Do you believe in yourself??

I have been thinking a lot about the story of the Little Engine that could. Here he was faced with all sorts of opposition, yet he managed to make it to the top of the hill. He told himself that he could do it and he was right. Do we have the same mentality as that little engine? or are we constantly telling ourselves that life is too hard and what's the point in even trying?? Well I can tell you that I personally feel like I have a split personality when it comes to believing in myself. If I have done something before and experienced success then I think, of course I can do that and don't even doubt my abilities. Yet if I am asked to do something that I do not know if I will succeed or not, then I have a tendency to completely doubt myself. Little did I know that this split personality actually has a name. In the world of Human Behavior this concept is called Self-Efficacy. It is defined as "the personal belief in one's own ability to do something." Well how about that. That is exactly what I do. There are three constructs or foundations behind self-efficacy or your personal belief in yourself. Those constructs include, Mastery Experience, Vicarious Experience and Verbal Persuasion.

So what is Mastery Experience? This is your personal experience with something. For example, I know that weight loss works by eating nutritiously and exercise. I have experienced success in this area in my life. By doing those two things I have managed to lose 65 lbs and have seen success, so it does work. Naturally when we succeed at something, of course we are going to want to continue with that behavior. But what happens if we don't experience success?? and don't think that we can do hard things?? That is where the next construct of Vicarious Experience comes into play.

Vicarious Experience is learning by watching the success or failure of others similar to ourselves when they try things. These things may be old habits that they have experienced success with or they might be trying something for the very first time. If we see someone who is very similar to us succeeding at something new that we have always wanted to try, then we think to ourselves, "well if so and so can do it, so can I. It gives us confidence in ourselves to succeed. But sometimes even this doesn't work for us. We may be so stubborn that even still we doubt ourselves and our abilities. If this is you, (and trust me I am in this category too) then maybe the final construct will work for you. The final construct is Verbal Persuasion.

What is Verbal Persuasion you may be asking yourself. Well it is, "Encouragement by others." Have you ever said I am going to make the New Year's Resolution to start working out 5x a week. The first week you do great and think this year is actually going to be the year that you do it. You are so pumped up about it that you even persuade your friend do go to the gym with you. Then February rolls around and the excitement of the new year has worn off and you just aren't feeling the motivation to workout anymore. You start to make up excuses with your friend why you can't work out and before you know it, it's June and your running shoes have collected a nice thick layer of dust. If this has not happened to you, well then count yourself lucky because I know that this has happened to me every single year. So what happens? I know that I can experience weight loss success by exercising because not only have I done it, but I have also watched people similar to me achieve their goals this way. So what's missing? The personal cheerleader inside of my head saying that I can do it, is burnt out. She is tired of motivating myself all the time and so that is when others can come along and help. They can lift us up when we feel like we just can't go on anymore. They can help us remember what our goal is and that we are not alone on our journey.

So my question then to you is, who are the cheerleaders in your life? Do you have people that you can call or who can give you that motivational boost when you find yourself running on empty?? As you begin to find those cheerleaders in your life, you will recognize that you aren't alone in your goals. No one wants to see their friends give up on their goals and if they are a true friend then they will be with you all along the way of your journey, whatever that journey may be. As Henry Ford said,

Whether you believe you can or cannot, YOU'RE RIGHT!

So do what do you believe???