Confidence levels move up and down daily, depending on the situation.

Confidence, like happiness, comes and goes. On the other hand, self esteem and contentment seem to be fairly permanent states of being. When a person has built up a storage bin of high self esteem, life takes on new meaning. The little and not so little things that happen might cause ripples of disturbance that may last for a few moments, but soon enough, the ripples even out and life goes on. That's the beauty of having high self esteem. It allows you to handle life's stuff. And contentment is about being all right with life as it comes at you. People that are content feel a sense of security and safety in being who and what they are. Of course, they worry and fret from time to time, but they are able to put situations into proper perspective and get on with the business of living.

Confidence is not really like that. It is much more fickle. If I create a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for my family and friends and I know it's really good in every way, I feel waves of confidence and I appreciate the kind words people say about the food and its presentation. Later that evening we might play family games and guess who usually loses? My competitors are much better at game playing than I could ever be. Yes, I play, but my expectation level for winning is relatively low and so is my confidence level. If we were to graph a full day, we'd probably see confidence levels move up and down all day long. And that's the way confidence works.

The key idea here is that human beings are not equally good at everything. And that's the way things even out. A real confidence booster is to do something you know you're good at and enjoy the moments of joy that go with it. Can you imagine the confidence Tiger Woods must feel every time he's on a golf course? It's his home base. What's yours? Find it and visit it often to get your booster shots.