You might think of confidence as this one big feeling, like you either have it or not. But real, grounded confidence is actually made up of different layers.
Sometimes you trust yourself in one area, but feel shaky in another.
Maybe you’re great at speaking your mind with friends, but freeze up when it comes to making career decisions. Or deep down, you know you’re capable – but still second-guess your every move.
That’s because there are different types of confidence, and each one plays a unique role in how you show up.
In this guide, we’ll break down the 6 most important types of confidence. We’ll cover what each looks like, why they matter, and how to strengthen them.
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What are the different types of confidence?
Confidence isn’t just a feeling, it’s a combination of self-trust, self-worth, and action.
Different situations call on different types of inner certainty.
Think of them like muscles. You might have a strong core, but weak arms. Same with confidence. You might trust your ideas, but not your ability to follow through.
These 6 types of confidence cover a wide range of inner strengths. You might resonate with some more than others, depending on where you are in your growth journey.
Why understanding these types matters
We often overgeneralize that we’re not confidence. But often, it’s not that you’re “not confident”, it’s just that you’re missing a few skills or mindsets in one specific area.
Knowing the different types helps you:
- Pinpoint where your self-doubt lives;
- Avoid distractions to grow the right type of confidence;
- Stop chasing surface-level fixes and build confidence from the inside out.
Most importantly, it gives you a path forward. You don’t have to “be confident” overnight.
You just need to know where to start.
The 6 types of confidence
Self-reflect on each of the following types to identity which ones are lacking behind more than others.
Also consider your goals and desires. We usually seek a certain kind of confidence more at various stage of our lives.
1. Foundational self-esteem
Self-esteem is the foundational type of confidence. It’s the quiet belief that you are enough, even when you’re not achieving, performing, or proving yourself.
Signs you have it:
- You don’t tie your value to what others think.
- You treat yourself with respect, even on bad days.
- You feel deserving of love, rest, and growth.
How to build it: Practice speaking to yourself with kindness, especially when you feel behind. Shift from “Am I good enough?” to “I’m allowed to be a work in progress.”
In addition, generate clarity and take action.
Craft a purpose and create a clear personal vision and mission statement. Set personal goals that you would like to achieve in the near term.
Then, start with small changes, like going to the gym. Wake up a little earlier so you can read or go for a brisk morning walk. Start acting towards something meaningful – or explore different areas if you’re not sure yet what’s meaningful to you.
In other words, create clarity on the kind of life that you want and who you want to be. Then make small steps to bring your vision into reality.
2. Social confidence
This is a big one I used to struggle with as a shy introvert.
(For all you introverts – being introverted isn’t your problem – it’s actually a strength).
This type of confidence is about trusting yourself around others. It’s also tied to how much you seek validation before sharing your ideas (this ties back to #1).
Social confidence shows up in how how you communicate, express your ideas, and set boundaries.
Signs you have it:
- You speak up without overthinking.
- You can handle rejection and disagreement.
- You can deal with silence and awkwardness.
- You don’t ponder to others just to be liked.
How to build it: The key again is to set small challenges for yourself and act on them. For example, share one honest opinion a day. You can start doing that with a close friend. Then with a stranger. And then in a group setting.
The beauty is that you set different challenges and scale up once you become more socially confident. It teaches you to sit with discomfort instead of avoiding it.
Social confidence comes from not abandoning yourself to please others.
3. Emotional confidence
Emotional confidence comes from knowing that what you’re feeling is okay – and to listen to your feelings to understand its messages.
That’s emotional intelligence.
The opposite is letting your emotions control you. That means you merely react to however you’re feeling without trying to understand it. This often causes a chain of events, causing continuous suffering.
Signs you have emotional confidence:
- You don’t fear your emotions.
- You can hold space for discomfort.
- You bounce back from setbacks without spiraling.
How to build it: Slow down when emotions rise. Name what you’re feeling without judgment. And remind yourself that feeling something doesn’t make you weak.
4. Decision-making confidence
Decisions decide the direction for your actions – which shape your reality. And trusting the choices you make fuels your motivation to take action with confidence.
