How To Build Competence so You Develop Confidence

Under the stage, where the bright lights illuminated the cast of Cinderella, the orchestra waiting for the fireworks, moved accordingly, and continued to play despite the sparks landing on us from above. We practiced for weeks before the four showings.

“Deliberate practice consists of activities purposely designed to improve performance.” (Gobet & Campitelli, 2007, p. 160).

When I played my violin in an orchestra, I made sure to learn the music, repeat difficult musical passages, and sought out help when the parts where challenging. The whole orchestra was a blessing and incredibly fun to accomplish. I eventually walked away confident with the music, and the accomplishment of the finale. We did it!

A future dream compels us to focus on something outside of ourselves. When a plan is created, we have the opportunity to move the plan forward. Like my participation in the orchestra, I had a dream to play at Carnegie Hall. As time progressed, I had to revise my dream.

The orchestra box where we played the themes from Cinderella, fulfilled a dream to play in a musical.

Dreams may pass by, and if we hold one up long enough we may get surprised at the accumulation of goals moving us toward the dream.

The distance between your dreams and reality is called action. — Unknown

The question here is how do you build competence so you develop confidence?

It is essential to know your intended target: the dream you have wanted to attain for as long as you can remember, or as early as today!

Once you have the dream set in your mind, you’ll need to plan for the next steps. Mini-steps are the foundation for the final achievement of a long-sought for goal. The importance of preparing now for your tomorrow cannot be overstated.

I’ve heard the following statement at least 20 times now, and it goes like this:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20-years ago. The next best time is today.” ~Unknown

Today is the best time for you to begin preparing for tomorrow, even a tomorrow as far away as 5–10 years. If you prepare today, you’ll not stress as much when the moment arrives and you have won the award.

If we think about competence, we can get caught up in a movement, which focuses on our strengths. By focusing solely on your strengths, you lose out on extra skills you can build as you move along in life. The single biggest predictor of personal growth is to develop skills you don’t have so the end goal is even sweeter.

Continue to gain insight on life

One of the questions I recently discovered through a Confidence Challenge offered by Brendon Bouchard, was to ask myself, “What can I build in myself to serve a higher need outside of my person?”

This question helps us get out of our heads and into practicality. If you work in the human services field you would know how valuable it is to develop knowledge based around your career. Those in the counseling field need specific CEU (Continuing Education Credits) to help build maintain an active certification status, such as taking an Ethics course.

Even though this is the first year I have to start considering the CEU’s, I made it a point to develop the habit of attending different classes during my Masters program. I focused on topics which would get me ahead once I obtained my training licensure. As of September 2021, I was granted it, and know my next steps.

Now, I have a wider range of interests, knowledge base, and platform to work from, as I enter the counseling profession. The habit started during my Master’s program and then wove its way throughout the next two years. It is nothing for me to get over the required hours of CEU’s because I trained my brain to accept the knowledge.

To serve at my highest level means to go above requirements, learn more than those who are in the field, and cross check what I learn with history and future ideas or concepts. By doing this action, I will be prepare my future for recognition in the field.

. . .

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Action takes you to the next level

For you to get the most out of this article, I am going to encourage you to take a few minutes to write down a dream you have been wanting to accomplish. After you write the dream, jot down 5 skills you need to build up to achieve your dream. Think of the skills you need to rise to the desired level and write down a few action steps to take toward the 5 skills.

After you complete those steps, think of ways you can incorporate the skills into your daily life so they become consistent and you feel confident with them.

Long-term learning is enhanced by a distribution process in which information is repeated, allowing time with time in between practice sessions, rather than crammed practice (Brabeck, Jeffrey, Fry, 2010).

For me, playing my violin and practicing my music every other day is perfect for where I am at in teaching. If I were to join an orchestra or band, I will need to up my time practicing so I am up another level. From music to social skills, and from life coaching to upper management, we can learn to build upon what we have, gather new information, become intentional in acquiring knowledge, and deliberate in our rehearsal of incoming information. Your dreams will thank you later!

Whether you have a forever dream or a simple dream, the steps are the same, unless you plan to stay right where you are. Stagnancy erodes dreams.

Remember, you get to choose your dream and you the skills you want to accomplish. Every single day is an opportunity to move your needle forward in life toward the life you want to live.

~Just a thought by Pamela

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This post was previously published on Curious.

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