How Self-Belief and High Performance Are Connected
Self-belief and high performance are more closely linked than most people realise. Some people seem to have self-belief naturally. Others do not. In reality, we can all develop it. The question is: how?
Every story of success starts with the same question. What do you think you can do?
The world’s greatest-ever football player, Pelé, was nine years old when Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup final to Uruguay. The 2-1 defeat shocked the 200,000 fans packed into Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã stadium. It appalled the entire soccer-mad nation. It is still regarded in Brazil as a national tragedy. Pelé’s father, listening to the radio broadcast, cried. Pelé consoled him: “No. Don’t worry, don’t be sad. I will win the World Cup for you.“
Fast forward eight years and two World Cups later. Pelé is now 17. He is picked for the national squad. He plays superbly. Brazil progress to the final against hosts Sweden. “My father always told me, ‘don’t worry, when you step on the pitch, everyone is equal’. That gave me a lot of strength.“
Self-belief saw Pelé score twice in a memorable 5-2 victory. He remains the youngest-ever World Cup winner. He went on to become one of the sporting world’s all-time greats.
Despite his young age, Pelé allowed Brazilians to trust anew and hold new truths. For Black Brazilians he was a symbol of emancipation. All citizens felt they could free themselves from the nation’s defeatist attitude, what national poet Nelson Rodrigues had called the “Mongrel Complex.” Former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso said Pelé was crucial to the emergence of a modern Brazil: one that believed in itself.
Self-Belief to Hurdle Challenges: Navigating Anxiety, Ambiguity and Ambivalence
To understand how self-belief enables performance, it helps to recognise that it is also key to navigating struggles, crises and, more broadly, the three As: anxiety, ambiguity and ambivalence.
"Our beliefs either help us through difficult circumstances, or hinder us in making headway."
Self-confidence and deeper self-belief are measures of a spiritually and emotionally mature person, argues psychologist James Hollis. Growing the muscle of self-belief makes us more rounded and better able to face life’s challenges. This primes our minds for accomplishment and our mindsets to seize opportunities.
Can I Do It? The First Person You Need to Convince Is Yourself
Albert-László Barabási, professor of Network Science at Boston’s Northeastern University, studied and compared the success of US graduates from a range of universities. He found a striking result. “The single determinant of long-term success was derived from the best college a kid merely applied to, even if she didn’t get in.” A person’s ambition, where they believe they belong, drives their ultimate success.
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t — you’re probably right.”
If self-belief is a key ingredient for achievement, how do we nurture it in ourselves and in others?
Self-Efficacy and the Links to High Performance
Stanford University psychology professor Albert Bandura explored this question some 25 years ago. His work was seminal to our understanding of the interrelationships and differences between self-esteem, confidence and self-belief. His studies helped define self-efficacy: our perception or belief in our capability to perform a specific behaviour or action. He also pinpointed its causal influence on expectations of success.
There are three ways in which self-belief is generated and nurtured:
- our own experience of mastering something
- the vicarious experience of understanding how others have succeeded
- a social persuasion factor: the affirmation of others
“There are three ways in which self-belief is generated and nurtured.”
The most powerful and lasting form combines all three. When we master something by overcoming challenges, we build a precedent for future belief. We have done it before. We know we can do it again. The momentum of repeated success builds a mastery flywheel: perseverance leads to success, which builds belief, which drives further perseverance.
By observing or learning from others’ success through social learning theory, we find both inspiration and a guide. When others encourage us, our belief and our will expand. Their affirmation makes us realise we have genuine potential and capability.
The confirmation from these studies is striking. The relationship between self-efficacy and motivation and performance is clear. Self-efficacy predicts performance. In almost any domain — academic studies, sport, the world of work — a causal relationship exists between self-belief and results.
Self-Belief Is Not Showmanship: The Danger of Overconfidence
There are circumstances where self-belief tips into overconfidence or hubris. The result is overclaim and under-delivery.
Today’s technology and venture capital leaders sometimes illustrate this. When Uber launched, co-founder Travis Kalanick proclaimed the company would significantly reduce city-centre traffic congestion and pollution. Recent research proves the opposite. Uber and its major competitors Lyft and Bolt have contributed to worsening traffic in major metropolitan areas. By simplifying on-demand transport, they redirected people away from public transport.
The learning is that unintended consequences attach themselves to the decisions we make in business and in life.
By tempering our self-belief with an appropriate degree of circumspection, it becomes more rounded and credible. Our delivery and performance will improve further. Being humble and honest enough to say “I don’t know” may be the purest indicator of genuine self-belief.
