How to be more confident, according to science
Step 1: Embrace the placebo effect
Confidence doesn't need to stem from intimidation.
Confidence doesn't need to stem from intimidation. (


G. Richard Shell teaches at the Wharton School and his book, Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success, has a great chapter on how to be more confident.

Here's what you need to know.

1. Surround yourself with people who believe in you

I've posted a lot about how the power of context can improve behavior. And people are a part of that. When you're told you're good by someone you respect, you believe it. Partially it's a placebo effect. But that's perfectly fine.

This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you believe you can do it, you work harder. When others believe in you, they push you harder. Together, these things make you do better — so you have a reason to be confident. And then next time, confidence comes easier.

The phenomenon of transferred expectations, also called a "self-fulfilling prophecy," occurs for a combination of two reasons. The person holding the expectation treats the other person differently, giving him or her more challenging work to do. This leads to more learning. At the same time, the person receiving the suggestion accepts it as an accurate assessment of his or her ability, and that in turn increases the level of effort the person gives.


2. Focus on learning

When you focus on learning, failure is just a part of the process and won't shake your confidence. Tests are not a gauge of self-worth or unchangeable, innate ability. They're a measure of how much improvement you've made. Building on the research of Carol Dweck, you want to have a "growth mindset": Measure yourself by effort, not by results.


3. Create a ritual

What gets you in the zone? What gets you feeling ready? A cup of coffee? Preparation and review? Playing a game on your phone? Recent research from Harvard professors Michael Norton and Francesca Gino shows that rituals have the power to make you more confident.

Francesca explained in my interview with her:


4. Accumulate small wins

Some Olympic athletes train in a way that is designed to build confidence. Rather than focusing on the gold medal, they set smaller achievable goals and build from there. By seeing themselves accumulate these little wins, their confidence grows and grows until they feel unstoppable.

In one of the best articles on Olympic training I have ever read, Daniel Chambliss tracked the techniques used by U.S.A. Swimming to get its athletes ready to compete in the Olympic games. One of the common threads in this training was to focus on a series of "small wins" in training rather than on the larger goal of winning a medal. As Chambliss summarized it, the swimmers "found their challenges in small things: working on a better start this week, polishing up their backstroke technique next week, planning how to pace their swim." As a result, they got the satisfaction of "very definable, minor achievements," which in turn gave them the confidence to attempt more small wins each and every day. [Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success]

5. It's rational to do the irrational

This is a very rational blog. You, however, are not a very rational creature. So do what works, even if it seems irrational. Research shows good luck charms do inspire confidence. And this improves performance on a variety of tasks.


6. Get to work

Yes, some people are naturally super confident. Others fake it. And you can, with some work, build confidence. What did Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test, say about intelligence?

It is not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest. [Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success]

The same is true of confidence.


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