Business coach shares how tiny everyday 'micro-decisions' can build your self-confidence

Many of us have faced confidence issues. Maybe you’ve rewritten that resume for a job application over five times, and feel overwhelmed by your friends’ advice. Perhaps you’re wondering which outfit to wear to that work party. For many people, this second-guessing can mess with self-confidence and the trust that the decision being made is the best one for them. Well, an entrepreneur says that making quick and firm day-to-day small choices can boost confidence when big decisions arise.

Businesswoman and coach Natalie Ellis went online to explain that making micro-decisions can help build self-confidence over time. Micro-decision making, according to Ellis, is just choosing, acting, and following through on a small stakes decision. One micro-decision example presented by Ellis would be to just send an email without overthinking about it and having another person edit it beforehand.

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Micro-decisions that can build confidence and happiness can be even smaller than that. Choose which restaurant to eat at without scouring the internet for menus of five different places. Give yourself a two minute time limit to pick something to watch on Netflix then stick to it. Put on the red shirt instead of the blue one just because. Making a decisive choice, no matter the size, tells your brain that you’re in charge, that you can be trusted with yourself, and that whatever you commit to doing will be followed through.

Even if the small decision doesn’t turn out in your favor, like the restaurant you picked had the worst burrito you’ve ever had, the Netflix movie was terrible, or the red shirt made everyone at Target think you worked there, it’s still worth doing. Firstly, because it’s low-stakes and you can learn from whatever errors happened. Secondly, because it teaches you that even if mistakes are made, they are manageable and survivable. You lived through it and built wisdom which in turn makes future decisions more informed and confident.

Making committed micro-decisions not only builds confidence, but also reduces decision fatigue. Decision fatigue is a real thing that many doctors cite as a cause for mental exhaustion, depression, and burnout. Second-guessing, fielding other opinions, and weighing every available choice thoroughly for low-stakes situations only adds to that mental workload. Even if you pick a Netflix movie within two minutes and it turns out bad, you likely feel less exhausted than scrolling through all the options the algorithm shows you then realize that a half hour has gone by and you’re still not watching anything.

It sounds like small stuff, but small stuff helps create foundations for big stuff. If your self-confidence is low, start making firm micro-choices and micro-decisions then go from there to build up to the big stuff. See it as choice-training to build up confidence muscles when bigger, higher-stakes decisions come by. There may be moments when you’ll eat some bad food, watch a bad movie, or wish you wore the green shirt so Target shoppers would stop bothering you, but overall your mind will be freer and your confidence will become stronger for it.