There are dozens of tips and techniques out there whose purpose is to improve self-efficacy. However, there are only some fundamental rules that are an essential. These rules can provide you with better results than all of the tips and techniques found online together.
The following content will help and benefit you to develop more confidence in your abilities. And like everything else, the key is to focus on the process.
5 Easy Rules To Improve Self-Efficacy
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Set your goals above your abilities
When it comes to achievement, there are three personal zones. The comfort zone, the stretch zone, and the panic zone.
The comfort zone, are all the things you are familiar with. All the things that are easy for you to do and you feel comfortable doing. This is the zone that contains the skills you already possess. Staying in the comfort zone will never help you improve self-efficacy.
The panic zone contains everything that is outside of your abilities. Trying and doing such things will decrease self-efficacy and eventually leads to panic. These are the things way outside of your comfort zone and way beyond the things you like to do.
The stretch zone is our favorite. This is the zone where all of us want to be. It consists of all the things that are challenging but possible to achieve. But not with the set of abilities you have. Things that are in this zone are within your reach yet make you feel uncomfortable.
Now this is the zone you need to be. You need to set goals above your abilities, build up your confidence and eventually achieve the goals. Achieving high goals can do wonders to your self-efficacy.
Getting out of the comfort zone depends on your personality. Some people prefer small and safe steps, and other go to extremes.
The best approach is slower and less traumatic. Such approach has a lower risk of failure.
You need to try both of approaches and find out which one works for you.
For example imagine you have a hard time getting up early in the morning. But you want to change that. The first approach in improving it is to start slowly and wake up a little earlier every day. The second method would be to set the alarm and wake up at the exact time. And logically, the second approach has a higher risk of failure.
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Simplify your goals into small pieces
The actual problem is that people with low self-efficacy imagine that the tasks are harder than they are. And they don’t make an effort or even a plan. It is a cycle. The jobs are hard just because you don’t make an effort.
There is this 80/20 % rule which means that 80% of results come off 20% efforts.
The core to developing more confidence in your skills is pretty simple. You just have to break your goals into small pieces that in the future will provide significant benefits. Cut away the unessential and the more manageable your goal is, the more comfortable and confident you will feel in reaching it.
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The big picture should be your main focus
Of course one must improve self-efficacy if one has greater goals to achieve. And why would one waste both energy and time, focusing on small not important details?
If you were to improve self-efficacy, you would have a wider look on the goal and would create a greater plan.
It is not the tactics that are important but the long-term strategy.
Don’t make a plan until you start believing in your abilities. You will have a hard time working on your goal.
On the other hand, if you work hard you would make better plans and make smarter decisions. A person with high self-efficacy will identify the priority that will render everything else. And after that will focus on the main goal.
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Obstacles have to be reframed
This is a psychological technique that identifies and replaces negative beliefs, ideas, and attitudes with better and more positive ones. One of the best characteristic one can have is finding motivation in the obstacles to keep going.
Such process of reconstructing what you think about obstacles starts with self-awareness. You need to stop thinking of barriers for reasons of why you should give up.
You need to start to think of them as reasons why you need to keep going and never give up.
For example, you have a reframed thought that you lost all your money you have invested in your business that never took off. You learned what didn’t go right and will apply that to your next business. And it will end up successful.
This is not the thoughts in most of the cases. The original thought is that you lost all that money. And you quit. You believe that you can never succeed in any business because of the failure.
Such state of mind will never help you down the road to success.
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Take over the control of your life
Your actions and decisions shape your life. This is what a high efficient person believes. While, the ones that lack efficacy, feel their lives and destinies are out of their control.
You need to believe that you can control all the events that affect you.
Don’t blame others for your mistakes, results, and actions. Take responsibility for your actions and most importantly learn how to acknowledge your mistakes. You will be able to improve your performance.
It may sound strange, but the moment you succeed in your goal to improve self-efficacy you will find yourself feeling better if you have failed because of yourself. This is because you are fully aware, you take responsibility, you learn by the mistakes and make action again. And next time, you will do better.
A strong sense of self-efficacy is about the deep belief in your abilities and not about the cockiness of just your self-esteem. Stay humble and open to new ideas and eventually achieve the mastery.
To improve self-efficacy is a process, not an event. Be patient. Focus on the big picture and the most important things in life.
Good luck.
