Self-confidence means the confidence that grows by itself within the mind and is not by some external inputs. But actually this also depends on external inputs but just in a different format.

If not by the self, then why does it have to be called self-confidence? This is a very deep and critical question, hard to cover in the domain of this blog article. Still let me try a bit to get at it differently.

When a student sits with his Mathematics textbook, and starts solving problems, if the first problem gets solved, then he gets some confidence. Then he goes for the next problem, and that also gets solved. Confidence increases. By the time he does many problems, or maybe even finishes the exercise then the confidence gets highest. 

So what confidence is that? That is what we can call self-confidence. That confidence has not been inputted by any human, still it has an external source, the book.

In the same way, a computer programmer may not need any human being to boost his confidence till the programs run well in the computer and produce the exactly desired output. 

In the same way if a person can do 200-lb or 300-lb bench press in the gym then he becomes confident that he is a strong person and that builds up his self-confidence. In the same way, many other games can uplift the self-confidence of a student to a significant level. And this article is on that. 

Self-confidence of a student can be increased by human inspiration, and can also be gained as a result of some activities. Like what usually happens in a game. A footballer who is scoring goals, or a cricketer already scoring runs, usually have a good amount of self-confidence. The scoreboard supplies that. 

But the problem arises when the scoring stops for any reason whatsoever. This is a very practical problem for any sportsman. He may be Sachin Tendulkar of cricket or Diego Maradona of football, or anyone else of any game whatsoever. 

Then the self-confidence no longer comes from the game. And then arises the cruciality of human support. It may be the family, the friends, the coach, the team manager, the teammates or anyone. It can be the viewers and supporters even. 

Similar weak or bad confidence time zones are possible to anyone, even the kindergarten students also. Anybody can pass through this anytime anyway. 

This is a question that baffled all the educationists and psychologists through ages. So it will be really too much of an over-expectation that a single blog article will solve the problem.

Eminent self-help writers forever struggled to create just this one thing over everything else within their readers and audience. And the success rate is usually not convincingly impressive. And the evidence for that can be the ever increasing sale of all such books instead of decreasing. 

Then you may ask what we are trying to do over here? Good question but not so easy to explain. To put it most simply, we can accept that we are trying to find some workable tips and methods so that we can have greater learning possibilities on these topics.

Maybe some of my ideas or tips can become very valuable pieces of info or application for the earnest students. 

It is possible to increase the self- confidence of any student. There are two modes in the process. One is the general mode and the other is the custom mode. 

General mode works for most students. And also to many others who are not students. Some general modes can be exclusively for students. 

Custom modes are more targeted. The target can be in two levels. One is at the group or category level and the other is at the individual level. 

By group or category level we can reach students who belong to some classifications, like students of Physics, students of Music, students of Sports, and so on. 

Other classifications also can be relevant, like age group, demographic features, and even at the psychological or physiological classifications. I am not going to get too deep in this over here. We will have to focus more on the general mode. 

So what is the basic process of development of self-confidence? Does success build self-confidence or failure builds it? 

Many have many different perspectives on these and many other similar questions. Well all can have respective perspectives and there isn’t any mandate that every such perspective has to be true or fact. 

When the question is of self-confidence then failure cannot give any self-confidence to any student. If a student is not studying, then failure can sometimes teach him to study. But that also seldom because when a student is not studying then he will already know that he won’t perform well, and hence the failure itself remains with nothing to teach. 

But here is the question of self- confidence. When a student lacks enough self-confidence then usually he is already performing poorly or not much successful, often failure. So if failure could have taught them self-confidence then by now they would have already learnt that from their failure. And there would have remained no need to read some book or article on self-confidence development.

It is true that failure sometimes is also a teacher. But for whom? Those who think that they are already successful, for them failure can be a teacher. Many pseudo-successful people have much over-confidence, superiority complexes, vanity,etc. They may understand the meaning or notion of success in a wrong way. For them failures can become a teacher to show them the ground level realities and the real notion of success. 

But here we are with students who lack self-confidence, and they need no more failures but some success to build the habit of success and on that will build their self- confidence.

