Confidence is the faith that you can achieve a certain outcome. Even if you have all the confidence in the world, it does not guarantee that you can achieve a goal or an outcome. Goals and outcomes can be influenced by outside factors, and these factors can be inconsistent. A baseball player is not going to hit a home run every time. A basketball player is not going to hit every shot. A salesperson is not going to close every deal.

When life goes our way, it can strengthen our confidence, and when life doesn’t go our way, it can shake our confidence. The goal is for our confidence to be built and sustained over time so we can consistently hit our goals.

The nature of life is that we always question our confidence, which is also a natural part of success. This can be viewed as a positive trait. It shows that we care. It tells us that there is room to grow. It humbles us. Developing and maintaining confidence is a habit. One bad event or misfortune can destroy some people’s confidence. Here’s how to develop confidence that will keep you on task and focused.

Develop competence

The best way to develop confidence is to develop competence. Bredon Burchard calls this the confidence-competence continuum. The more competence we have, the more confidence we have. A salesperson who knows they can close a good percentage of deals will have more confidence because they have empirical data. A baseball player with a high batting average and not in a slump will have confidence that they can hit the ball. Did you ever watch a teenager get their driver’s license? They have little confidence in their driving ability, while a seasoned driver who has gotten behind the wheel thousands of times has confidence in their driving ability.

Finding people who have confidence in you

Sometimes, we lack confidence in ourselves, but some people have confidence in us. It’s a coach that believes that we can hit the ball. It’s the manager who believes that we can complete the project. Oftentimes, people know us better than we know ourselves. They have an outside perspective on what we can do. They are not in our heads. They are not listening to all the self-talk.

Find people who have confidence in themselves. Along the same lines, we are social creatures and often need role models to learn from and inspire us. Look at how they conduct themselves. Look at their mindset when they deal with challenges and their ambition. Ask yourself what traits you can emulate.

Confidence is a trait. It’s a certain kind of swagger.

Keep the faith. One of the most important factors in having confidence is faith that everything can work out. The nature of confidence is the belief that your actions will provide a certain outcome, whether that outcome is asking someone out on a date, running for public office, interviewing for a job, or just putting yourself out there in the world. When you don’t put yourself out there, you minimize your chances for success. Of course, there is no guarantee that your confidence will pay off. Sometimes you do everything right, but things just don’t work. That’s called life.

Develop focus

We are filled with many messages about why we are not where we want to be and what gets in the way. If we are not careful, we can start believing these messages. Focusing on more positive and aspirational messages instead of negative messages develops more confidence. Life is about focusing on what will get us to our goals while focusing less on what will keep us away from our goals. This turns into confidence when we do it right.

Some things can lead to being overconfident about being hubris. Confidence is great, but it should not lead us into complacency or tell us that we don’t need to put in the work.