But how do you know that you’re making the right decision?
Truth is, we rarely do. Decision-making confidence is the trust that you can make choices and handle the outcome – even if the journey is messy and imperfect.
Signs you have it:
- You listen to your inner voice.
- You course-correct without shame.
- You don’t obsess over right vs wrong.
How to build it: Shift your perspective from “What if I choose wrong?” to “I can handle what comes.” Start with low-stakes decisions, and build evidence that you’re capable of leading yourself.
At the end of the day, better decisions come from expertise and experience.
Expertise and experience stem from actions.
The one thing I wish I had done earlier, was simply
Unless a decision is life-changing and irreversible (which few decisions are), then the approach I recommend is to make decisions fast, take massive action, fail fast, learn fast – and repeat the process.
That’s what I wish I had done.
It would’ve gotten me a whole lot further in life, compared to overthinking about the small decisions and whether I’m choosing the right one…
5. Action confidence
Action confidence is all about having the courage to do the thing, even when you’re unsure. Once you make the decision, you must act – fast.
It’s confidence in motion.
Signs you have it:
- You stop waiting for perfect conditions.
- You take messy and imperfect action.
- You trust yourself to learn as you go.
- You feel proud of showing up, not just succeeding.
How to build it: What have you been overthinking about? Take a tiny action today in that direction. Notice how taking action creates clarity.
Remember: Confidence grows from momentum, not perfection.
6. Resilience confidence
Resilience is all about bouncing back from setbacks, failures, and rejection. This kind of confidence comes in the micro (everyday interactions and minor setbacks) and in the macro (after a breakup or losing your job).
Resilience means that you know that you can rise again.
That doesn’t mean that you won’t experience discomfort, pain or hurt. Of course, you may experience those feelings, which ties back to emotional confidence.
At the same time, resilience means you get back into the ring, despite having taken a couple of punches. It’s a powerful quality to possess for rapid self-improvement.
Signs you have it:
- You don’t let setbacks define you.
- You’ve honor the hard things you go through.
- You keep going, without pretending it’s easy.
How to build it: Look at what you’ve already been through and survived. That shows you’re capable. You have the strength to go through shit – so celebrate it!
Let past versions of you be proof that you can handle what’s next.
When you go through something difficult, approach it with a sense of gratitude. While it sucks, there are lessons and opportunities in disguise that will strengthen you.
It’s not what happened to you, but how you view what happened to you that’s causing you problems. Your perspective and consequent actions determine your reality – nothing else.
Of course, easier siad than done – but a very important insight indeed.
How building one type of confidence creates ripple effects
Younger me used to struggle with almost all types of confidence.
Social confidence was the obvious one to me. I wanted to be able to walk up to new people and be able to keep conversations going with anyone.
I admit that was the wrong goal, you don’t need to be able to keep conversations going with everyone – just like you shouldn’t want everyone to like you…
Anyway, I tried everything to build social confidence.
I started going to the gym, changed hairstyles and clothing, and focused on building a career (to impress others?). I was improving my life in all ways – but my social confidence remained pretty low.
Not very surprising…
However, it built another type of confidence that I was lacking: self-esteem. Once I developed some of that foundational confidence, it became a lot easier to take on small social challenges.
It’s also why I decided to travel by myself – to step outside my comfort zone and constantly having to meet new people.
Building that foundational self-esteem became a ripple effect that changed everything.
If you want to build that foundational confidence that improves all other types, then get access to my free email course. I’ll teach you the most important principles that I’ve learned along my long journey to building core confidence.
Remember: Confidence is NOT all-or-nothing
If you’ve ever thought:
- “I’m just not a confident person”
- “I need to fix everything to feel better”
- “Other people just have it easier”
Let me remind you that confidence isn’t a personality trait.
It’s a set of skills and mindsets.
When you learn this, you stop relying on false confidence. Whilst there are ways to fake confidence, you don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to start where you are – with compassion and intention. If I can build confidence, so can you.
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