Gaining Practical Experience to Build Confidence

Confidence is an often underestimated aspect of learning but it’s one of the essential ingredients to truly mastering a skill and being able to deploy it effectively. As people engage in a hands-on practice, they can not only learn the theoretical aspects of a technique, but they can also try it out in real scenarios in a safe and non-judgmental setting. With each try, even if it does not work as expected, they can gain feedback that ultimately develops their confidence. As people practice a technique over and over again, they learn to trust themselves, to feel the rightness of the technique, and to take the action without further questioning. With confidence, people stop double-guessing, they take risks, and they expect a positive outcome from any situation.

It’s the step-by-step practical lessons that really instill confidence. As tasks are divided into smaller manageable chunks, they complete each step successfully, then move on to the next, increasing their comfort zone as they go. The next thing you know, they’re working on a task they thought would be impossible for them, completing it with confidence and ease. A coach or teacher is present to support and advise, to clarify anything they’re unsure of, but mainly to offer positive feedback as they progress. Eventually, the skills are second nature and they have the confidence to improvise.

Another benefit of experiential learning is that it promotes the retention of what is being learned. Hands-on involvement in the learning process encourages the learning of critical thinking, problem solving, and a variety of other skills that are not typically taught through lectures or reading books. People are more likely to retain what they learn when they have first-hand experience with a tool, equipment, or a process that they will use on a regular basis. Once someone experiences how to use a tool, piece of equipment, or a process, they learn how it works and what they will be able to do with it. This form of learning helps to increase the individual’s self-confidence when faced with a new task or situation because they will be more eager to take on new challenges and not as likely to shy away from them.

A second aspect of confidence building is the ability to fail and learn. In a project-based classroom, mistakes are not viewed as mistakes but as a necessary learning tool. Once a learner makes a mistake, they can reflect on why they made the mistake, fix their mistakes, and try to not make the same mistake again. After these steps are taken, the learner will start to build confidence in their problem solving ability and will learn that through perseverance and a bit of practice, they will be able to accomplish any task they are given. Students will see the improvements they are making which will cause them to be more confident in their work.

Confidence, then, is the result of practice, reflection, and gradual increases in difficulty. Practice connects the dots between knowing something and applying it. It converts doubt into confidence, and reluctance into action. If students want to truly master a skill, they need to practice to develop confidence. This not only increases their ability to perform, but also instills in them the confidence to create, to problem solve, and to act in situations where the answers aren’t clear, where skill and confidence are intertwined.