Where does confidence come from and how do you get it? I get asked some form of this question often in my work.
When I was living in Germany as a research fellow in 2013, I came across an interesting study about how people gained confidence in themselves.
Conducted by the Scottish Department of Public Health around 2010, the study focused on new parents living in poverty. As a part of the study, the participants received education about basic cooking skills, selecting produce at the grocery store, and preparing home-cooked meals for their families. The goal was to improve these families’ nutrition and overall lifestyle.
The results were really positive – they learned the skills that the program intended for them to learn, and were cooking more nutritious, whole foods meals. However, something even bigger came out of the study: they had more confidence in themselves and their ability to feed their young families, even one year later.
I was so amazed and inspired by this study that I reached out to the research director. I took a trip to Scotland from Germany to learn more about the program. I learned something incredible from the research director: not only did the participants become more confident cooks, their confidence extended into other parts of their lives, leading some to apply for and get jobs. This study proved to me that confidence is something that can be built, even in difficult places like where poverty limits nutrition. And I believe confidence grows exponentially when we learn in the company of other people, as was the case for participants in the Scottish cooking program.
Around the same time, it just so happens that I had fallen in love with cooking. I had experienced some health issues in my late 20s, and needed to make a change to my diet. I enrolled in cooking classes and, suddenly, I found myself cooking a lot more often…and enjoying it! One day, it dawned on me that cooking was an extremely powerful antidote to the stress and lethargy that comes from overworking at a desk job. For the first time in years, I was learning to relax and find balance. My years as a student and then analyst and researcher had added up to a lot of time in front of the computer, and it was often stressful. No matter how much I loved my work, I had to admit that the spreadsheets and policy documents had a flatness to them. The kitchen was full of dimensions and objects to see, touch, and smell.
Over the ten years that have passed since discovering the Scotland cooking study, I return again and again to the kitchen even as other things in my life change. These days, I love finding connections between cooking and leadership development. Like, both help us slow down, stay in balance, and get important stuff done. Which makes me wonder, what’s the connection between being in balance and working with confidence? Hmm…
Can you remember a time that you found confidence in something unexpected? How did it change your life?
Coming up!
am excited to host “Developing Your Leadership Through Cooking” for a Twin Cities-based women’s resource group. We’ll combine leadership development with the art of cooking as we prepare dinner for cancer patients at Hope Lodge in Minneapolis. If you’re interested in something similar for a group you’re involved with, let me know!
Have an idea?
Do you have a topic you want to see featured in this newsletter? Email me your idea at [email protected].