I think this is a really important principle that we should apply when someone we know, whether our own child or a pupil we’re pastorally supporting, is battling with a deflated balloon.  We can help them to inflate and grow their confidence by offering small steps, where each step results in a little success. This may start with simply working on personal appearance, and then moving on to improving the controllable space around them, and then small step by small step continue to make bigger changes and improvements, making sure that they continue to win rather than lose.  After all, the constant losing is what hammers our sense of self-belief.

I think the same applies to young entrepreneurs. As they step out in to the market place they must see themselves as a small snow ball.  There are, of course a few people who manage to go viral on their first entry on to a social media channel, but most have to make small steps, one by one, with each small success leading to a sense of growing self-confidence.

In essence, what I am saying, is that taking crushing defeats out of the journey of a deflated balloon sufferer makes sense, and offering to them a path of small but significant successes can make all the difference. We may have to start this journey with the bar very low but it’s amazing how quickly we can start raising that bar as their confidence grows.