Confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s not a talent or a personality type, it’s a skill that you can nurture and grow at any time.
For nursing staff, confidence can affect everything from speaking up for patients and making complex clinical decisions to applying for promotions or trying something new.
“Developing confidence often starts with recognising your strengths, challenging unhelpful self-criticism and accepting that it's OK to not have all the answers in every situation," says Amber O'Brien, RCN Professional Lead for Mental Health.
Amber talks to us about the difference between self-confidence and self-esteem, and how you can address a lack of confidence at work. She also explores the many ways you can grow (and maintain) a healthy dose of self-assurance.
What is confidence?
True confidence is trusting in yourself, your knowledge, abilities and judgements in a balanced way.
It’s positively accepting your strengths and weaknesses, and believing that you can do things successfully – whether that’s a particular skill, managing relationships, or the ability to cope with life’s ups and downs.
You can have healthy self-esteem but still struggle with confidence
Healthy self-confidence can positively affect how you think and feel; it can influence your personal and career goals, and it can help you to bounce back after a setback.
Is self-confidence different from self-esteem?
Although self-confidence and self-esteem are closely related, they are different concepts.
Self-confidence relates to your belief in your abilities, whereas self-esteem is the opinion we have of ourselves and our sense of our own worth or value. Self-esteem often forms in early childhood.
Those with healthy self-esteem believe they are inherently good enough; they have a balanced view of who they are and are kind and encouraging towards themselves.
Like any skill, you have to practise confidence as often as possible
You can have healthy self-esteem but struggle with self-confidence. Likewise, you can feel confident in certain areas of your life but have low self-esteem. You might even struggle with both.
Does confidence naturally fluctuate?
Absolutely. Confidence isn’t fixed. Life’s challenges like grief and loss, caring responsibilities, money worries or bullying, for example, can knock anyone’s confidence.
On the other hand, you’ll also find that being in certain environments, being around particular people or engaging in certain skills can boost your self-confidence.
Being aware of what raises or reduces your confidence can help you grow and maintain that sense of self-assurance.
How can I cultivate confidence?
Confidence is key to our overall wellbeing, and an essential skill if we want to reach our full potential.
Like any skill, it’s so important to practise confidence as often as possible.
Here are just a few ideas to grow or maintain self-confidence, so you can realise your potential. Try some out and see what works for you.
- Understand your strengths and weaknesses
Make a list of what you believe or know you’re good at, and think about your achievements too – big and small. Keep note of positive feedback you’ve received and remind yourself of any challenges you’ve already overcome and how you coped.
Then consider which areas make you feel less confident or challenges you may even completely avoid, and think about how you’d like to improve.
- Challenge yourself (with small steps)
Once you know which areas you’d like to feel more confident in, set goals for yourself and break them down into realistic steps. You don’t have to wait to feel confident before you can start taking action.
For example, you might want to feel less nervous about public speaking. You could start by speaking up in team meetings more and then build up to leading a meeting or giving a presentation.
Keep a record of the challenges you’ve handled well, and you’ll have evidence of how your confidence, as a skill, is growing.
- Build your knowledge
We’ve all heard the old adage that “with knowledge comes power”. If you feel unconfident with a particular skill or area of your life or work, focusing some time on becoming more competent in that skill can give you a real boost.
- Practise self-acceptance
When you’re compassionate, you create space to learn from your mistakes.
It’s worth remembering that we all make errors, there are times when we fall short or perhaps say the wrong thing. We all have strengths and we all have our areas of weakness, even those people you look up to won’t be confident in every area of their lives.
What if I’m struggling with confidence at work?
Results from the RCN Employment Survey, earlier this year, show nursing staff feel more undervalued than ever. Working long hours in stressful environments and constantly feeling devalued can dent the confidence of even the most self-assured nursing staff.
Research from the Career Development Institute shows there’s a , with 79% of women reporting they regularly lack confidence at work, compared to 62% of men.
As a high-pressured, female-dominated industry, imposter syndrome is known to affect many nursing staff at some point in their careers. Read our feature to explore the signs and find seven steps to overcoming imposter syndrome.
How can the RCN help?
There’s a wide range of support and opportunities to develop your skills and grow your networks, available to all our members.
- Visit , which is free for members, and you’ll find quality-assured courses, resources and CPD learning for all nursing staff.
- Build your community and join one of our professional forums or networks. Or look into how mentoring has helped other nursing staff push their careers forward.
- Our careers service offers advice and practical support for every stage of your nursing career, from CV and interview support to career coaching.
- If you're finding you need more support with your self-confidence, or that self-esteem is also affecting your confidence, as Â鶹ÊÓƵ member you can reach out to the RCN Counselling service for free and confidential support.
