6.9 Strategies for Boosting Self-Efficacy

To gauge your own self-efficacy around a certain domain—be it a health behavior or skill—consider the following items from the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995):

• I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough.
• If someone opposes me, I can find the means and ways to get what I want.
• It is easy for me to stick to my intentions and accomplish my goals.
• I am confident that I could deal efficiently with unexpected events.
• Thanks to my resourcefulness, I know how to handle unforeseen situations.
• I can solve most problems if I invest the necessary effort.
• I can remain calm when facing difficulties because I can rely on my coping abilities.
• When I am confronted with a problem, I can usually find several solutions.
• If I am in trouble, I can usually think of a solution.
• I can usually handle whatever comes my way.

A high degree of agreement with most of these statements would indicate a high level of self-efficacy, and self-efficacy is something we can develop. Even those who rate themselves high can continue to benefit by keeping the following strategies for building self-efficacy in mind:

• Experience successes or master the ability to overcome obstacles. When it comes to building self-efficacy, direct experiences are the most important sources of information. In other words, trying new activities or approaches to a task can help build self-efficacy. This also provides an opportunity to try out coping strategies and problem-solving techniques. The more successes one experiences, the more their self-efficacy will grow in that area.
• Imagine experiences of both success and failure. By imagining ourselves or others in hypothetical situations, we can actually learn a lot about what we hope to achieve and how we might get there. This might be an imagined response to something that actually happened, hasn’t happened yet, or may never happen. For example, if a student imagines they have successfully presented a project in class, this may influence their self-efficacy around public speaking. 
• Social modeling: Seeing others succeed in our everyday lives helps lead us to believe we are capable of succeeding, too. For example, an individual sees that a friend learned how to prepare easy, nutritious lunches at the beginning of each week and brings one with her to class each day, leading the individual to have a heightened sense of self-efficacy around making a similar change.
• Social persuasion: Hearing from others, particularly those we admire or look up to, that we are capable and resourceful helps us believe that we are. Our family members, supervisors, instructors, and coaches can make an impact on our self-efficacy by simply believing we are capable. Similarly, you can be this person for others; how can you persuade someone you know that they have what it takes to achieve their goals, even if they aren’t successful 100% of the time?
• Pay attention to and take care of your physical and mental health needs. Being mindful of our physiological and psychological state can provide important information regarding what we might need or how we feel, but know that how we feel physically and mentally can negatively influence self-efficacy; it informs how capable we think we are. Simply feeling tired or mentally drained can impact self-efficacy. Consider experimenting with new self-care strategies and coping techniques, identifying your stress triggers and patterns, and asking for help when you need it (Maddux, 2009) to build your skills.
• Clarify the criteria around a success. How one defines success matters a great deal when it comes to self-efficacy. One strategy for combating maladaptive perfectionism—and boosting self-efficacy—is to better define or broaden the definition of success. If one’s definition begins to include learning from missteps or lapses, effectively adapting to an unexpected change of plans, or trying a new approach to a task even if it ends up not being a good fit, then the number of successes on which self-efficacy is built inherently grows. For example, a student tries a dance class as a new form of physical activity. They don’t feel especially coordinated doing the movements in the class and are undecided about whether or not they’ll participate in the class again; however, they did try something new and got 45 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, so they consider it a success.