Anne Truitt Zelenka

Are you confident? If you’re like me, you’re confident about some tasks and goals, and not so confident about others. I’m a confident blogger but a not-so-confident book author. I’m a confident hiker, but I didn’t feel so confident last week on vacation in Rocky Mountain National Park when we confronted some really slippery and steep rocks on our way to Sky Pond. I’m all about looking for lakes rather than climbing mountains but as I discovered on that hike, reaching lakes of inspiration sometimes requires challenging yourself beyond your comfort zone.

What are the slippery rocks in your life that you’d like to feel more confident about climbing? The web might be able to help by boosting what psychologist Albert Bandura calls self-efficacy, your belief in your ability to complete certain tasks or goals. The web can increase your self-efficacy for certain tasks and goals by:

• providing a platform for experiencing and building on small successes
• showing you the work and strategy behind other people’s successes
• offering a social support network that can give you feedback as to your strengths and opportunities.

Confidence propels you

As we hiked last week, my husband wondered why I didn’t get tired or discouraged when hiking even though I don’t hike or even exercise regularly when I’m not in The Park. It’s because I have confidence in my ability to hike. I don’t doubt whether I can keep walking even when I’m tired or sore. When my energy wanes I don’t question whether I’ll finish and I don’t consider turning back. I think, “the trail will flatten out soon” or “I will get a burst of energy when I finish this next switchback” or “I can take a short break and then I’ll be ready to go again.”

Having confidence in your ability to successfully complete something can make all the difference in whether you complete it or not, assuming your confidence is not entirely misplaced — I’m not saying you could fly like a bird if only you had enough confidence. When you’re confident about something, you push through the obstacles. You find a way around them. You trust in your ability to make that thing happen. You expend more effort towards achieving your goals, trusting in your ability to reach them. When you’re not confident, even the slightest misstep or challenge can throw you off your path.

How the web boosts confidence #1: Personal mastery experiences

Because there are such low barriers to entry to working on the web, it’s easy to get started with small steps that give you a sense of accomplishment and a belief in your ability to achieve more. If you’re a photographer, you can share and get feedback on your best photos on Flickr or on a stock photo site. If you’re a web developer, you can create a little web app and see how people like it at the same time you increase your confidence in your development skills. If you’re a writer, you can start a blog. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, you can experiment with selling goods online or with creating an ad-supported website.

Each time you have a success online, you will increase your belief in your ability to succeed in the future. This doesn’t just apply to online work, because success experiences can be generalized to related offline work. Write a few blog posts and you’ll start to feel confident in your ability to write for a print publication. Share your photos on a stock photo sharing site and realize you might be able to make a go of professional portrait photography. Start a company online and expand it offline when you feel confident enough.

How the web boosts confidence #2: Vicarious mastery experiences

It’s easier than ever to see how people succeed, because so many people open up their work lives online. This transparency makes it possible for you to find role models in your chosen field and see how they succeed. You learn from them as they overcome obstacles, choose from different opportunities, and put in the hard work to succeed in a certain field whether it be finishing a Ph.D. or launching a web design firm or writing a book.

No longer do you only have access to people’s stories after they’ve succeeded. You can see how achieving big goals almost always require step by step work (yes, some busyness!), periods of fallowness or doubt, and episodes of rejection and failure before the destination is reached.

Vicarious experiences are second only to personal experiences in boosting our self-efficacy, according to Bandura and other psychologists. You will benefit the most from finding those who are most similar to you — because you can easily picture yourself taking the same steps your role model did.

My husband and I experienced vicarious mastery on our hike to Sky Pond last week. Uncertain of our ability to climb a small waterfall on the way up, we listened to other hikers’ accounts as they came down (”stay to the right, make sure you have a good foothold, take it slowly”). We figured if these people, casual hikers like ourselves, could make it up, so could we. Happily, we did.

How the web boosts confidence #3: Social persuasion and support

Though it’s not as powerful in increasing self-efficacy as experiencing success directly or using role models, social support towards achieving your goals can be an important help. Your social network online can get to know you very well, understand your strengths and weaknesses, and tell you where you might best succeed. Your online friends can give you an accurate read on your abilities thus building up your confidence towards achieving certain goals.

If you share your goals with your social network online, you’re even more likely to achieve them, because people will offer you help and advice, targeted towards what they think you are capable of and suited for. This social reinforcement can power you towards higher achievement than if you try to go it alone.

The theme of confidence

Last year’s trip to The Park made me think about blogging for numbers (i.e., for page views, for subscriber numbers, for lots of links) versus blogging for expression, connection, and conversation. This year’s trip made me think about confidence, about why we choose to pursue the goals we do, and where our confidence to do so comes from. I’ve found working online to be a rich source of confidence in addition to allowing space for expression, connection, and conversation.

There are always more slippery rocks to climb, trails that aren’t well-marked, sore legs, and threatening storms. So it’s good to understand how you can go about building confidence online — by experiencing success and mastery, by watching how other people succeed, and by getting support and feedback from your social network.