Confidence

Prominent cultural figures are presented as examples of achievement coexisting with doubt. Confidence is framed as belief in the ability to figure things out, not as pretending to know everything. Confidence and competence reinforce one another in both negative and positive directions. Small gains in competence can raise confidence and make experimentation more likely. A slight majority of confidence may be enough to move forward. Feeling not good enough can drive effort. Even accomplished people can lose confidence when entering a new context or life phase. At high levels, a small confidence gap can still harm execution.