Why Confidence Matters More than You think
The winner effect, how to increase confidence.
We’ve all heard of ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.’
It’s known as Matthew’s law because of the Bible verse. It doesn’t only apply to getting richer but winning in general.
This is what an experiment on mice shows.
To explain the experiment I’ll take a mouse named Jerry.
Jerry has a 50% chance of winning against any other normal mouse of its type.
Now if Jerry fights a drugged mouse(a mouse which can’t move) then obviously it will win.
Now after Jerry has beaten the drugged mouse, it has a 70% chance of beating any other normal mouse.
Jerry has not gotten more skilled, he only got a confidence boost which probably gave a testosterone boost and increased his chances of winning by 20 percent!
This is the winner effect and it’s even found in humans.
If there’s one learning I can take from reading this experiment it’s to crush tiny-tiny wins every day, and eventually, a big win should come my way. It has also shown me the importance of confidence.
And if that wasn’t enough, there are more benefits to confidence.
Other benefits of confidence
Well, psychologists have studied this thing similar to confidence called self-efficacy.
The results of higher self-efficacy include:
Deeper interest in the task you’re doing
Readiness to take on challenges
Quicker recovery from failures.
Being confident doesn’t only mean you feel better but you even perform better when you are more confident.
Oh, and something more interesting is women. Confidence is one of the most attractive traits women see in men.
If you’re also wondering how to increase confidence?
Some things that improve self-efficacy/confidence:
When you accomplish or master something.
When you see someone who’s similar to you achieve something.
When you get positive feedback from other people
How you interpret situations matters. This includes self-talk and visualisation.
Ask yourself:
What would it look like if a confident person were doing it?
(Credits for the question: Ali Abdaal)
Other places winner effect found
Confidence in learning:
Tim Ferris, who is an expert learner and also an entrepreneur, when learning something new starts with something simple he can easily ace so that he gains a confidence boost before moving on to harder things.
Elon Musk and confidence:
The author Robert Greene pointed out something interesting — Tesla’s
stocks were overrated. He believes the reason people invested in Tesla was because Elon Musk has the self-confidence and assurance that whatever he puts his mind to he will make it work.
Because he believes in himself so much, other people believe in him and invest in him and help him to work he also puts in the effort and it works out.
Soldiers make their beds first thing in the morning, it’s their first win of the day. This propels them forward, it gets them motivated to get bigger wins. It’s nothing but the winner effect in action.