Below is a funny story about self confidence from author and humorist Harvey Mackay. As you can see from the story, self confidence alone might not get you there, but it is the key to moving forward. Every teacher knows that self confidence goes a long way to improving student performance. Read and enjoy: 
A soldier in a ragtag revolutionary army lost his rifle, so he went to his group’s leader for a replacement.
“What am I going to do?” asked the soldier. “We are going to have a big battle tomorrow and I don’t have a rifle.”
“Don’t worry,” said his leader. “The other side doesn’t have very good weapons either, and they are so brainwashed, they believe anything they hear. Just pretend you are pointing a rifle at them and say, ‘Bang! Bang!’ It will have the same effect as if you fired a real rifle at them.”
“OK,” said the soldier skeptically, hitching up his threadbare uniform, “But I lost my bayonet, too.”
“Do the same thing,” said his leader. “When the hand-to-hand combat begins, just point your fingers like this and say, ‘Stab! Stab! Stab!’ You’ll see it has the same effect as using a bayonet.”
The soldier was even more skeptical of this advice but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. As the sun came up, the enemy came charging over the hill right at him and he held out his imaginary rifle, saying loudly, “Bang! Bang! Bang!” To his amazement, one of them dropped, then another and then another. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” he shouted with increasing confidence.
But suddenly he saw a particularly fierce, huge enemy soldier coming right at him. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” he shouted, but the huge enemy soldier kept coming right at him until he was just a few feet away. “Stab! Stab! Stab!” said the frightened soldier, waving his fingers right at his adversary.
But nothing worked. The enemy soldier rolled right over him, kicking him in the stomach and stepping on his face. As he went by, the enemy soldier grunted, “Tank! Tank! Tank!”
Self-confidence alone doesn’t guarantee success, but it’s hard to get started or push through the inevitable obstacles without believing in yourself first. Building self confidence for our students in our schools is important to The School Communications Agency and one way we help is by assisting schools with improved communications through informed and engaged, parents.