Habits specialist James Clear offers a thought-provoking insight: “If you never copy best practices, you’ll have to repeat all the mistakes yourself. If you only copy best practices, you’ll always be one step behind the leaders.” Clear urges us to be humble enough to learn from others while being confident enough to develop our own ideas.
"By tempering our self-belief with an appropriate degree of circumspection it becomes more rounded and robust."
The Power of Persuasion: How Social Affirmation Builds Self-Belief
In his book Greenlights, Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey tells a story that illustrates the power of social persuasion in generating self-belief. When McConaughey was a young child, his mother entered him in the Little Mr Texas competition. For years afterwards she celebrated his victory each morning at breakfast. A habitual reminder of his worth. A daily spur to believe he could accomplish his goals.
In fact, something McConaughey only discovered from his mother’s admission 42 years later, he did not win. The trophy was for second place. But it was a symbol of success his mother used to instil self-efficacy. Would McConaughey have become a brilliant award-winning actor and filmmaker without it?
Green for Go: How Parental Affirmation Shapes High Performance
Greenlights is scattered with examples of how a young person benefits from multiple small factors that together form a powerful mix nurturing confidence and self-efficacy.
A parent’s affirmation stands out as especially important. It is the sanction that liberates. That freedom, in turn, generates responsibility.
The book’s title captures something profound. McConaughey’s expression of the greenlighting validation he received from his parents and later from his wife and various associates is a metaphor for unleashing the potential in people. Giving them permission to fly.
Individual Motivation: The Formula Behind Self-Belief and High Performance
"Of all the ingredients for high performance, self-belief may be the most important."
Of all the ingredients for high performance, self-belief may be the most important. Especially when we note how closely it connects to motivation.
LRMG has explored this in the performance model of Chelsea Football Club sports psychologist Tim Harkness. Harkness emphasises motivation as a key element in winning at elite level, where abilities are close to par across almost all players. He developed a formula: Motivation = (Reward ÷ Task) x Confidence.
The concept shows that larger rewards and smaller tasks drive motivation. But the other variable is equally important: Confidence. The greater our confidence, the greater our motivation. This is a clear reason to grow our self-belief.
Empowerment: How Self-Belief Creates a Virtuous Circle
One of the most important social challenges of our times is the empowerment of women. I think it’s true to say that self-belief contributes to a woman’s sense of self-empowerment. In turn, it’s possible this triggers the broader realisation – among men, too – that women’s accomplishments prove that women must be empowered.
This virtuous circle of achievement is perhaps a combination of Bandura’s second and third levels of self-efficacy in action: vicarious, evidence-based achievement of other women, and the amplification of social persuasion.
Kamala Harris, as America’s new Vice President, will undoubtedly be an inspiration to millions of women globally. Closer to home, my colleague Nozipho Tshabalala tells of the inspirational example set by her mother.
At the age of 48 she went to night school to obtain matric, then qualified as a teacher and started a new career at 54. Her mother demonstrated that “the responsibility to change things starts with changing yourself”, says Nozipho. She also acknowledges how she was “blessed to be backed by many people in spaces I had not earned the right to be in. [They] believed in me far more than I had believed in myself at the time.”
Taking Action: Van Gogh, the Blank Canvas and the Power of Self-Belief
It is helpful to make the connection between belief, energy and high performance.
Vincent van Gogh offers deep wisdom when he writes about overcoming a lack of self-belief and a paralysing fear of failure.
“You don’t know how paralysing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter, 'You can’t do anything.'”
“Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the truly passionate painter who dares — and who has once broken the spell of ‘You can’t’.“
Staying Grounded: Self-Belief Without Blindness
No matter how motivated, confident, qualified and self-assured we become, we should always seek contextual awareness.
Irish rock band U2 made it big despite barely being able to play their instruments when they started. They had self-belief in abundance. But how did they stay relevant for 40 years in an industry rooted in fads, fashion and edginess? As noted in our LRMG case studies, productive paranoia was at play. Knowing the fickle nature of the industry, they resisted any inclination towards overconfidence. They understood that past performance is no guarantee of future success.
Lessons for Leaders: Self-Belief in Action
“True self-efficacy allows the flexibility to realise we may be wrong, or we need to change habits. Or to reinvent our entire way of thinking.”
Some of our LRMG case studies illustrate this vividly. During the Vietnam War, US naval commander James Stockdale was captured and held prisoner for seven and a half years in brutal conditions. Only through a radically altered approach did he survive and help 500 other prisoners return home.
