How Can Learning Skills Boost Our Confidence?

I have always loved water. It’s my happy place. I enjoy swimming, paddleboarding and kitesurfing. So the decision to learn sailing came naturally.

At first, there were so many new things — especially with wordings — that it was confusing (note aside, I would have never guessed what luffing up! meant). And due to my lack of experience, I was not really confident.

And we all have been there.

When we try learning a new skill or do something new for the first time, we are hesitant. We don’t know if what we are doing is correct. Did we forget something? Was it the proper way to do or prepare something?

Psychologist Albert Bandura developed the concept of self-efficacy, which relates to how much we believe we are capable of accomplishing a task¹.

For instance, am I able to steer a boat? If my self-efficacy is high, I am convinced I can do it. If it’s low, I’m not confident in my ability to complete this task successfully.

And it was found that we can improve our self-efficacy through vicarious and mastery experiences².

The first one — vicarious experience — means that we see someone we relate to doing the task successfully, and it builds our conviction we can do it.