Self-Confidence as a Skill

"I am the captain of my own ship and master of my own fate," is the mantra Dr. Ivan Joseph reveals during his skillful self-confidence speech. As a coach of the Ryerson soccer team, Joseph lists 'self-confidence' as the most under-rated and under-represented skill in his candidates. Fortunately, since he regards it as a skill, he maintains it is something that can be taught. He urges us to transform our negative self-talk (the perpetually negative inner voice telling us we "can't") into positive self-affirmations like the aforementioned mantra. Far from being egotistical or false pride, Joseph firmly considers these moments to be positive reinforcement that attests to who we really are.

Indeed, positive reinforcement appears to have a much greater effect than negative reinforcement, which was confirmed by an experiment with a Kansas sports team. The members of the team performed much better when they were only shown video playback of their positive performances. He advises educators and coaches, which are inherently critical professions, to "catch them when they're good," and praise the behavior you want to re-enforce.