Confidence is an expectation of a positive outcome. It is your belief in your ability to figure things out. It is not a personality trait but rather an assessment of a situation that sparks motivation. If you have confidence, you will be motivated to put in the effort and time, but if you do not believe in your ability to figure things out, you will not put in the effort and will give up prematurely or not start at all. The chances of success increase with time, investment, and effort, not confidence.

Here are the eight pitfalls that Rosabeth Moss Kanter recommends steering clear of in order to bolster your confidence on the path to your objective:

1. Self-defeating assumptions; leaving before leaving or behaving like a loser before entering the game
2. Goals that are too big or too distant; confidence comes from small wins that recur.
3. Declaring victory too soon; step-by-step discipline and consistency build confidence.
4. Do-it-yourself and try to be a star instead of boosting other people’s confidence and working together.
5. Blaming someone else instead of accepting the responsibility and moving on
6. Defending yourself even when you are not attacked; do not apologize for who or what you are; only apologize for mistakes.
7. Neglecting to anticipate setbacks due to blind optimism: confidence grows when you look at what can go wrong and feel prepared for whatever might happen.
8. Overconfidence because it leads to arrogance.

Some ideas to boost confidence:

• Train your thoughts to think in a way that boosts your confidence in whatever you are going to do. Just like athletes, who listen to certain songs or speeches before the game, which are recommended by sports psychologists, who teach them exactly what they should be thinking before the game.
• Having some self-affirmations before the work, which you are not feeling very confident about, can help.
• Reminding yourself about how well you did it before, how good you are at it, etc.
• A routine around something hard is helpful too and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

When going out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself to do anything, don’t feel bad about posing confidence. Everybody suffers from imposter syndrome and it’s ok if you suffer from it initially, as later on it becomes second nature. You can’t achieve the goal without the first step and mostly the first step is hard so appearing confident on the outside and feeling deeply insecure on the inside is okay. In these situations, remember to not focus on failure but on the opportunity of learning you are getting from your missteps.

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