Though it’s something we often feel a lack of when embarking on something new, there are many ways to help people feel confident to start and continue doing a new task or behaviour
Acknowledging a person’s position amongst a group can inject new-found confidence.
Where can you use status to highlight successful acts that others should follow?
Good or bad, almost every scenario can be reframed.
How can you take someone’s efforts, no matter how small, and reframe them to boost confidence and motivation?
Feeling a sense of control over our situation can give us great confidence.
Where can you integrate choices that make people feel like they’ve “got this”?
Others’ actions can give us confidence as to what is ‘right’, especially when uncertain.
How can you use the wisdom of informed others as a guiding light?
Stories offer a powerful way to connect with people, giving them confidence about their choices, past or future.
Where can you weave in reassuring narratives?
We crave feedback on our efforts, offering a massive opportunity to boost confidence in the process.
Where can you provide reassurance that we’re on the right path?
How confident we feel about a situation can be greatly affected by what we see first.
How can you prime with info that reassures, before delivering your main message?
The wise and experienced amongst us can bestow great confidence in others.
How can you use prominent individuals to give inspiring feedback that boosts / reaffirms?
Uncertainty breeds a lack of confidence, but certainty has the opposite, reassuring effect.
How can you offer guarantees, dates or other commitments that can boost confidence?
Starting is often the scariest thing. But once we’re on our way, confidence grows.
How can you help people get started (or even feel like they have) to reassure and motivate?
Too much choice can overwhelm and make us feel like we’ve made the wrong decision.
Where can you sensibly restrict options for newcomers to overcome this feeling?
Meaningful rewards offer a great opportunity to celebrate successes and reinforce confidence in a more formal way.
How might you use reward rituals to do this?
If we feel like we can connect with an object and see it as an extension of ourselves, we have greater confidence in it.
Where might you create that connection?
Offering people a few ways to customise a product (even in a small way) will create more confidence that it fits their needs.
Where might you provide this?
Relaxation, warmth and laughter are synonymous with confidence.
How might you create a feeling of friendliness that takes the edge off seriousness / formality?
If confusion breeds doubt, clarity is confidence.
Where can you provide simple, clear messaging that’s easy for people to learn and repeat long into the future?
Large tasks can feel unsurmountable and instil a lack of confidence in their completion.
How can you make that first task small, achievable, and the first step to glory?
Indecision saps confidence. However, providing a default option is a powerful remedy, offering the ‘right’ option that confidently reassures.
Where can you provide such clarifying guidance in the options you present?
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