Confidence is knowing the result can disappoint without making you worthless.

A poor result and a poor person are different things, and the ability to keep them separate is most of what confidence is. If every disappointment becomes evidence about your value, you will avoid anything with a real chance of failing, which is nearly everything worth doing. Keeping the two apart is what makes ambition survivable.

After something falls short, name what specifically did not work rather than reaching for a conclusion about yourself. Fix the specific thing. Your worth was never the variable under test.