Self-Efficacy
At the core of you, how do you know you are capable of completing a task or reaching a goal you have set? Almost one year ago, I up and decided to pack my little car and take a cross-country road trip from Los Angeles to New York. The most common response was for people to tell me I was crazy and that they would never make that trip. I was riddled with questions about why I—a single, almost 30-year-old Black woman with a little dog, would drive alone across America. I was often reminded that planes still worked and it would be much easier to fly.
But that’s not what I wanted to do. I wanted to drive the-almost 3,000 miles across the country with just me, my snacks, my thoughts and my little dog—because I knew I could.
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Self-efficacy is a concept in motivation coined by psychologist Albert Bandura. The theory refers to a person’s belief in their individual ability to perform. It is the confidence people have in how well they can do something they’ve set out to do. But how do we gain that confidence? How do we become so sure of and in ourselves that we can attain something so far beyond our peer’s imagination?
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When I began planning my trip—and let me be clear that plan is a very loose term, I had to ignore a lot of people. It was imperative that I not let the fear or doubts of others without my vision penetrate my psyche. I refused to limit myself to the projection of other folks, so I just told them I’d be fine. In 2018, I went backpacking with one other person through western Spain on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, and made it back home just fine. That was 35 days of walking anywhere from 7-17 miles a day in a foreign country while staying in hostels with complete strangers every night. I knew less than a little of the language, but I did it—and learned a lot about myself along the way. If I could manage an on-foot trip for a month, I knew I was completely capable of driving across the US in five days by myself.
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Self-efficacy is affected by four different factors:
Mastery experiences- have we done this before and succeeded?
Vicarious experiences—has someone we know been successful at this?
Verbal persuasion—are we being encouraged or discouraged by people in the process?
Emotional/Physiological feedback—how are our bodies responding and can we visualize ourselves doing this successfully?
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I did not grow up with many people telling me what I could do, I did however have influential people telling me what I wasn’t capable of. I have since done plenty un-learning about what I was raised to believe about myself. Despite hearing disparaging things during my rearing, I had always hoped I could do well at some things and tried my best in the process.
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It was important for me at 15 to see my 19-year-old brother drive from Ohio to California by himself. I was terrified for him but he did it anyway. My brother has always been the most successful person I’ve ever known because no matter what, he always follows his heart. I knew that if he could at 19—I could do a similar trip at 29. We have the same kind of fire running through our veins.
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With the help of friends sharing their air-mattresses, beds and food along the way, it only took me five days to get across the country. Looking back, my biggest regret is never fully acknowledging that feat or celebrating what an amazing thing I had done. I just got to New York, enjoyed my summer then zoomed down the road onto my next destination. I had become so accustomed to accomplishing goals in my life without taking time to celebrate the wins. The problem with that is, I began chasing the next big thing—the next trip, the next accomplishment, the next, the next, the next.
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Rarely acknowledging my own self-efficacy causes me to doubt myself when things do not go as I (loosely) plan. Instead of believing I can accomplish great and wonderful things, I find myself hesitant and unsure of my abilities when conflict or obstacle is present. I am reminded though, celebration or not—that I have done fantastic things in my 30 years and I will continue to because I know I can.
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With this revelation and newly introduced theory, I intend to celebrate more of my wins moving forward. I recognize that I easily do this for my friends and loved ones—while seldom extending myself the same kind of hype. I am strengthening my self-efficacy in this very moment, and I encourage you to do the same.
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