Confidence & Competence

By Kerryn Vaughan

20th April 2026

Confidence isn’t the same as being good at something - competent.

And being good at something doesn’t automatically mean you feel confident.

Honestly… some people think they’re amazing when they’re not (hello Dunning-Kruger effect - a cognitive bias where people with limited knowledge or competence in a domain greatly overestimate their own proficiency), and others are actually really good but doubt themselves.

But here’s the cool part. Confidence and competence can actually help each other grow… if you don’t let your ego take over.

My Confidence CAP model (Courage, Action and Practice) is basically:

• Be brave

• Take action

• Practise

That’s how confidence grows, and very likely building competence simultaneously.

So imagine this:

You try something new. You’re not good at it yet. You feel awkward or maybe a bit nervous, but you still do it anyway (that’s the brave bit).

Then you keep practising, and slowly you feel a bit more confident.

And because you feel more confident, you try more things.

And because you try more things, your competence grows.

And then, you feel even more confident.

It’s like a loop:

Confidence → Practice → Competence → More confidence → More practice → More competence

A great example is learning to drive. At the start you’ve got basically zero skill and likely no confidence.

Although sometimes people have way too much confidence (yikes)!

You get in the car (brave), you practise, you get a bit better, you feel a bit more confident, so you practise more.

Repeat that enough times, and one day you’re driving somewhere and you’re like, “Wait… how did I even get here?”

That’s called unconscious competence - aka: you’re so good at it now, you don’t even have to think.

Same with phones. At first: confusing. Now: basically an extra limb.

So, confidence and competence are not the same thing. However, if you use them properly together, they build each other up until you’re doing things you once thought were scary, and without even thinking about it.

But ultimately, it all starts with courageous action!

Kerryn Vaughan is the author of ‘Magnificent Kids!’ and ‘Get Off The Bench!’, co-founder of Girls With Hammers, and host of Get Off The Bench Podcast.

Kerryn is a leadership facilitator and the founder of Confident Leaders Program and The Confidence CAP, as well as an accredited DISC ADVANCED® consultant.