Last updated on November 6, 2025
We all know them: people who have far more confidence than their actual ability, and brilliant, successful people who are crippled by self-doubt.
This is the “Confidence Spectrum,” a powerful model my friend and colleague, master coach Kim-Adele, created to help us understand these forms of confidence. It’s easy to see confidence as black and white, but the reality is a complex gradient.
Nat Schooler
In this classic guide from the archive, we explore that spectrum, from the Dunning-Kruger Effect on one side to Imposter Syndrome on the other. More importantly, we’ll identify the “holy grail” in the middle: Genuine Confidence.
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Key Insights & Timestamps
(From the .txt transcript file)
- (00:00:00) – Introduction: The Confidence Spectrum
- (00:01:06) – The Dunning-Kruger Effect (Over-Confidence)
- (00:01:25) – Imposter Syndrome (Under-Confidence)
- (00:01:54) – The Goal: What is Genuine Confidence?
- (00:02:18) – Why Confidence is Situational (The “Beans on Toast” Analogy)
- (00:03:00) – How to Build Confidence by Transferring Your Skills
- (00:04:18) – How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome: A Case Study
- (00:07:05) – “Compare and Despair”: The Problem with Social Media’s “Perfect” View
- (00:08:24) – The 4 Stages of the Competence Cycle (from “Unconscious Incompetent” to “Unconscious Competent”)
- (00:10:04) – A Key Leadership Tip: The Power of “Telling Them Why” You Chose Them
Understanding the Confidence Spectrum
Confidence is not the absence of fear, but rather the belief that you can overcome it. It’s easy to see confidence as a black and white spectrum where some people are confident while others lack confidence. In reality, there is a much more complex spectrum with many different degrees of confidence ranging from complete certainty to crippling doubt. The key to understanding the complexities of this spectrum lies in recognizing how each person struggles with their own unique fears and challenges which determine where they fall on this gradient from overconfident to doubtful.
On one side of the spectrum, we see people whose belief in their ability is significantly greater than their actual ability. This is perhaps an element of Dunning Kruger. On the other side we see people who doubt their ability and lack belief this is often known as Imposter Syndrome. In the middle is the real goal that perfect alignment of belief and ability resulting in genuine confidence.
What Is Dunning Kruger?
Dunning Kruger is on the far left of the Confidence Spectrum where the person’s belief in themselves is far greater than their abilities.
“Have you ever met someone, they are so confident in their knowledge of the topic that you feel like they must be an expert? Have you ever met someone who thinks everything is about them? Have you ever met someone who cannot see how uninformed they are on a particular subject matter?” “The Dunning Kruger Effect helps explain these behaviours.” “In 1999 two psychologists, David Dunning and Justin Kruger published a paper exploring why some people lack insight into their own incompetence. The paper was called Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments.” You can find out more herehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/pOLmD_WVY-E?feature=oembed
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter Syndrome is on the far right of the Confidence Spectrum where the person’s belief is significantly lower than their abilities. Imposter Syndrome is a feeling that you are not good enough, smart enough, or talented enough. It was coined by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978 and it’s something many people struggle with today. It can be paralyzing for those who have it and lead to thoughts of quitting your job or giving up on your dream. You can find more information herehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/rrrQIHUxAKI?feature=oembed
What Is Genuine Confidence?
Genuine Confidence if the holy grail, it is in the centre of the Confidence Spectrum and is that complete alignment between what you believe you can do and what you are able to do. It comes from within, where you trust yourself wholeheartedly. People who are confident know their worth and don’t feel the need to prove themselves. They’re brave enough to be vulnerable without fear of judgment, and they can ask for help when they need it. That’s what confidence is all about: feeling good in your own skin and being comfortable with yourself
Confidence starts from within, but it also has a lot to do with how we view ourselves in relation to others around us. It’s important that we nurture our self-esteem by surrounding ourselves with people who believe in us and support us no matter what life throws at us – or else we risk losing sight of our true potential.”
Where Are You On The Spectrum?
Understanding where you are on the confidence spectrum is the first step. It is worth noting that it can be situational for example if I am giving a speech I tend to be over to the right and my inner imposter kicks in, but if I am making my daughter beans on Toast I am in the middle, I trust I can do it.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the Confidence Spectrum?
