Build confidence in any activity: the wheel of performance

By Clem

Struggling to start a new venture or even nurturing one of your own creative outlets is a common issue in our digital age. The constant bombardment of highlight reels of everyone’s successes without the backdrop of the long, hard road it took to get there – is one thing that can contribute to performance inertia and a lack of confidence. But there are tools out there to help. Enter, The Wheel of Performance:

So what is it?

The wheel of performance is a simple concept to combat any struggles related to confidence and inertia in productivity. It formalizes the underlying process of performance, improvement and drive. This arms your understanding in order to make any task feel doable and introduces you into a flow of action. It applies to anyone in any field of performance from writers, painters to musicians and even those wanting to start a new hobby or profession.

Where to start?

Ideally you will be in a constant flow of motion within the wheel, though by its nature there are two entry points here. For those who are naturally curious and/or active, they would start with confidence. This is when you already have the positive reinforcement and belief that you can do the thing. As for those of us who are struggling with confidence, the second entry point would be with action. Whereby regardless of how you feel or how experienced you are, you take the leap and just do it. This kickstarts the wheel and you’re on your way towards confidence via feedback.

Feedback & motion

This is where you evaluate your performance or even just celebrating the fact that you’ve completed the task. Feedback takes shape in many forms from someone else’s praise or opinion to the reaction of an audience.

Now you’re in the motion of the wheel. Drawing from that reinforcement or even critical analysis on where you could improve for next time – this feedback directly fuels back into confidence, which then transmutes into action and so on.

A state of flow

Now that we’ve gone through the fundamentals, there are still some things to unpack here. How do you start with action when you are feeling completely unmotivated or uninspired?

Thankfully there are many tips and tricks out there in which you can find all over the web. From small yet effective mental games like simply counting down from 5, to “performing” without worrying about effectiveness.

An example for the writers out there, would be to simply open Notepad and begin writing anything you think of. The momentum of typing and moving your fingers will eventually help spark that idea for an opening sentence. Another way of going about it is reconnecting with your love for what you’re doing in the first place, you can read more about this in a blog we wrote earlier this year.

However you find your point of entry into the wheel, it’s all about maintaining that momentum between those three steps. With each revolution, any action will become more and more effortless as your confidence grows through continuous feedback.