It’s almost a reflex for us to look back at what we’ve done and ahead to what we might accomplish as we approach the end of every year. Some of us can celebrate our accomplishments, while others of us are wondering why we aren’t where we thought we’d be in our wellness, personal and/or professional journey. Maybe it’s less about New Year’s resolutions and more about how strong your belief in your ability to succeed is — in other words, your level of self-efficacy.

“As you review your PATH 2024 journey, including both your achievements and lessons learned, understanding self-efficacy can guide you in setting meaningful goals for PATH 2025," explains PDRMA Wellness Consultant Hayley Flott.

Self-efficacy, a term coined in 1977 by Albert Bandura, a Canadian-American psychologist and a professor at Stanford University, is a person's belief in their ability to complete a task or achieve a goal. It includes their confidence in themselves to control their behavior, exert an influence over their environment and stay motivated pursuing  their goal. Self-efficacy impacts all aspects of your life such as school, work, relationships and other areas.

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Your sense of self-efficacy can be the basis of your motivation, well-being and personal accomplishments.

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And Bandura believes we develop our self-efficacy through four main sources:

1. Mastery Experiences — When you perform a task successfully, it strengthens your sense of self-efficacy. But if you fail a challenge, it can weaken your self-efficacy.
2. Social Modeling — Seeing other people like us successfully complete a task encourages our belief that we can do the same thing and succeed — just as they did.
3. Social Persuasion — Through encouragement, other people can persuade us we have the skills and capabilities to succeed. They help us overcome our self-doubt and focus on completing the task or meeting the challenge.
4. Psychological Responses — Moods, emotional states, physical reactions and stress levels can all impact how a person feels about their abilities in a particular situation. If you get nervous speaking in public, you might have a low level of self-efficacy in that situation. Learning how to minimize stress and elevate your mood when facing challenging tasks can improve your sense of self-efficacy and your ability to succeed.

Bandura wasn’t the only psychologist to delve into self-efficacy. Another researcher is James Maddux, who suggested a fifth source of self-efficacy:

5. Imaginal Experiences/Visualization — Visualizing yourself being successful in a situation or believing that you have a high level of self-efficacy can help make it happen. It’s all about believing you can achieve anything you set your mind to.

Overall Impact of Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy can make a big difference when it comes to managing your health, nutrition, and any illnesses you might face. It can help you stay on track with your weight loss journey, handle pain more effectively, stick to your exercise routine, and follow your meal plans. Believing in your ability to succeed is a fantastic step toward achieving your health goals!

Fortunately, self-efficacy is a psychological skill you can strengthen. Start by looking for ways to incorporate the five sources of self-efficacy into your own life. According to Bandura, Mastery Experiences can be the single most effective way to create a stronger sense of self-belief. While you can build a strong belief in your abilities when you succeed at something, stacking up “easy” wins isn’t a good way to do that. Too many easy successes may make you give up on a task when the going gets tough. Set goals that are achievable — but not necessarily easy. Make your goals ones that require effort and perseverance on your part and are achievable so that you have a stronger belief in your abilities when you meet that goal. (If you need a refresher about how to create a S.M.A.R.T. goal, take another look at our Make Your Goals Smart article from our January issue!)