The Confidence Spectrum is a model created by Kim-Adele to show the varying forms of confidence. It ranges from the Dunning-Kruger Effect (over-confidence) on one side, to Imposter Syndrome (under-confidence) on the other. The ideal center is “Genuine Confidence,” which is the perfect alignment of your belief and your ability.
How do you overcome Imposter Syndrome?
The key is to separate your feelings from facts. Kim-Adele shares her personal story of a coach confronting her “feeling” of incompetence with the “facts” of her success (double-digit growth, high engagement scores). This helps you realign your belief with your (already high) ability.
How can I build confidence when starting a new role?
First, by recognizing your transferable skills. If you are a good leader in one industry, you will be a good leader in another, because you are still leading people. Second, understand the “Competence Cycle”: you will start as “consciously incompetent” (knowing what you don’t know) and must practice until you become “unconsciously competent” (doing it with ease).
What is a key mistake leaders make when promoting someone?
They often “just go oh here’s the promotion” without telling the person why they were picked. A powerful leadership technique is to tell your team member exactly what specific skills and qualities you saw in them that made you choose them. This “transfers belief” and helps them fight off Imposter Syndrome from day one.
Full Episode Transcript
(Transcript formatted for readability)
Nat Schooler: Hey hi Kim, nice to see you.
Kim-Adele: And you! How are things going?
Nat Schooler: Very well thanks, just uh working on my confidence spectrum as we speak… It’s uh it’s fascinating though isn’t it how confidence actually affects your behavior and there are so many dimensions to it right, you know from this sort of imposter syndrome uh and Dunning-Kruger and all of these things that kind of surround it right? And you’ve coined this term the confidence spectrum, haven’t you really?
Kim-Adele: Yeah, I guess when I was looking into, I was trying to understand kind of why is there so many differences around our confidence. How many times that we can either be really confident or lack that confidence. And we’ve got the outer edges of that spectrum.
So on the one hand, we’ve got people whose belief in their ability is significantly greater than their actual ability. So we’ve all seen those people that think they walk on water and they’re going, “Oh my god, they’re really not very good at whatever it is that they’re purporting to be brilliant at.” And we know that sometimes that’s classed as Dunning-Kruger.
But we’ve also got loads of people on the other side where they doubt their ability, they believe that they’re a fraud, that they shouldn’t have the accolades or the job or the career or the relationship that they’ve got because they can’t see why they deserve them. So there we’re seeing somebody whose belief is not aligned to their ability, but in the totally other way: their ability is greater than their belief in themselves.
So that kind of got me thinking, “Well, they’re the two ends of it, so what is it we’re trying to achieve?” And what we’re trying to achieve, I believe, is Genuine Confidence. It’s that element where our belief and our ability are actually completely aligned. So we are trusting ourselves, we understand that we can do the things that we’re doing, and therefore we can be truly confident.
And the thing is, we move around the spectrum all the time and it could even be situational. Because you know, for example, if I have to do something like this and start going live, then I’m way over on the side where I doubt myself and start panicking about what I’m going to say and feel like a massive imposter. But when I’m doing beans on toast for my little girl, it’s pretty much okay, I think I’ve got that. I’m in that moment confident that I can do what it is that I’m being asked to do. So I know for me personally, I can move around… and I think I’m probably not alone in that.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, I think I can sort of talk from my own personal experience, you know, when I kind of don’t feel confident about one thing, I might be able to kind of use a belief in myself from something else that says, “Well, you’re really good at that, why can’t you be good at this?” …It means that I can kind of manage that feeling of lack.
Kim-Adele: But I think sometimes it is, it’s just looking at things and breaking it down, isn’t it? And saying, “Well, hold on, I’ve never done that before, but what have I done that’s similar to it?” We see this a lot in people’s careers where you have a particular job and you might want to change industry… but when you instead you look at the skill and say, “Okay, what is the skill that i’ve got and actually is that transferable?”
