The Essence of 'You Can't Do It Without Success Experiences'

I don't have any success experiences. That's why my self-esteem is low.
Haven't you heard words like these before?

The term 'success experience' often comes up in contexts like career development or self-understanding, doesn't it?

There's a general trend that suggests it's better to have success experiences, isn't there? It's also often said that if you don't have success experiences, you'll be too afraid to take action.

But in the first place, why is it better to have success experiences?
I think one reason is that it boosts self-esteem.

However, why does having success experiences raise self-esteem?
It might be that it builds confidence, but where does confidence actually come from in the first place?

I have a hypothesis about the source of this confidence.
It is that

a state of having confidence = a state where you have a high-resolution image of the outcome

is what I believe it to be.

When trying something, people with confidence can concretely imagine the process leading to success and the result itself. In other words, they are in a state where they can make predictions with high accuracy.

In other words,

having success experiences
= possessing knowledge including the process leading to success
= being able to apply that knowledge to create an image even when trying something else
= being able to have confidence as a result

I think this is the structure of it.

Ultimately, not having confidence is synonymous with being afraid.
Where does fear come from? It comes from things that are unknown and unpredictable.

A haunted house where you know how the tricks work isn't scary, right? It's like that.

What I mean to say is,success experiences are necessary to concretely imagine the result and the path to get there.

So, how can you gain success experiences?
The answer to this is extremely simple.

Just give it a try, take the plunge.

Unfortunately, it really comes down to this. There are no shortcuts.

Even if you only gain knowledge through academic study, it's hard to get a real sense of things.
Even after learning a lot at driving school, it's a little scary when you first grab the steering wheel, right? It's the same thing.

It doesn't matter how small it is, just take the plunge.
Are you familiar with the term 'first penguin'?
It refers to the penguin in a group that is the first to jump from the ice into the sea. Borrowing from this, we call people who are the first to try something unknown 'first penguins'.

If you keep taking a first-penguin-like approach yourself, you will eventually get used to it.
Moreover, since you can store the experience of what you've done as knowledge, you'll be able to take on challenges more quickly than others when you try to do something else. It's all good.

And actually, the same thing can be said not just for individuals, but for organizations as well.
Organizations also tend to avoid stepping into areas where they have no success experience.

As an example, there are cases where people talk about diversity management, but only the term itself is ahead of the reality. Diversity means variety, but unless an organization has experience in achieving results while embracing people with various personalities, they won't know what specific measures to take. That's why it's common for things to be called diversity management while the actual content is hollow.

This is also an example of 'you can't do it without success experiences'.

Since organizations are also collections of individuals, it's the same thing in the end.
By the way, in such cases, it's important for someone to have the courage to jump in as a first penguin.

It's fine to start small, so it might be good to keep the first penguin in mind.

Before you know it, you might become the kind of person who isn't satisfied unless they are a first penguin—a bit of an unusual person in a good way. Hop!