Five Ingredients to Improve Your Competence and Self-Confidence

We have previously discussed why veterinary professionals struggle with self-doubt, lack of confidence in their skills and impostor syndrome.

We also established that competence and confidence are not the same, and that building competence is not always enough to feel confident.

So this article is here to share with you five ingredients that you need in order to build both your competence as a professional and confidence in your skills.

1. Make sure you are in the right place

The environment around you is fundamental for you to have enough space to grow. When we are talking about workplaces, this means that you should choose a place where the people around you are supportive.

2. Focus on one thing at a time and pat yourself on the back for achieving it

Most of us often learn better when we have focus in one specific skill. Most vets are demanding and they want to be good at everything in one go. Instead, focus on one specific skill for you to develop at a time and stop judging yourself regarding how you compare to others. And when you do achieve the level that you were aiming for, don’t go chase the next one. Stop and give yourself a little pat on the back for one more step that you took in your life journey.

3. Don’t rush it - take your time and choose places that respect your time

It doesn’t matter what you do, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. You won’t feel like you can spay a fat bitch on your first week of work on your own. In order to feel confident, you need to repeatedly achieve positive outcomes. This means you need repetition, and repetition takes time. 

4. Achievement comes from action

In other words, go for it. Try it. Be a Nike follower, just do it. You will not feel confident if you don’t push yourself a bit out of your comfort zone. That’s the “growth” zone. But don’t Nike it carelessly! You know that our actions and mistakes have big consequences, and ultimately they can cost a life. Yes, you need to try and do it, but do so making sure you also have the next ingredient in your arsenal.

5. Make sure you are receiving positive feedback

Most articles about confidence will mention a mentor. Programs like the VetGDP rely on a mentor. New graduate programs involve you having a mentor. There is good reason for this. I am a behaviour nerd and I often compare dogs and cats to ourselves, because believe it or not, humans learn in similar ways! When a dog or a cat goes through a negative experience, you can’t offset that with a single positive experience. You need a lot more positive experiences to overshadow a single negative experience. This is the same for us when we are learning a skill and don’t receive positive feedback. One mistake, one bad experience will take a lot more than the next one going well for you to feel like you’ve got it. And this is why you need a tutor, a mentor, someone that can guide you through the next couple of positive experiences that you need to overcome your previous negative one. A mentor does not need to be designated as a mentor. A mentor is simply someone who is there when you are feeling insecure and will push you just a bit out of your comfort zone, reassuring you that you are on the right path and seeing you through the experience until you have got it by yourself.

These tips will help you increasing your competence level, consistently obtain positive outcomes and improve your self-confidence in your skills.