Success for truly successful people is a habit. Success builds on success. If a mason is not successful to build the ground floor then he cannot build the first floor on it. Thus the mason has to start right from the basement and he needs success in making a strong basement. 

Once the basement is complete and strong, on that stands the ground floor, on that the first floor, on that the second floor, and so on. Nothing develops overnight. Success at each floor would build the pillars of the next floor. Also with every successful floor the confidence of mason builds, that he can erect floors after floors without failure. That confidence is essential for the mason.

So the question of self-confidence ultimately boils down to the question of success. That is the truth. No words, no consolations, even no amount of hard work and actions can really boost self-confidence the way a few small successes can. Even small successes also have that power. 

Hence in the generic question of building or enhancing self-confidence for students, where we are not dealing with any particular individual student or any particular group of students, the role of even small successes gets very important. 

But how to have such successes? When a student is not so confident then big or small success can create all the difference. Generating big success is not a possibility for a student with low or broken self-confidence. Hence he will need small successes to carry on to the big ones. Let us see how games can help us to achieve this end for those students. 

Games give success. Success at even miniature scales and dimensions. That is what is needed for a student of low self-confidence. He needs to win, however small let the platform be. Each win will build upon the preceding one. And so does self-confidence. 

Games can be played at various levels and for various purposes. It can be simple entertainment or it can be fierce competition. But when we will be using games for the purpose of building self-confidence then choosing a mild and small platform will be necessary. It can be with family members or close friends. 

It can be indoor games or outdoor. This matters less for the purpose of confidence buildup. But it is essential that the game must be known to the student and also he will ultimately enjoy playing that game for a considerable stretch of time. And winning will give more enjoyment and confidence. A sense of self-worth.

The choice of the game is not so important. A game can serve many purposes in a person’s life. Suppose if the question was about development of concentration then I would have recommended some games which are famous to serve the purpose. But here the question is self-confidence development. And even more important is the sense of winning for the student. So any game will do good as long as he is enjoying playing and winning, if not always then at least frequently.  

Some games can be played alone so that the student need not always depend on the availability of playing partners. Though those games would contribute much less in the area of self-confidence, still some may do some good. 

Playing with the smartphone or computer can also be another viable option. There are a lot of games available and the student has to choose wisely. Many games are inherently addictive. Some can be disruptive. So the choice of games needs to be cautious. 

There are too many indoor and outdoor games to choose from. If we add on the computer or phone games then the number can be overwhelming.

I usually do not recommend too many games to students. We all should play games but at the same time the choice of game should be absolutely limited and wise. 

For anyone one or two indoor games and a couple of outdoor games will be best to pursue throughout life. Actually we not only need to play but to achieve some precision and perfection through games. Thus games should be like teachers. 

One usually cannot play an innumerable number of games to achieve precision and perfection. That would require great sporting talent. But in general we can try for one or two games and reap some real positive benefits out of them. 

Here I give some of my recommendations. Chess would be my indoor games recommendation. This is perhaps the best seated indoor game for all developmental purposes including self-confidence. 

Some indoor games need some movements. I would recommend table tennis among such games. It is very good for health, brain and reflexes with benefits in self-confidence also. 

Carrom can be another good indoor game choice. I have seen whole families spending their quality time on the carrom board. It is also a good one for building self-confidence. 

In the outdoors, I would prefer football and badminton. Though badminton can be played indoors also, but it requires a lot of indoor space. There are many other outdoor games that can benefit the student to gain self-confidence.

But most outdoor games require many participants. Badminton can be played by two people only. That is an added advantage. 

Though cycling, swimming and running are among sports, but they are more in fitness sports rather than games. They are very beneficial in many ways. But for self-confidence development they will do some contribution only when these will be done in a team and not alone. 

I would like to conclude this article by a famous quote of Albert Einstein. 

He used to say that success is an outcome of work, play and keeping the mouth shut. So play is an important part of our life and success. Without play high quality work is not continuously and consistently possible. 

So students must learn to play beside work and studies, To become self-confident and successful…..