Take Small Actions Before You Feel Ready

Many people wait to feel confident before taking action. But what if that confidence never comes, or it takes years to develop? You might miss out on opportunities that could advance your career, open new doors, or accelerate your personal growth. That’s why taking small actions to build competence through repetition is a better approach. Each step you take provides evidence of your capability, which increases your confidence and makes it easier to keep going. Think of it as a self-reinforcing loop: small actions create evidence, evidence of competence strengthens confidence, and confidence makes further action more likely.

What does research say about the loop?

Although no single study supports the entire loop, I have seen this pattern in my own and others’ experiences. Albert Bandura’s work on self-efficacy comes the closest. He defines self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments” (Bandura, 1997, p 3).

This means that self-efficacy is a judgment about your own capabilities. You might possess a skill but still doubt your capability to use it successfully. Conversely, you might believe you are capable of something when your skills are not yet sufficient.

Applying Confidence-Competence to Your Career

Applying the confidence-competence method can help your career if you’re seeking greater opportunities. Small actions that make your contributions visible can help others and show your value to colleagues, decision-makers, and the broader public.

But it can be difficult to know when you’re ready to act. A conversation with someone who knows you well, or a realistic self-inventory, can help you see whether you are prepared. However, a more useful strategy is to take small, meaningful actions before you feel completely ready. That way, you test your readiness by taking small steps rather than a large leap.

Benefit of Taking Small Steps Before You’re Confident

Taking small steps before you think you’re ready helps in two ways. First, the action may reveal a capability you already had but didn’t recognize. Second, taking small actions can begin building a capability you don’t yet have. Either way, small steps let you learn, test yourself, and find opportunities. You can’t know in advance what will happen, which is exactly why action has to come first.

Consider this example. Letitia is an instructional designer in higher education. She was already presenting at conferences but wanted to become more visible online. However, she didn’t feel ready to post on LinkedIn because she feared criticism and judgment.

Letitia applied the confidence-competence method by starting small. She began by sharing research articles on noncontroversial topics related to cognitive mechanisms. As readers thanked her for the posts, her confidence grew. That encouragement helped her take the next step and start discussions by posting questions. She kept acting before feeling completely ready and, over time, became more confident interacting with others online.

The Importance of Mastery Experiences

Bandura identified four sources of self-efficacy: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiologic and emotional states. He identified mastery experiences—taking action and succeeding—as the strongest source of self-efficacy. We’ve all had experiences of successfully performing a task or handling a challenge, and enjoying the direct evidence that we can succeed.

Mastery experiences do not have to be dramatic. In one study, researchers interviewed 23 primary-school principals. They found that regular, small everyday successes rather than great achievements were the most powerful driver of a principal’s self-efficacy (Bellemans & Devos, 2023).

On the other hand, tasks that are too easy may create a false sense of confidence. The action should be small enough that failure is not costly, but challenging enough that success, or even partial success, provides meaningful evidence of capability.

Principles for Taking Small Actions

1. Act before you feel completely ready.
2. Repeat the process so that each action gives you more evidence about what you can do.
3. Make the action small enough that failure is manageable, but meaningful enough to test your capability.

Conclusion

Taking action before you believe you’re ready will cause discomfort. Still, evidence suggests that a small action taken before you’re sure will either show you a capability you already had or start building one you didn’t. Either way, you move forward. Don’t use confidence as a permission slip.

References

1. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman.
2. Bellemans, L., & Devos, G. (2021). Exploring the sources of self-efficacy by Flemish school principals in primary education. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 51, 733–750.
3. Lent, R. W., & Hackett, G. (1987). Career self-efficacy: Empirical status and future directions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 30(3), 347–382.