Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy is an individual's evaluation of their own ability to be successful in attaining a specific goal. People perceive their own self-efficacy as "people's judgements of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. It is concerned not with the skills one has but the judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses." stated by Albert Bandura, an expert on the concept of self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is related to our judgments about our own capabilities and what we believe we are or are not able to do with those capabilities.

He also stated that the amount of self efficacy a person has is dependent on their ability to apply coping behaviors, increase their level of effort, and how lng they will be able to retain their optimism when facing difficult obstacles and experiences. In addition, Bandura stated that the more a person is tested by facing their fears and stepping outside their comfort zones, the more they will enhance their sense of self-efficacy.

If a person does not have a base level of self-efficacy, they will be unwilling to attempt a new task or challenge, which would of course hold them back in the workplace. The greater your self-efficacy, the more willing you will be  to grow your skills by attempting new challenges - and the less you will be affected if you don't succeed.

Sources of Self-Efficacy

There are four main sources that allow people to build their self-efficacy. These are:

* Mastery experiences

* Social models

* Social persuasion

* Emotional states

Mastery Experiences. This is the most effective way to create a strong sense of self-efficacy for a person. As each success is achieved, the sense of self-efficacy is reinforced. However, a bit of failure is important as well. If people only experience easy successes, they will begin to feel that success is what they should experience every time they make an attempy at something new. Some setbacks are important because they teach us what we need to make a sustained effort to be successful. Still, upsets should not come, if it can be avoided, until a person has had a chance to establish  a certain level of self-efficacy.

Once we see ourselves succeed, we are more likely to believe that we can do it again.

Social Models. These are examples of others who we see succeed. When we see someone that we feel is similar to ourselves achieve, we will feel that we are likely to be able to follow suit. At the same time, seeing people like ourselves fail despite a level of sustained effort can have a negative impact on our own self-efficacy. These models are most effective, in either case, when they are perceived to have the greatest similarity to ourselves. These models tell us the types and level of competencies to which we should aspire if we want to be successful in the workplace and in life in general.

We will believe we can do something more readily if we see someone like us achieve it first.

Social Persuasion. The old pep talk. When we can persuade someone that they have the competencies and abilities to master an activity, they are more likely to make longer, sustained efforts at achieving success than if they have significant self-doubt. While social persuasion can enhance self-efficacy, it can even more easily diminish it. People tend to easily believe the negative and may decide that they are unqualified to even attempt a task , even if they actually do have the ability to complete it successfully. This factor points to the importance of leaders in an organization to frequently persuade people that they are capable and competent.

We will believe we can do something more readily if we have others tell us that they believe we can do it.

However, it's important not to persuade someone that they are capable of something when they truly are not. You will simply reinforce any negative self-doubts that a person had, not to mention shaking their faith in you as a leader. If you are a manager, you will need to strike a balance between challenging your employees in order to stimulate their self-confidence and being careful not to set them up in situations where they are sure to fail.

Emotional States. People judge themselves on their emotional reactions to situations as well. If they react with stress and tension, they may interpret those reactions as signs that they are weak or vulnerable. Mood can also affect self-efficacy; a positive mood will enhance it, while a negative mood will diminish it. A work environment that allows opportunities for stress reduction, teaches stress management, and acknowledge stress as a normal part of life rather than a personal weakness will help to foster positive self-efficacy in its employees.

We will judge ourselves based on our emotional reaction to a situation - we may see ourselves as vulnerable or weak if we are too emotional or stressed.



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Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the capacity to respect and think well of yourself. It means that you appreciate yourself as a unique individual with your own set of skills, talents, and abilities.
 

Self-esteem was defined as "the capacity to experience maximal self-love and joy whether or not you are successful at any point in your life" - David Burns.

Self-esteem was researched by a Psychologist Maxine Elliott and realized that people's self-esteem will vary from individual when they are facing a setback. People who have a high level of self-esteem will be able to respond to a damaging event by using their past experience and their coping abilities and will not have much damage to their current level of self-esteem. They will still see themselves as valuable and talented even if the current evidences seems to indicate otherwise.

However, most people will experience some loss of self-esteem when they face a negative situation and unfortunately, those who already have a low self-esteem will also experience the largest reduction in what little self-esteem they have. In other words, they will see their future as further proof that they are incapable of being successful. This type of negative cycle will perpetuate itself each time that a person with low self-esteem faces failure, criticism, or roadblocks.




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Self Confidence

Self-confidence can be boiled down to the belief that a person has it in their ability to succeed at a task, based on  whether or not they have been able to perform the task in the past. However, there are actually two aspects of self-confidence. The first is competence, whether or not you have the necessary skills and abilities to complete a task. The second is self-assurance and whether or not you believe that you have the ability to complete the task.

Think about this for a moment; you might have been trained in interview skills, but you might not feel comfortable in interviews. In this case you would have the competence but lack the self-assurance. On the other hand, you could believe that you have the ability to do something but not have the skills to actually carry it through. In this case you are very self-assured, but you don't have the competence to do the job. True self-confidence occurs when both competence and self-assurance are in balance with each other.

Self-confidence has been shown to be important in recovery from injury, overcoming setbacks, and moving through negative experiences in life. Someone with self-confidence has a belief that they will be able to recover, move past the negative, and again experience the positive. In the business world, self-confidence functions in much the same way. It enables an employee to recover from setbacks and challenges and continue to move forward.



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Personal Confidence and Motivation in the Business World

One of the most commonly debated and researched fields in the business world is motivation. Why do people do what they do and how can we motivate others to do what they need them to do in the business place? If we understand how and why people are motivated, we can encourage them to be their best and do their best at work. The more that people are motivated to be successful and achieve the goals set for them, the more their confidence in their own abilities will grow as well, which can, in turn, make them even more motivated.

