What is confidence? Defined as a person’s ability to back themselves, believe in their own strengths and abilities, and have faith in their competence, value, and what they bring to the table – confidence is a key ingredient to success in both our personal and professional lives.
But if confidence doesn’t come naturally to us, there are strategies we can actively employ to heighten our tendency to believe in and back ourselves. One example?
Educating ourselves – and developing our skills and knowledge – by taking on further studies. Stay with us as we discuss the ways pursuing higher education can boost our confidence.
Further Studies Help Us Learn and Gain Knowledge
By pursuing further study, we acquire new skills, develop ourselves personally and professionally, and, just as importantly, gain knowledge that is relevant to our career aspirations.
Adding to our skillset and knowledge base enhances our confidence by giving us the know-how we need to attain lofty career goals and also provides us with a sense of personal accomplishment and achievement.
Suppose you’re an ambitious, career-focused professional who is employed in the educational sector, for instance, and you’re looking to gain highly specialized skills in leadership and education.
In that case, completing a high-level university degree like an online Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership can help qualify and equip you with the advanced skills and knowledge required to progress your career in the educational leadership space.
Similarly, a postgraduate qualification in advanced nursing, for example, can support and assist aspiring nursing practitioners in pursuing specialized career paths in the medical sector.
Higher Education Teaches Us to Back Ourselves
Completing higher education also teaches us the confidence-building skills of negotiation, persuasion, and debate. Learning how to formulate, conceptualize, rationalize, and argue concepts and points of perspective increases our confidence by showing us how to back ourselves and our arguments.
Consider this: when writing an essay or a thesis, we must come up with a contention or hypothesis – the main point or argument that will be discussed within the piece.
Throughout the body of your essay, your argument must be supported by evidence that confirms the point you are discussing. By learning how to back up your arguments, you become more confident in your assertions.
You also learn how to persuade others of your perspective and how to confidently negotiate until others can see your point of view.
Studying at University Offers Public Speaking and Social Opportunities
When we study at university, we learn how to communicate confidently – at times, in front of large audiences. Yes, as part of our studies, we will often be required to make presentations – particularly in group settings.
This, in a sense, forces us to practice our public speaking – even if it doesn’t come naturally to us. As they say, practice makes perfect, and the more often we are required to speak publicly, the more confident we become with it.
Attending university is also an opportunity for social interaction with like-minded peers, and to this end, is an integral part of forming new relationships in our chosen field.
Forming close relationships with our peers is an essential contributor to the development of emotional intelligence, as well as our social confidence and adeptness. By socializing with others, we improve our confidence by learning how to interact with and relate to other people.
We also become more confident in our ability to cultivate positive and meaningful relationships with others. When it comes to pursuing higher education, the advantages for our professional development cannot be doubted.
But further studies can also develop us in a personal sense – not least in terms of our confidence.
By helping us gain essential knowledge and skills in our chosen field, teaching us to back ourselves and our arguments, and allowing us opportunities for social development, the benefits of studying for our confidence are abundant.
Yes, as discussed, confidence is a key component of success. When looking at the most successful professionals who excel in their respective fields, it becomes clear that possessing the requisite skills and qualifications only takes us so far.
The essential ingredient? Being self-assured, secure, and confident in our competence and value as an individual.