Have you ever told yourself that you could achieve a goal, only to try it and fail miserably? Afterwards, you felt convinced that you could never come close to achieving that goal. Well, at the very least, you’ve told yourself you can do it.
Even so, it looks like you need to improve your self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy?
Don’t worry; it isn’t a crazy concept. Self-efficacy in a nutshell is defined as the level of confidence in one’s ability to do something. Self-efficacy is a bit more developed than simple confidence in that it includes applicable methods for improving confidence.
Low self-efficacy makes you more prone to avoiding certain tasks for fear of failure, or embarrassment. This impedes improvement in certain areas. Failure and a lack of improvement can lead to frustration and even self-depreciation. Low self-efficacy can also lead you to believe that a task is more difficult than it actually is.
So now that I’ve bombarded you with all of the reasons why low self-efficacy is bad, let’s talk about the benefits of high self-efficacy.
High self-efficacy allows people to try things that they’ve never done before. This can lead to the development of new skills. High self-efficacy helps people to work harder, even when faced with tough barriers (*cough, cough* Hopkins). This leads to further mastery of skills and who doesn’t want that?
Now that you’re super excited about self-efficacy (I know you want to scream for joy right now; it’s okay), I’ll give you some tips for increasing your self-efficacy.
1. Knowledge is the Key.
It’s safe to say that people fear what they don’t know, so educate yourself. If you have never taken a physics course and you’re about to take physics at Hopkins, maybe you should buy a Schaums’ Outline book on physics first. Then you’ll have introductory knowledge before you start the class and you won’t be blindsided.
2. Challenge your negative assumptions.
If you have any assumptions about a task, then check the facts. If your assumptions are based on speculation, then try to be more positive and objective.
3. Do it yourself.
If you want to try something, then do it yourself. Personal experience is the best teacher.
4. See how other people do things.
If someone has a more successful method for doing something, then learn from him or her. If it works for someone else, then it may work for you. At the very least, you can apply what you think may work for you, if you don’t want to copy that person’s method completely.
5. Planning and preparation.
This works for long and short-term goals. If you have a plan, then you can break up the task into smaller parts. Also you can pinpoint specific mistakes more easily, so that you can make effective corrections.
6. Use your brain and mind effectively.
