CHAPTER 5 OUT NOW: https://youtu.be/C8vVzIKl4hM Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at https://www.shopify.com/solved If confidence comes from real evidence, then where does self-esteem fit, and why did an entire generation get it so wrong? In chapter four, Drew and I take a detour into the self-esteem movement, the feel-good experiment that promised to fix everything from crime to school performance and ended up backfiring in ways we're still living with. We get into the California task force that staked millions on proving self-esteem was a social cure-all, why praising kids for who they are instead of what they do breeds fragility and even narcissism rather than real confidence, and the William James insight the whole movement misread. Then we get to the useful part: how you actually build the kind of confidence that generalizes across your life. That's where meta self-efficacy comes in, the quiet belief that whatever happens you can handle it, illustrated by a woman who built a billion-dollar company after getting rejected by every factory she called. Get your free PDF guide: https://solvedpodcast.com/confidence This is chapter 4 of our episode on Confidence. New chapters drop every few days. Watch the full episode now on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/a2fhww9a ⇨ Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://go.markmanson.net/cdi1xzha ⇨ Get clarity on what actually matters. Try Purpose, Mark's AI mentor app that learns your patterns, challenges your blind spots, and helps you take action. Get started at https://go.markmanson.net/217i5ys5 FOLLOW MARK Mark's IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/markmanson⁠ Solved IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/solvedpodcast/⁠ Twitter: ⁠https://x.com/markmanson⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmanson/⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@IAmMarkManson #Confidence #SelfEsteem #markmanson #Psychology