Note to the editor: Season 10 of the podcast Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta the science of happiness. You can listen to episodes here.
(CNN) – Everyone has found them: people who always seem to know what they are doing. They enjoy taking control of a situation, express their opinions as if they were established facts or enter a project believing they will succeed — with or without the necessary experience.
What magic dust was put on their breakfast cereal to give them this superpower?
“Confidence – I believe it’s probably the most important resource for human well-being and human performance,” neuroscientist and psychologist Ian Robertson told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his Chasing Life podcast recently.
Robertson is professor emeritus of psychology and director of the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland and the T. Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“Confidence is a double-stranded belief,” said Robertson, author of “How Confidence Works: The New Science of Self-Belief.”
“It’s your faith can do something, and the belief is that if you do that thing, you will get a reward or get a result that you want.”
When you feel confident, you’re more likely to succeed because confidence activates brain circuits that produce elevated mood, lower anxiety and sharper thinking—which increases the chance of success, Robertson said. These are the same brain circuits that are activated when you are successful. So whether you have confidence or success, even at a small task, success leads to more confidence.
“The greatest source of success is success,” Robertson said. “And success, like confidence, works like compound interest: It’s exponential. A little bit grows steadily.”
You can listen to the whole episode here.
If one end of the spectrum is confidence, the other is anxiety, Robertson said.
“If you don’t have confidence, if you don’t think you can do that, that will generate anxiety because of the prospect of failure,” he said. “The greatest source of anxiety is the fear of negative evaluation by others, and almost all anxiety is about other people.”
In addition, anxiety activates circuits that disrupt “the fluid synchronization of different brain regions that are critical for elite or peak performance,” he said.
Research shows that chronically anxious people do less of everything, Robertson said.
“They do less … socially, they do less at work, they do less in hobbies and interests,” he said. “Why? Because their brains are primed into a threat mindset, where they are anticipating and focusing their attention on negative outcomes and possible threats. And that inhibits those systems of the brain that confidently do the opposite.”
For example, Robertson said, take two 5-year-old girls: They’re equally smart and talented, but one has a little more confidence than the other.
“That small difference in confidence will mean the little girl is more likely to try something new. A tiny thing: Ask a question, (be) less afraid of making a mistake,” he said. “And that will most likely lead to a little success. That means she is more likely to take the next step. And by the time these two girls are 25, there is a huge gap in their achievement and well-being because of the exponential nature of the math of confidence.”
All is not lost if you are not born confident. Robertson has five tips for building confidence, even in scary circumstances.
Take action
Taking steps to do something and then doing it (no matter how discouraged you feel) will give you a burst of confidence.
“Confidence is linked to the activity systems of the brain,” Robertson said. “The great Persian poet Rumi said that the road is only visible with the first step. And people who lack confidence and worry tend to block action because they perceive a ‘threat’.”
Taking action, despite your anxiety, is very important to building confidence, Roberston said.
Choose your focus carefully
What you pay attention to determines your emotional state, so choose wisely, Robertson said.
“If you’re talking to a group of people and a few people are on their phones or joking, your attention will be locked on them because … that’s what we do when we feel threatened,” Robertson said.
“However, if you deliberately choose to pay attention to the majority of people, or one person of interest in the front row, who is smiling … you will put positive thoughts and images in your brain that will help you remember on the success of the past. rather than past failures.”
He said that being intentional in this way will not only reduce your anxiety and reduce the effort you have to put into the task but also increase your confidence.
Adopt a growth mindset
Your attitude towards yourself and your abilities can make a difference.
“You have to believe that change is possible,” Robertson said. People with a “growth” mindset believe that, with effort, abilities can be learned and talents cultivated; Conversely, those with a “fixed” mindset believe that talents and abilities are innate – either you have them or you don’t.
“If you have a fixed mindset – that is, you believe that your abilities or emotions are determined by genetics or heredity – then you will not engage in … the slow ups and downs of learning,” a Robertson said. “You can learn to be more confident – but not if you’re dealing with a fixed mindset.”
Fixed theories about yourself are “always wrong” because the human brain is very plastic at all ages, he explained.
Deal with your anxiety
Anxiety is corrosive to confidence, so reframe anxiety as excitement.
“Anxiety can be controlled by not fearing it and not treating it as some alien force coming, but instead seeing it as a form of energy that you can tap into,” said Robertson. “In fact, the physical and brain symptoms of anxiety are the same as those of excitement.”
Robertson recommends that if you are faced with a situation that makes you anxious, such as a difficult conversation or interview, adopt a “challenge” mindset.
“You can really change your mindset to one of ‘Oh, can I perform here?’ versus ‘Oh, terrible things are going to happen,’” he said. “And you can help yourself do that with the words you say to yourself: ‘I’m excited.'”
Robertson said that doesn’t mean you won’t feel nervous, but by using language, you’re harnessing a type of energy.
Confirm your values
Define yourself and what you stand for, he said.
“Because who you are as a person is based on what you stand for and what’s important to you, what your values are,” Robertson said.
“And if you can take a few seconds to even write down your values and why they’re important to you and what they mean to you, the evidence shows that your brain will be more resilient and protected against fear. criticism, humiliation, failure.”
In other words, said Robertson, you will be protected from the destructive anxiety that eats away at confidence.
We hope these five tips help you build confidence. Listen to the full episode here. And join us next week on the Chasing Life podcast when — after the recent presidential debate — we explore what normal aging looks like.
CNN Audio’s Eryn Mathewson contributed to this report.
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