But you can also work on your own confidence and motivation in the workplace in order to achieve your goals and intentions. When people are confident and motivated at work, there are many positive factors that result in the workplace:

* Job Satisfaction Improves

* Effort increases

* Working environment improves

* Results are the focus

* Drive is created

* Everyone's full potential can be tapped

* Everyone is certain of the role they are to fulfill

Personal Confidence

We all know people who are confident. They seem to face life's obstacles with a level of calm that is enviable. They get into action to respond to a problem before giving themselves time to dwell or worry to much. Confident people are more successful at work because they have a belief in their own abilities to the point that they feel comfortable handling whatever comes at them. Make a presentation to the board? No problem - the confident person plans and executes the presentation without allowing fear to stop them. When someone is confident, they:

* Focus on their strengths while managing their weakness

* Aren't afraid to take risks

* Enjoy challenging themselves and setting high goals

* Seek out self-improvement opportunities

* Aren't afraid to admit when they make a mistake

* Aren't afraid to acknowledge when they don't know something

* Make good team leaders or mentors

* Can relate to customers or company members at any level of the organization

* Are honest about their shortcomings


Personal Motivation

All of us have a desire to achieve something in our lives. We want to know that we have achieved something important, of value, of quality, or of meaning. Being motivated to meet our goals means that we are able to:

* Improve our self-confidence

* Enhance our self-discipline

* Set examples for ourselves of what we can achieve

* Challenge ourselves to stretch beyond our perceived limits

* Reward ourselves for reaching our goals

* Enjoy the recognition or perks associated with reaching our goals


The more that we are able to achieve, the more self-confident we become. Then the more self-confident we become, the more we are able to achieve. The reverse can happen if we fail to meet our goals. If we fall short of achieving something, we may experience a dip in our self-confidence levels, which in turn may impact our motivation to try again. Understanding this relationship between motivation and self confidence is important if you want to be able to improve either trait in yourself.


Defining Confidence

People sometimes confuse confidence with arrogance. The arrogant person is usually actually an insecure person and their arrogance is a way to hide their insecurities. Where an arrogant person is boastful, a confident person has no need to boast - they know that their achievements speak for themselves. Where an arrogant person will have trouble admitting they were wrong, a confident person is perfectly willing to admit when they are wrong - they know that the admission doesn't diminish their value or their abilities. If an arrogant person tends to focus on looking good or appearing to be the best, a confident person focuses on being the best and doing the best.


Defining Motivation

A simple definition for motivation is that it is a description of a person's motive to action. You can have a low level of motivation to perform an action, for example, if you are taking a long time to complete a project or even to begin it. But if you have drive towards a goal, objective, or target, we talk about you having the positive motivation. Those who are highly motivated to achieve things in their lives are also likely to be more fulfilled as they accomplish the things that are important to them in their lives.


  credits: personal confidence and motivation- mtd training

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Achieving Your Dreams and Goals

The main purpose to incorporate positivity in our life is to achieve our dreams and goals. There are several factors one has to use in order to make their dreams reality. Dreams and goals are achieved because of several factors. The success of achieving what you want depends overall on the following things:

1. You should have a specific goal.

2. You have to be sure that you really want to achieve your goal.

3. You need to have a clear mental image of your goal.

4. You need a strong desire.

5. You need to disregard and reject doubts and thoughts about failure.

6. Show confidence and faith and persevere until you gain success.

The things above sound simple enough, but few really apply those ideas above in getting what they want. You don't need physical work to get what you want. What you do need is power of the mind in a constant positive state which is the law of positivity to achieve what you want.

It's about consciously changing your state of mind which in turn changes your state of being. Visualizations, affirmations and even meditation make up the mental work. It doesn't have to be a painful ordeal to incorporate a new positive mindset in your life. The human mind is geared to finding solutions in our lives to bring about what we want into manifestations. When you use tools like visualization and affirmations in your life, you are focusing and channeling your energy towards your goal. When you focus all your energy into a positive mindset, you are eliminating any negativity to creep in. Doubt is one the worst killers of positivity there is. When you doubt yourself you do not succeed because you are saying you cannot achieve what you want for your life. Also when you become positive, your intuition also starts to set in and look for opportunities towards positivity as well.

There are those people who also include using subliminal messaging into programming their minds in a positive manner. In this case they may listen to CDs that reinforce the idea of positivity in their subconscious while they sleep or meditate. There are many CDs that are available today on the market that does this. Many people use them because it requires no added effort to use them. The messages go straight to one's subconscious and work faster for that reason.

However, although using subliminal messages is fine, when you use affirmations and visualization you get added benefits that subliminal programming alone does not do. Affirmations, creative visualization and meditation helps you to develop inner strength, concentration, willpower and self discipline. Those three tools help activate your inner power. Another benefits of affirmations and creative visualization is that you can use them anywhere and anytime. You need no external instruments just your mind.

Success is something that manifests in a person's life in different ways. Sometimes it may appear as a miracle and other time it's a subtle thing. It can be nothing more than an ordinary opportunity we have been waiting for that comes to being. Success may mean no more than a door opening, but it's up to you to see the door and go through it. Remember, we have big goals and then we have our daily goals.

People make mistakes when they think that big goals only mean things like being wealthy, having an expensive car, having a big house with a pool or building a business empire. Yes, these are big goals, but a big goal can also be simple goals like spending time with one's loved ones, finding true love or even eating less.

Just remember, a big goal does not have to be materialistic to be big. It is a goal you set for yourself that is positive that is a big goal.


credits: The Power of Positive Thinking

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