Confidence and Goal Setting - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations

Hello. I’m Jo(e) from Health Services and I’m pleased to be here talking to you today. You’ve come here today to learn more about gaining confidence and setting goals. How many of you are truly positive thinkers? Positive thinking is the key to confidence. It doesn't matter whether you are playing a sports match, facing an interview or preparing for an exam, if you apply positive thinking, you will gain confidence. This is the secret—positive thought patterns. Positivity leads to confidence which, in turn, will optimise your performance.

What is the one simple mental strategy that all confident people have in common? They concentrate on success. But don't they ever fail? Don't they make mistakes? What happens when things go wrong? The crucial difference is that they don't dwell on failure. Everybody makes mistakes—I mean, how else do we learn? Rather than giving up or becoming depressed, the best strategy is to register the mistake; note what went wrong; and determine what would have been a better way to act or what could have been done differently in order to achieve a more successful outcome. Then move on! Yes, erase the negative emotions; allow those memories of defeat, frustration or dissatisfaction to fade and move forward. Negativity erodes confidence. You need to put aside your disappointments and focus on successful outcomes.

Oh, it's not that easy. I can hear you saying. Well, no, it's not easy to forget failure but no-one ever fails completely so congratulate yourself on the areas where you did do well. Mentally replay the best bits—even if they're only a small part!

Now, there are two more things you need to do. Firstly, rehearsal—yes, you heard me—rehearsal. Surely only actors in a play need to rehearse their parts? No, the truth is, we all need to rehearse. This is a surefire way to build confidence. Before the match, the presentation, the exam or whatever, imagine yourself performing successfully in that particular situation. And here's the second tip—look confident. That will always give you an extra physiological advantage. So you can see that mind and body work together on this. You have to think and act positively.

Let's talk a bit more about how to look confident. If you have to overcome a challenge, get rid of that anxious expression and rigid posture, those downcast eyes and nervous gestures. Even if you don't feel very self-assured, you can still give the appearance of confidence. Stand tall, hold your head up, make full eye contact and keep an open expression—replace the frown with a smile if you can manage it. And those hunched shoulders? Relax those shoulder muscles. If you need to, take a deep breath and stretch to release pent up anxiety and tension. What if you have to make a difficult phone call, for example? Nobody can actually see you—so does it matter what you look like? Yes, it does. Practising positive body language will help you cross the threshold into a confident mood.

Before we move on to talk about goal setting, it may surprise you to know that, once you have set a goal in life, the brain responds with a burst of activity, which we experience as...?—that's right, happiness! And what happens when the goal is achieved? Yes, there is another burst of activity…and another feeling of happiness.

As you can see, the recipe for a happy life is to maintain a positive attitude and keep setting and achieving your goals. So, whatever your goal, whatever it is that you're aiming for—a new job, losing weight, giving up smoking, graduation— you need an appropriate (and by ‘appropriate’ I mean ‘achievable’ goal). That's the first step.

The next thing to consider is motivation. How do you get going? Well, it's more likely to motivate you if you think of the rewards of success rather than focus on failure, or what you might lose. So you need to establish your incentives. After that you'll have to work out the various stages and phases that you'll need to go through along the way and prepare for each one of them. If you're not naturally motivated, keep the targets small and achievable. But it really is important to ensure you collect the resources to accomplish the various steps. If you have performed that particular task before, you may already have the resources or at least know where to get them from. If not, ask someone who has already succeeded.

When you have got this far, the next stage is obvious—yes, you have to take the first step. That's not quite all there is to it though. The final thing to remember is to keep track of what you've accomplished; in other words, be sure to maintain a progress log. That way you can look back at your previous small successes and watch your progress along the way to achieving your goal.