When’s the last time you felt SUPER confident?

How would you describe the feeling of confidence to your students? How do you teach your students to feel and act confident?

If you’re familiar at all with Hattie’s research about student achievement, then you know that Collective Teacher Efficacy is the number one predictor of success in the classroom. Personal student efficacy is not too far down the list. 

In other words, efficacy – the confidence to accomplish a specific task – matters. A LOT!

And just like everything else in the classroom, if you want your students to do it, you better model it for them. So how confident are you? 

When I used to think about confidence, I always pictured those Rocky moments. You know, where the music swells and you have that fist pump, I just gotta dance! kind of enthusiasm that makes you feel powerful and triumphant? 

Those moments are amazing.

And fleeting.

If that’s what confidence really is, then we might all be in trouble. It’s too hard to count on those end-of-the-movie, underdog moments of triumph when you’re slogging through the mundane of now.

But. What if confidence looks different than that? What if it’s something that you can consistently tap into to help you get through your entire list, even if there’s no trumpets playing?

As I’ve started to think about confidence in a new way, I’ve realized that the one thing that I’ve always felt the most confident about had nothing to do with excitement and Rocky dancing.

In fact, it was something that was always pretty boring.

Studying.

​I learned to read at a very young age, and school always came pretty easily to me. Because I had an innate belief in my ability to learn, I consistently did the work necessary to be successful in school. If a class was tough, I didn’t freak out. I just worked a little harder.

But I never called any of that confidence. It just… was.

What Confidence Really Looks Like: 

True confidence isn’t an adrenaline-filled moment of achievement that shines like a falling star and then disappears forever.

• Confidence is quiet.
• It’s not flashy.
• It stays with you, even when you’re insecure about other things.
• It’s simply trusting that you will figure out how to do the task.
• Then it’s pushing forward until the work is done.
• Repeat.

Now that I understand the difference, I can tap into that one area of confidence and apply it to other basket-case, hot-mess areas of my life.

I tell myself, I’m The Learner. I got this.

So what about you?

What’s that one thing that you do so well that you never even think about it? That thing that you take for granted, that you just assume everyone is good at, that you don’t think is anything special?

In fact, most of the time, it seems pretty boring. That’s you being confident.

Now, name that skill. I’m the __________________________. (Artist, peacemaker, reader, fix-it guy, get-things-done-er, organizer, planner, cat whisperer.)

Once you know what quiet super power you have, own it. Tap into it. Show your students what it looks like to truly be confident.  Then help them to discover their OWN power.

And when you find yourself filled with doubts or insecurities, remind yourself that you already have the gifts and talents that you need to get through any struggle.

Come back to confidence.

So that you can have those fist-pump moments too. 

Need some help practicing confidence? Get the CONFIDENCE WORKFLOW to help you identify exactly when you’re acting in confidence verses when you’re letting fear stop you.