reflect on their experiences. There's no greater privilege.
Until next time.
Careers Consultant @ University of Cambridge
1 个月Thanks for sharing Antony Adams - I think it's great to share how confidence levels can fluctuate over a week - and how normal this is. I used to take it as a personal failing early in my working life!
Career Development Professional (RCDP) / Careers Writer / Podcaster / AI x Careers Trainer, Presenter and Consultant
1 个月Great piece, Antony Adams - the fluctuations we all experience in confidence are often underacknowledged, IMO. I undertook an exercise in tracking my 'career form' (e.g. how I was feeling about my work) during Covid that provided some interesting reflections for me in terms of highlighting just how much my confidence in work varied from day to day and week to week, even though I always thought of myself as being 'fairly steady' on this front! https://nowthenmagazine.com/articles/is-your-career-on-form-using-form-score-to-track-our-relationship-with-work