MindTango #5: The Evidence you give Yourself

Sep 13

2 min read

We often think we need more confidence before we can trust ourselves.

But maybe it works the other way around.

Self-trust is built through experience. Every time you make a decision, act on it, deal with the consequences and adjust when necessary, you give yourself evidence that you can handle what comes next.

And this is an important distinction: trusting yourself doesn't mean believing you'll always make the right decision.

It means knowing that even when you get it wrong, you won't abandon yourself.

You can ask for advice. You can change your mind. You can make mistakes. None of these things have to become evidence that you're incapable of trusting your own judgment.

Perhaps the goal isn't to become someone who always knows what to do.

It's to become someone who knows they can figure out what to do next.

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Nelson Mandela

More on this

I explore why self-trust is different from confidence, why we sometimes outsource our judgment to other people, and how we actually begin to build trust in ourselves.

in my Latest YouTube video. https://youtu.be/PD8Ofil-OoU?si=T58NEplJPnJRcUWM

Science Corner:

Worth exploring:

Self-efficacy and human agency — Albert Bandura: Bandura's work on self-efficacy explores how our beliefs about what we're capable of influence motivation, persistence and action. Bandura on Self-Efficacy

Confidence, advice seeking and decision-making: This research looks at how confidence influences when and how we seek and use advice from others. Read the study on PubMed