Stockdale impressed on the men that individual courage alone was not enough. He discarded the US navy’s prisoner-of-war rule book and established his own set of rules relevant to their appalling reality. He drew wisdom from his studies of Stoic philosophy. The prisoners adopted new coping behaviours. They lived day to day without losing long-term hope. They supported one another.
In this terrifying situation, we see Bandura’s three drivers of self-belief at work. As they survived each day, they realised they could survive the next, which is the power of mastery experience. Stockdale’s imitation of Stoic pillars provided vicarious learning. Their mutual support network represented a crucial social affirmation.
Stockdale displayed extraordinary self-belief and courage. In today’s complex business climate, multiple factors go into good leadership. Knowledge, skills, motivation, the right habits and sound judgement are all vital. But the need for leaders to inspire and grow their people may be paramount.
“Building individual and organisational belief may be a key factor differentiating great leaders from good ones.”
I hope you are on track to achieve your goals. If you believe, and put effort behind that belief, you can actualise your own story of success. You. Can. Do. It.
PS: Practical Tips to Build Self-Belief Using Bandura's Model
Towards individual mastery: Set realistic goals, even small ones initially. Be deliberate about achieving them. Persevere. Affirm your belief once achieved. Then keep going. Build on each success by stretching to fresh, incremental goals.
To widen vicarious experiences: Actively seek learnings from others. Read experts’ accounts, observe your mentor at work, listen for stories of success and search for lessons from related fields or from history.
Embracing social persuasion: Network with purpose. Surround yourself with positive people. Give encouragement to others freely. The reminder that as you sow so shall you reap became a mantra for Van Gogh. It applies here too.
Many of our LRMG case studies also provide valuable vicarious learning to strengthen your performance and build your belief.
At LRMG, we build leadership development and talent development programmes that grow the self-belief, self-efficacy and performance habits of individuals and teams across South Africa and Africa. To find out how LRMG can help your organisation develop the belief and capability to achieve extraordinary results, contact the team.
Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Belief and High Performance
What is self-efficacy and how does it differ from self-confidence?
Self-confidence is a general feeling of trust in one’s abilities across a range of situations. Self-efficacy, as defined by Stanford University psychology professor Albert Bandura, is more specific. It is the belief in one’s capability to perform a particular behaviour or complete a specific task. Self-efficacy is a predictor of performance. In almost any domain, academic studies, sport or the world of work, a causal relationship exists between how strongly a person believes they can do something and how well they actually do it.
What are Bandura’s three sources of self-belief?
Bandura identified three sources that generate and nurture self-belief. The first is personal mastery: the experience of successfully completing a task, which builds a precedent for future confidence. The second is vicarious experience: observing others succeed, which provides both inspiration and a practical guide. The third is social persuasion: the affirmation and encouragement of others, which expands our sense of possibility and capability. The most powerful and lasting self-belief combines all three sources simultaneously.
How can leaders build self-belief in their teams?
Leaders build self-belief in their teams by creating conditions for mastery, which means setting achievable goals and celebrating progress. They also provide vicarious learning opportunities, such as exposing team members to mentors, case studies and examples of people who have overcome similar challenges. And they exercise social persuasion through consistent, specific affirmation that acknowledges individual potential and contribution. Matthew McConaughey’s mother’s approach, celebrating a second-place trophy as a first-place win for decades, is an extreme but instructive example of how powerful deliberate affirmation can be.
How does self-belief connect to motivation and performance?
Chelsea Football Club sports psychologist Tim Harkness developed a formula that makes this connection explicit: Motivation = (Reward ÷ Task) x Confidence. The formula shows that confidence, which is the expression of self-belief, is a multiplier on motivation. The greater the confidence, the greater the motivation. The greater the motivation, the stronger the performance. This is why building self-belief is not merely a personal development aspiration. It is a commercially important performance lever for any organisation.
How does LRMG help South African organisations build self-belief and high performance?
LRMG helps South African organisations develop self-belief and high performance through leadership development, talent development and talent advisory solutions that address the mindset, habits and capabilities of individuals and teams. This includes coaching, development programmes and capability building interventions designed to grow self-efficacy through all three of Bandura’s drivers: personal mastery, vicarious learning and social persuasion. With nearly three decades of experience partnering with over 800 organisations across Africa, LRMG has the depth of expertise to help your people believe in what they can achieve. To find out more, contact the team through our contact page.