So for example, if you’re a leader, people are people. So if you’re a really good leader in one industry, you’ll be able to be a really good leader in another industry, because your role is about leading the people… you don’t need to be able to do their role, you need to be able to motivate, engage, and enthuse them to do it well. So I think sometimes it’s breaking it down…
I’ve been really fortunate, I’ve managed to move across a variety of industries… I was often invited across industry sectors by people that worked with me in the past. So they knew what I was skilled at. But… I actually went out to other industries and put myself out there to say, “Do you know what? Actually the skills that I’ve got are transferable against these challenges that you’re facing… I trust my ability to be able to get the best out of the people and therefore they will help educate me… but this is what I can bring.”
Nat Schooler: Yeah, I think there’s a lot to be said about cross-industry experience… you can take things which perhaps might be old hat in one industry and then take them to another and they can be like cutting edge, right? But in terms of like aligning your abilities with your… confidence, right? How how can you kind of analyze that?
Kim-Adele: So I guess for me, I always look at, you know, “What is my belief, and then what are the facts?”
I’ve shared this once before, when I got my first ever coach, I believed I’d got a coach because I was hopeless… I was in a place where my belief in myself was significantly lower than my ability. And this coach said to me… “You know, why do you think you sat in this meeting with me?” And I said, “Well, ’cause I’m not very good.” He was like, “Okay, what evidence have you got?” … “I just didn’t feel very good. I don’t feel like I’m very competent.” And he was like, “Okay, is there any evidence that you could be good at your job?” “No, I don’t think so.” … And he was like, “Right, can I give you some facts?”
And he said, “Well, you’re in your fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.” Right, that’s true. And he said, “You’ve got the most engaged workforce in the organization… your engagement scores are higher than our five-year aspiration.” … “You just won Leader of the Year.” I was like, “Uh-huh, yeah, that’s equally true.” He said, “Right, on this fact base, do you still think you’re not very good at your job?” And I said, “I feel a bit silly, but yes, I do. I know all of those to be facts, but I still have a feeling in here that I’m not good enough.”
And so he actually got me to start thinking about… “What was I making it mean?” Because what we tend to respond to is what we’ve made it mean, not what’s actually happening. Because I… was still holding on to the fact that all I’ve actually got from an educational point of view is an NVQ in hairdressing. So I didn’t feel I deserved it. …I had to go and understand… what was it that I was connecting with them? And that’s when you really start to look into the things that you’re good at, which is actually talking to people, listening to people, understanding what’s important to them… well, I learned all of that as a hairdresser.
I think that’s one of the biggest challenges. We live in a society that’s “compare and despair.” We look at everybody else’s seemingly perfect view of the world and we look at our own messy reality and find ourselves lacking. But the reality is… we are perfectly imperfect and we have to embrace our imperfection. It makes us who we are.
Nat Schooler: Yeah, I think it’s it’s a really interesting dynamic… we run this imposter syndrome Facebook group… a lot of people from corporate jobs… they join the group and they post messages and say, “You know, I feel really hopeless, I’m not sure that I can do this job.” And it’s like, “Well, the facts speak for themselves.” …Someone in a higher position… has come along and said, “Well, you’re going to do this because I know that you’re amazing at what you do.” And if they provide them the support, they could they could become a fantastic manager, right? But they get stuck.
Kim-Adele: But I think it’s twofold. I think the first one is whenever we go to do something new, we go through the competence cycle. So we start off and we are unconsciously incompetent… then you get in the car… and you then are very consciously incompetent… and then… you become consciously competent. So you now know how to do it, but you have to think about it. And then… you actually now do it unconsciously, so you become unconsciously competent…
But the second one is… if somebody is giving you their belief that you’re good at this, that’s why they’re giving you the role… the problem is, we don’t do that overly. We don’t tell people that the reason that we’ve promoted them… is because we have absolute utter faith that they are the right people to do it. …One of the things that I try and do now… is when you ask somebody to do something, tell them why you’re picking them. Tell them specifically what it is about them… that made you decide that actually that’s why they were suitable for that role.
Nat Schooler: Super, super. Well, we’re going to continue conversations around this… we thank everybody for signing up to our newsletter, we’re really quite excited about that. And thank you, Kim, it’s uh enjoyable working with you… on that note, we probably better say goodbye.
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