March 2019
This month we will give you a simple exercise that boosts your self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in the capability to carry out effective behaviour and produce a desirable outcome.
Bandura (1997) claimed that “people’s level of motivation, affective state and action are based more on what they believe than on what is objectively true”. Self-efficacy influences the level of effort, motivation, resilience, perseverance and commitment to solve problems, cope and achieve goals.
One factor that influences your level of your belief is successful experiences.
When you perceive the outcome of your action as successful and beneficial, it will increases your belief in your capacities to perform that specific behavior. You will probably also feel more comfortable and competent to perform other tasks of a similar nature. The more successes you will experience, the stronger the belief will become in your abilities to achieve what you desire.
Many times, especially if one is depressed, positive experiences and outcomes are ignored or taken for granted. The simplest booster is to choose to focus on the successes.
Your challenge this month is to keep a journal of your daily accomplishments
Writing down even the smallest positive outcome of any daily behavior will help you realize what you can actually do. Eventually, a positive cluster of achievements and capacities will be apparent to you, which undoubtedly will improve the way in which you evaluate your efficacy.
Writing things down will not only enable you to notice and remember but also analyze your behavior in more detail. The memory of past solutions enables us to generate new solutions to similar problems.
Reflect and analyze the knowledge gained with each entry.
Realize your strengths and celebrate your small achievements.
Realize what you can improve on for next time, learn from it and think about what it tells you about your abilities.
Gather strength from your own accomplishments.