Confidence vs Skill: Which is more Important

Some say that confidence is more important because you need to be confident to execute skills. Some will say that skill is more important as confidence without skill is nothing. Let us answer this question in this article. Which is really more important? In this article, we are going to see both sides so we can have an answer. But I want to give the answer right away on which is more important, confidence or skill?

Confidence and skills are both important. The question of which is more important depends on the situation. Confidence without skill is nothing, while skills without confidence in execution are prone to failure. There should be a balance between the two and neither is more important.

The debate on which is more important is not the right question we should be asking. The question should be why are both of these important. We should know why each of them is important, so we can know which of them should we develop at our current level. We will discuss more regarding this topic in this article to give you a solid point that if you build both of them, success will be easier.

Which is more important confidence or skill?

Confidence and skill are both important. Neither is better than the other. There should be a balance between confidence and skill to be successful. The importance of confidence is seen before doing tasks, while skill is important in doing the task itself.

There are so many people who focus on confidence because they think that confidence will bring them success. While it is true that confidence will bring success, confidence is not a very stable foundation for you to stand on.

The problem with confidence is that it can easily be broken especially if your confidence came from empty confidence.

What I mean by empty confidence is when you see what others call clever hacks to improve your confidence such as daily affirmations and standing on the mirror with your head up high.

Don’t get me wrong. Those method works. But the problem is they are easily manipulated by external factors.

This is because those type of confidence has no real foundations. It can easily be broken down by external factors such as words from other people.

For example, no matter how confident you become from affirmation, if someone suddenly drop the truth that you are not doing well because you lack skills, then all of a sudden, your confidence level will drop.

I discussed this topic in more detail in another article in which I discussed an example of the difference between confidence with foundation and confidence without foundation. Here is the link if you want to check it out: Confidence: Is it really a skill? And Why?

But the basic concept is confidence with foundation is the best. It will make your confidence unshakeable. For example, I have written more than a hundred thousand words in the internet. I know that I have the skills but I won’t say that I am a good writer. I know that there are lots of improvements I can skill make and even if you tell me that I am not good at writing, you won’t get into my nerve because I already know that.

That confidence came from practicing a lot. By doing things over and over again to reach a skill level in which my confidence is not easily shaken.

That is why both are important. Confidence and skill are very important because skills are the ultimate foundation of confidence.

Once you’ve finally accepted from doing that your skills not perfect, and you need to improve further even if you’ve already done a lot, that’s where real confidence comes.

I’ve discussed more about empty confidence and confidence with skills as a foundation in my “Confidence: Is it really a skill? And Why?” article. It is definitely a good read after this since it was more in-depth.

But for now, I hope you get the point that confidence without any skill is like building a house without any foundations. The foundation of confidence is skills.

Build skills and you will build confidence along it. That type of confidence is the real deal.

“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”

Aristotle

Why is Confidence Important

Now that you know about the reason why confidence and skills are important, we need to discuss each of them for you to deeply understand why each is important and neither is more important than the other. Let us discuss why confidence is important.

Confidence is important because it helps us take on tasks that we think are hard to do. This helps us get out of our comfort zone and do things. Thus, confidence is essential for us since it helps us experience life to its fullest and it helps in building our skills.

To help you understand the relationship between confidence and skill, and why it is important. I will give myself as an example.

Before I started this website, I have zero idea on how to create one. Let alone making an article like what you are reading right now.

In fact, it took me 4 hours to write my first article, and you will never ever see that article ever again.

I have zero trust in my abilities back then. Zero skills in writing but with confidence, I started writing.

That first article became 10 articles then 20. Now, I have made for than 100+ articles and I have improved a lot.

That is the importance of confidence. In life, there are things that we need to do even if we are not skilled enough. You will be filled with self-doubt at first but with confidence, you will still do it.

In turn, you will learn a lot through experience which numerous books and courses can’t teach.

I’ve learned a lot by doing. By writing a lot of articles. But my first article was the hardest, it took a lot of self-confidence just to start writing and show my work.

To understand more about self-doubt and self-confidence, I’ve made an article discussing the good and the bad things self-doubt can give us. It is a good read together with this article since you can understand more about their relationship and why self-doubt is also a good thing: Is self-doubt a weakness?

Confidence is important when you have no skills to show. It helps break the barrier between dreaming and doing. That’s why confidence is very important. When we have no skills to show, it is confidence that will give us the will to carry on.

“Life Begins at the End of your Comfort Zone.”

Neale DOnald Walsch

Why is Ability or Skill Important

Skills or abilities are important because they are the unshakeable foundations of confidence. Confidence without any skill to back it up will be very easy to break. That is why when we improve our skills, our confidence also grows along with it. Most people are looking for this confidence type of true confidence.

Now that we have discussed about the importance of confidence and why it is important, let us not discuss the importance of ability and skills.

Abilities and skill are the core strong foundation of confidence. Without abilities, confidence can be easily broken within seconds.

To illustrate this, let me give another example. It is the continuation of my writing journey.

When I finally made my first article, of course I improved a little but I am still not at the level I’m currently at.

I actually submitted my first article in a forum so people can give me tips. The result is that I have a lot of mistakes.

Someone pointed out a lot of mistake which actually hurts. I did my best to write that short article and it took 4 hours of my life. Here is someone telling me that it might be the worse article she has ever seen.

I know she is just telling me what I needed to know and I asked for criticism but it still hurt me a lot. Confidence from 100 to 0 real quick.

The reason why I lost my confidence and self-esteem that time is because I just used my confidence in writing that article. Which means that it is by no means good. I know that but my ego is on the way. The confidence that made me write that was on the way.

Now, at my level, even if you flood me with comments about my writing, I wouldn’t mind. I have built my confidence through repetition and deliberate practice.

I know that I still have a long way to go. But my confidence in writing is not something that can be broken down by words.

This is because I know that I can improve.

When your confidence is backed up by skills and abilities, it is a different story. While confidence is good at the start, it is not the one that you can rely on continuing.

Conclusion

Use your confidence to build your skills. Use it to enter the barrier of starting even if you don’t have skills.

Once you’ve entered, learn and develop the skills you need. Developing your skills will in turn build your confidence to another level.

That level of confidence will be harder to break and will give you true confidence.

That is the reason why both confidence and skills are important. The question of which is more important depends upon the situation you are in.

So the central point is this. If you are just starting out with no skills, then confidence is more important because it will make you start. But after entering the barrier of doing things, skills will be more important because they will be the core foundation of your confidence.