When I watch ten, eleven up to thirteen-year-olds composing music, playing instruments, singing songs, and writing readable books, I realize that the most important ingredient they have is confidence. Whether it is in their genes or they have developed confidence at the hands of their parents, numerous thoughts exist about this issue.

A recent view of self-confidence is that it is a skill.  For us to be confident implies that you have courage, which comes from the heart. Your heart and your mind together support your self-confidence.

When you make a decision or stand up to a bully, you need confidence. The challenge comes when people confuse confidence with esteem.

Self-esteem is about how you judge yourself. You can have loads of self-confidence until your inner judge says ‘You could have done that better’. You then may ask ‘Am I worthy?’ If you get an inner response that ‘Yes, you are worthy.’, you will dismiss your inner judge; your esteem is intact.

Our emotions get in the way in this instance. Self-esteem is about self and our personal value; self-confidence is about getting the job done. How well we think we got the job down is down to esteem.

Confidence enables you to go after what you want even if you think you are not good enough.

There is a distinction between self-confidence and self-esteem for a reason; many people confuse the two.

Go after what you want, without stopping to consider how well you will succeed. That aspect is what moves you back to low self-esteem and will prevent you from taking any scarier journeys. Check out those pre-teens and see what works best for them.

Joanne

Joanne Victoria