Is Confidence An Emotion? (no…but I say yes)
I’m a musician, traveler and creative with a camera. I make projects blending these things and I constantly feel like I’m not up to snuff. So, is confidence an emotion?
Technically no. But I like to see it as an emotional experience.
Because it’s the very feeling part of the confidence matrix that hits the hardest. Confidence has a variety of secondary emotional effects.
I mean, I feel great when I make a great song. And I feel like sh*t when I cut corners or receive an unsolicited comment like “don’t quit your day job”.
Confidence is a state of mind and a soft skill – but it also has emotional nuances.
So let’s wrap up this chit chat and dissect things more.
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What Is Confidence? (defining a nuance)
Defining confidence is tricky. It can mean something completely different for everyone.
So it’ll help to get us all on the same page.
This is my simple definition for confidence:
Confidence is the feeling of self belief, trust and/or personal pride.
I feel creatively confident when I’m in a flow state or when I share something that helps someone.
Other times, my confidence is the realization that what I’m doing is working and is leading to some result(s).
Confidence for me comes from working past obstacles and applying creative skills to turn some idea into something tangible.
It’s all an emotional experience and a strong sense of personal pride.
But let’s look at some other signs of confidence before talking more about the emotional components.
Signs of Confidence
Making eye contact and having good posture
Not embarrassed to make mistakes, experience failure or look awkward
No need for outside approval
Not easily offended
More decisive
You’re quick to celebrate others before yourself
You listen more than you speak
Standing up for yourself or someone else
You have no issue asking for help
You don’t criticize others or talk behind backs
You admit when you’re wrong or made a mistake
You’re optimistic
So, Is Confidence An Emotion? (why I say yes)
There are plenty of physical and social signs of confidence (as you can see from the list above).
But it’s more nuanced than just this. There are emotional elements.
Technically, confidence is not an emotion. But the experience of confidence has emotional effects.
I mean, we know when we’re feeling confident (and when we’re not). So I like to reframe confidence as an emotional experience.
For example, you feel excited and happier (both emotions) when you’re confident.
Alternatively, we may feel anxiety, anger or shame when we lack confidence.
These things are closely connected.
Luckily, there are some things we can do to practice feeling more confident.
8 Tips That Help Me Feel More Confident
Feeling more confident is the ultimate goal.
So these are the things that help me cultivate confidence as a creative.
1. Skill Build
Skill building boosts competence, which in turn boosts confidence – it’s a feedback loop.
A lot of my temporary lapses in confidence come from me knowing I could be better. So the simplest solution is to, well, spend time getting better.
Skill building is an important part of my daily workflow and it helps me feel more confident. So here are some questions to consider:
What are your weaknesses?
What skills could you strengthen?
What things could you objectively get better at?
Do you have the necessary skills, knowledge or experience to reach your biggest goals? If not, how could you improve upon things?
This can be a hard conversation to have with yourself and requires some self reflection and a little brutal honesty.
But hey, what is confidence but recognizing shortcomings and then working through them?
2. Stack the Deck
Stacking the deck is all about setting yourself up for success.
Our environment and the people we spend time with have a big impact on our productivity, confidence, habits and more.
Luckily, we have some control over things.
Here are three ways I like to stack the cards in my favor (so I feel more confident about my creative life):
My inner circle
The people I spend time around
I connect with more people who inspire and motivate me
My outer circle
The content I consume
I only (mostly) consume content that builds me up (nothing too negative)
My environment
The spaces I spend the most time in
I organize my rooms in ways that are inspiring and spend times in places that make me feel motivated and confident (like trendy cafes)
3. Know Your Ikigai
I spend a lot of time in Japan, so I tend to infuse my travels there in my writing.
Ikigai is the Japanese concept of life purpose.
Having a clear vision and purpose for everything I’m doing makes me feel more confident. I know exactly what I’m doing and why.
Ikigai is all about doing the things that bring you joy and fill your life with purpose.
For me, this means filling my days with creativity and adventure (music, filmmaking, travel…).
So how about you – what’s your ikigai?
4. Do More of What You Love
Confidence – in part – comes from an awareness of knowing what you love, and then doing more of it.
At least for me.
For example, I love making music, but I’m not always motivated to work on it. If I let this laziness snowball, I get stressed.
I feel behind, like I’m not up to snuff and (if things get really out of hand) like a complete imposter.
The simplest solution is to do more of what I love (and do it more often).
These things are important to me and daily practice sharpens my skills and brings me closer to goals.
I know I’m actively working towards my goals and this makes me feel more confident.
Of course, the trick is in not relying solely on motivation.
5. Manage Your Expectations
Rogue expectations – oof, the enemy of confidence.
I’m all for dreaming big (I know I do), but expectations should be realistic.
For example, if you want to get 1,000,000 subs on YouTube for your travel vlog, that’s amazing and you can absolutely do that.
But if you’re expecting to reach that in 6 months, then…well…your confidence has a shelf life.
So go big, but stay patient with things and be realistic with your timelines and expectations.
(your confidence depends on it!)
6. Practice Visualization
Our minds are powerful things. So let’s use them.
Visualization is imagining your future life and emotionally embracing it as if it’s already happening.
I like to use this trick to boost my confidence and reset myself.
Meditation is a great tool for the job, but getting into the habit of behaving and believing in your visualizations is the ultimate goal.
So imagine yourself confident. What smells are there? What are you wearing? What’s the temperature like?
Getting detailed is key.
Of course, this can all feel a bit reductionist and oversimplified – you know, “just imagine yourself confident and ka-blamo, instant confidence!”.
But it does work if you stick with it.
7. Tackle Your Weaknesses
Nothing makes me feel more confident than overcoming some obstacle, learning a new skill and reaching some milestone moment.
Tackling your weaknesses is an awesome way to believe in yourself more and improve overall confidence.
The more things you overcome, the more you’ll believe you can do anything.
It snowballs.
For example, I keep getting better and better at finding solutions to my music production troubles.
But I used to get quickly discouraged and feel like giving up. My confidence was never growing, just shrinking.
But the more I stuck with it and worked through the issues, the better I became (and the more confident I felt).
8. Muri Shinai De (go easy on yourself)
This last tip is simple: remember to give yourself a break.
Everyday can’t be a W and confidence will ebb and flow.
So, to use another Japanese concept, muri shinai de, which means “don’t overdo it…go easy on yourself”.
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