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Self Confidence- The Key to Success
By Meaghan Montrose
What makes a successful student? This is an important question for many students (and their parents) who are struggling to achieve success in school. Of course, being a good student requires dedication, practice, and some natural ability. There is one factor, however, that I believe is often overlooked and is arguably the most important- self confidence!
Self confidence is key to the success of a student. It is the ability to believe in yourself and have faith that you can be successful. Everyone, even adults, needs to believe they can be successful at a task in order to succeed. If you have doubts, your actions will reflect those doubts and you will fail.
Unfortunately, students today experience a lot of negativity and are not receiving the support and encouragement that they need. Low self-esteem and lack of confidence is very common in children, especially in the ages between ten and eighteen. Without this positive outlook and belief in oneself, students will perform below their ability. A lack of confidence leads to frustration, second-guessing, and anxiety. If these feelings continue, the child can develop a dislike towards a particular subject or school in general. This is an unfortunate outcome that no one wants to see- parents, teachers, tutors, and even the students included.
Here are a few ways to build the confidence of your child to help them achieve greater success in school and life in general.
1. Acknowledge the positives.
Focus on your child’s strengths and what he/she is already doing successfully. You can use this to give them encouragement and support to attempt something else. For example, if your child is struggling to understand Algebra, you might want to say something like “You are a great soccer player, but it didn’t happen overnight. You had to and still have to practice in order make good plays. And sometimes, even with all the practice, you still make a mistake. The same is true for your math problems. You have to practice and keep trying in order to be successful.”
2. Avoid negative talk.
The idea is to make the task seem possible. Obviously, you never want to tell your child that he/she can’t do something or that it is too hard for them. To take this idea one step further, you also want to avoid influencing them with your own opinions or lack of confidence in an area. You should not say things like “I always hated Chemistry” or “These math problems are impossible” or “Writing doesn’t run in our genes.” Stay positive! Children are very easily influenced by the opinions of their parents.
3. Emphasize victories.
When your child is successful at a challenging task, be sure to give them lots of praise. For example, if your son earns an A on a science report that he usually struggles with, be sure to acknowledge this achievement. Post the paper on the refrigerator, make his favorite dinner, and/or allow him extra T.V. time. It doesn’t matter what you do, just do something to reward the hard work and success.
4. Seek help when needed.
One way to give your child confidence is to teach them how to use all of the resources that are available such as extra help sessions with the teacher, peer study groups, tutors, and educational websites. Being successful doesn’t mean you have to do it all on your own. By knowing what “tools” are available, your child will have less anxiety and self-doubt and more confidence. He/She will have more options to try when they don’t immediately experience success. Instead of becoming discouraged, your child will be ready to accept the challenge and try another approach to succeed.
Topics: Parenting, Study Skills and Learning Strategies | 1 Comment »
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Good points all around. Focusing on strengths, and building up one little accomplishment at a time does wonders for a student’s learning ability.
I find that this is something that not all teachers do well (especially since their attention is divided between so many students!) and this is an area in which a well-trained tutor like myself can really make a difference in a student’s learning, just by being there and following these steps to improve a student’s confidence level.
Praise goes a long way!
Check out my thoughts on the subject here:
http://blog.adamwes.com/the-key-to-academic-success-confidence/