Let’s face it, most of us could use some confidence-boosting every once in a while, especially when we are tackling something we’ve never done before. When you’re a kid, there are a lot of things you haven’t tried before, which is why it’s so important to instill confidence in children from a young age. October 20 is National Youth Confidence Day, so we’re going to review some tips to boost confidence for kids…and adults, too.
Kids and Confidence
Some people are born timid and others fearless, but it is possible to help instill a healthy level of confidence in kids and teens of all ages. Here are a few tips from the Child Mind Institute:
- Regularly tell (and show) your child you love them, so they know that’s something they can always count on.
- Encourage them to try new things and help them set achievable goals. Learning new skills naturally builds confidence and helps them discover new passions.
- Let them fail. Letting children fail and pick themselves back up teaches them problem-solving, perseverance and that some things are worth working for.
- Celebrate successes. Tell them how proud you are when they succeed, but even if they don’t achieve their desired goal, celebrate their effort.
- Embrace imperfection. No one is perfect, so teach kids to strive for their best instead. This means praising perseverance and not getting angry when something goes wrong. Every mistake is a learning opportunity.
- Model confidence. If your kids see that you are afraid to try new things, or that you beat yourself up over failures and mistakes, they will learn to do the same.
Even the most confident teens sometimes feel overwhelmed when considering their future plans with regard to jobs and college. That’s why we offer Student Career Coaching, working with students to dig deep into their personalities and behaviors to help them understand where their strengths lie, which careers would use those strengths and which colleges, experience or training would be best to pursue for those careers.
Confidence Boosting for Adults
World-class workplace leaders can employ most of the same tactics above—Ross tells us he loves us all the time, which can be tricky with colleagues but you can tell them you appreciate them—to boost employee confidence as well. It’s all part of being a good coach and helping your team grow and develop. Confidence helps kids, teens and adults to succeed in both their personal, academic and professional lives by boosting communication, decision-making, motivation and other skills.
We can help you be a better coach, help members of your team to reach their full potential, or help teens and young adults to find their paths. Reach out anytime to learn more.