Why Trying New Things is Critical to Your Confidence and Success

But what if I look stupid?

That’s the question I hear a lot from new clients who are interested in trying CrossFit or strength training for the first time. 

What if people laugh at me because I don’t know what I’m doing?

When I first started lifting weights, I had a very hard time figuring out how to do a proper Snatch. 

In fact, the first time I tried it–prior to proper coaching–I fell forward and literally tripped over the bar and fell on my face. It was so embarrassing. My face turned bright red–like the embarrassed-face-emoji crimson–and I had to laugh to keep from crying out of sheer humiliation. My only saving grace was that everyone else in the gym at the time seemed to have their headphones in and no one really even noticed my epic fail.

And then, wouldn’t you know it, my first ever CrossFit class–in a group setting where everyone was doing the same exercises and being coached by someone specifically looking for proper form and technique–was a Snatch workout…

I was nervous. I was so hesitant to try any real weight because I worried I would fall forward over the bar again–but this time everyone would hear and see me fall because no one had headphones on! 

But, I started light, practiced my form, and over time, Snatch became one of my favorite lifts in CrossFit. I love the challenge of it. I can tell when I have a good versus a poor bar path or a strong or weak pull. I can feel it in my body when I set up perfectly and drop under the bar quickly. I love the feeling when I hit a heavier lift in a full-squat-depth catch and stand it up. Throwing it to the ground feels so sweet after that. 

The Toddler Approach

We didn’t always resist trying new things out of fear of “looking stupid.” As babies and children, everything we learned was new and unknown and we weren’t “good” at any of it. We had to learn. We had to try. 

Those first steps were wobbly. We tripped. We fell. We made mistakes. But we tried new things over and over again as we grew until we could do all the things we couldn’t do before. And now, look at us–all fully functional, potty-trained adults… (or at least most of us) ;) 

Somewhere along the way, though, we started wanting to stay comfortable and only do things we are good at. Some of us were lucky to be somewhat naturally good at lots of things, so we didn’t have to fail and try again to still be decent at whatever we had to do.

But that desire to stay comfortable and only do what we are already good at or naturally good at has absolutely wrecked our confidence overall. It seems backwards, right? That by not looking like a “fool” in trying new things until we got better at them and only doing things we already know how to do…we are actually making it harder to be confident because we’re stagnant. 

When we don’t try new things, we don’t grow. And when we don’t grow, we can’t succeed…

Trying new things isn’t just brave. It is essential for building confidence and achieving success. Read on to learn why trying new things–especially things you aren’t very good at right away–is essential to building your confidence and succeeding in every area of life. 

The Psychology Behind Growth and Confidence

Your brain is like an ever-changing muscle. Just like you exercise to grow your muscles in the gym, learning and trying new things is how your brain grows and changes. 

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize and adapt by forming new neural connections throughout your life. Your brain isn’t a “fixed” organism; it can change in response to learning, experiencing, practice, or even injury. Every time you try something new, solve a problem, or change a habit, your brain literally rewires itself. 

This process allows you to build new skills, adapt to challenges, and it boosts your confidence by proving you’re capable of growth and change. Trying new things activates different areas of the brain, creating new pathways and strengthening existing ones. 

Competence = Confidence & Failure = Data

You’ve probably heard this before: “Fear is a sign you’re headed in the right direction.” You may have even heard successful people say that failure is a sign you’re doing the right things because every failure brings you one step closer to a win. 

Confidence is built through competence–by practicing and getting the hang of things you aren’t immediately good at doing. Confidence is earned by doing hard or unfamiliar things, and failure isn’t a setback, it’s data. The brain learns just as much from what didn’t work as it does from what did work. The act of trying a new skill in itself activates growth in your brain–regardless of the outcome. 

When you do the new thing and walk into the fear, you rewire your mindset. Then, the next time you decide to try something new, you will be able to overcome your hesitations quicker and get to “competence” quicker, which then leads to an increased level of confidence. 

Practical Tips for Trying New Things (Even When It’s Scary)

Luckily, just like you can practice new skills to become competent, you can practice trying new things to get better at getting out of your comfort zone. 

The key is to practice it in ways that are somewhat unrelated to the “big” areas of your life you want to succeed in. Here’s what I mean:

Say you want to succeed in business but you’re having a hard time feeling confident enough to take the risks you need to take to achieve those big business goals.

So, to practice stepping out of your comfort zone to try something new, you sign up for a pottery class. You’ve never done pottery before. You don’t even know where to start when you sit down at the wheel the first day of class. 

But by the final class, you know how to mold the clay into something beautiful and intentional. You become a “competent” ceramic artist.

By practicing going from a complete beginner–having NEVER done pottery before–to a competent participant–being able to produce a mug or a bowl out of clay–you improve your neuroplasticity, rewire your mindset, and grow in confidence.

Then, when the time comes to try something new in business, your brain already knows it is capable of trying and succeeding at new things because you already succeeded at the pottery class. 

Another way you can improve your desire to try new things is to surround yourself with people who encourage calculated risk-taking. I’m not talking gamblers here…I mean people who get out of their own comfort zones regularly in small, calculated ways. 

A CrossFit Gym is an amazing place to find people like this. The definition of CrossFit is “constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity.” CrossFit athletes (the people who participate in CrossFit classes regularly) practice new movements at heavier weights, for longer workouts, or with more intensity or effort–what we call “progressive overload”–every day. 

Every time one of my athletes hits a new win in the gym–such as stringing together multiple kipping pullups or lifting a weight they’ve never been able to lift before–they improve their confidence. 

The woman who was just able to do 2 kipping pullups in a row wasn’t able to do regular kips 6 months ago. But she practiced the skill of kipping until she was competent at it, and then she made it a little more challenging by adding the pull to the bar. She took a calculated risk every time she practiced the skill. 

Being surrounded by people like that who try new things and practice until they succeed–with coaches who help cue and encourage them and cheer so loud for them when they succeed–makes taking small risks and trying new things almost second nature. The more you see it, the more you feel like it is normal to try new things and keep trying until you master them. 

Before long, you’ll be reframing your fear as excitement. You’ll start to look forward to trying the new, scary thing. You already know you can figure it out, so you get a little feeling of excited nerves before you start. If you’re like me, you’ll start to crave that feeling and miss it when you stay stagnant too long. 

And finally, remember to celebrate your effort just as much as you celebrate your wins. Every day you show up and put in the work is an opportunity to be proud of yourself. When you celebrate your effort, you tell yourself that the practice is worth doing, and that leads to improved confidence as well. 

What’s one new thing you can try this week to build your confidence?

References:

Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School “Tips to leverage neuroplasticity to maintain cognitive fitness as you age”

National Library of Medicine “Exploring the Role of Neuroplasticity in Development, Aging, and Neurodegeneration”

Cleveland Clinic “Brainwork: The Power of Neuroplasticity”

National Library of Medicine “Neuroplasticity”

Verywell Mind “How Neuroplasticity Works”