How to Develop Self-Efficacy and Increase Your Psychological Capital (PsyCap 1)

Do you feel helpessly stuck, not sure how to progress professionally? Maybe you are doing ok, but want to make sure you continue to develop and advance. Perhaps you are looking for something completely different and are not sure how to take the next step. Whatever the case, your Psychological Capital (PsyCap) will play a big role in how things go on from here. In this article I introduce PsyCap and then focus on how to develop its dimension of self-efficacy.

According to the Conference Board (Job Satisfaction 2020) approximately 50% of the US workforce is currently unhappy with their job and in a study by Gallup on the state of the global workplace about 85% of the US workforce is disengaged. That is a shocking and alarming statistic given how much time we spend at work! Another survey showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, 6 in 10 US jobseekers including those unemployed or employed but looking for a new role are completely open to changing careers. Many are reassessing their priorities and desire to have roles more aligned with their core values – meaningful jobs or opportunities that energize rather than drain.

PsyCap if properly developed can help you to grow personally and lead to a more fruitful and satisfying work life. Furthermore, the principles and exercises we will cover are not only limited to an organizational context, but in my opinion can be helpful in facing challenges and reaching goals in other domains such as personal relationships, education and fitness.

People with high levels of PsyCap feel better, are healthier, are more confident, deal with problems more effectively, are more productive and more likely to reach their goals.

The Aspects of PsyCap: Self-Efficacy, Hope, Optimism and Resilience

PsyCap refers to one’s personal psychological resources and describes an underlying capacity that is crucial for motivation, problem solving, innovation and goal achievement. There is a strong scientific basis linking PsyCap to desirable outcomes such as positive emotions, problem solving skills, job satisfaction, innovative behavior and better performance at work. Furthermore, the higher one’s level of PsyCap is, the less likely one is to be cynical, counterproductive or negatively impacted by stress. People with high levels of PsyCap feel better, are healthier, are more confident, deal with problems more effectively, are more productive and more likely to reach their goals.

PsyCap is comprised of four resources that act in a synergistic way, meaning the higher order construct is more powerful than the sum of its four parts. We will spend ample time on each component. You will also notice that there is some overlap in the training exercises. For example, optimism is also developed when one works to improve self-efficacy.

1.) Self-efficacy – one’s belief or confidence that he or she can succeed in various situations or tasks

2.) Optimism – one’s positive expectation that current and future events or conditions will work out for the best

3.) Hope – refers to both a motivational state by which one can persevere towards goals and the belief that there are numerous pathways to reach one’s goals.

4.) Resilience – the ability to bounce back to reach goals, even in the face of setbacks, challenges and adversity

Example of PsyCap Synergy

The following example shows how PsyCap resources can work together for goal achievement. Because I am currently learning guitar, I am particularly fond of this scenario:

Let’s say that your goal is to learn to play guitar at an intermediate level. You fundamentally believe that you can do it (self-efficacy) and just know it will work out (optimism).

Once you get started, you realize that due to your busy schedule, it is hard to practice regularly. You are nevertheless determined to learn guitar, so you rearrange your schedule a bit to have a set practice time and begin to take private lessons to help keep you on track (hope).

After three months of good progress you can play a few songs, but then have a biking accident and unfortunately break your hand. Although you cannot actively play for the next few months, you do not get discouraged, but decide to dive deeper into the theory and memorize guitar chords that you did not know before (resilience).

Now you have an even better foundation that helps you to progress more quickly once you can practice again.

The great thing about psychological capital is that it is malleable, meaning it can be developed and trained through so called positive psychology interventions. Just as you can go to the gym to get fit physically, you can train PsyCap to get fit mentally, so let’s get started!

Self-Efficacy Definition

The first PsyCap dimension I would like to tackle is self-efficacy, which is one’s belief about their ability to successfully deal with specific situatious and reach their goals. According to Bandura, self-efficacy has four main sources of influence:

1.) Mastery experiences – past experiences of success

2.) Vicarious experiences – learning from examples of those around us

3.) Social persuasion – receiving positive feedback regarding one’s ability to succeed

4.) Emotional and physiological states – moods, physical reactions and emotional states that impact how one feels about their ability to succeed in a particular situation

Those who doubt their ability to succeed or struggle with self-efficacy often experience the following:

Develop Self-Efficacy and Defeating the Inner Naysayer

Those who doubt their ability to succeed often suffer under the relentless whisperings of the inner naysayer – that voice that tells you, “I’m not smart enough,” “Remember how you failed before,” etc. We all have experienced this at some time or another.

To silence this inner voice we focus on the four primary categories of PsyCap self-efficacy training.

One of the main factors needed for building self-efficacy are experiences of success, also known as mastery experiences! Success strongly impacts the way we think of ourselves, makes us more confident in our abilities and increases the likelihood of accomplishment in the future. Even visualizing yourself being successful, thereby reinforcing the belief that success is the most likely outcome, can help in developing self-efficacy.

Another crucial aspect includes positive feedback. Whenever we receive genuine positive feedback, we feel motivated and encouraged – positive feedback strengthens our belief in our ability to succeed.

Having positive role-models is another key factor for increasing self-efficacy. Role models provide crucial information and help fuel motivation. They show what steps need to be taken to lead to success and what things you should not do so that undesirable outcomes can be avoided.  Having role models can increase one’s self-efficacy because observers are apt to think that if they follow the same steps, they too will be successful.

The fourth item is social persuasion. This refers to input from others that has a beneficial impact on your attitudes or behavior. Receiving encouragement from people who really believe in you does wonders for your self-efficacy.

Here is a short overview of different exercises for each area – we will elaborate on some in our self-efficacy exercise guide further below.

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercises Overview

Mastery-experiences

1. Set a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) goal and write it down – those who write down their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to reach them!

2. Imagine reaching your goal (visualization)

3. Reflect on past achievements

Positive Feedback

4. Ask others for regular, genuine feedback concerning your progress

5. Give yourself positive feedback

Social Persuasion

6. Positive self-talk – tell yourself that you can do it and will achieve your goal

7. Gain positive reinforcement from others that you can and will reach your goal

Modelling

8. Spend time with someone who is a role-model in the area where you would like to grow

9. Read relevant books, watch relevant videos, etc.

6 Exercises

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 1

Write down something that you do well at your job or something that you would like to improve in.

1. Let’s set a SMART Goal for this item. Those who write down their goals are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to reach them, so just by filling out this worksheet you are already on the path to success!

SMART Checklist

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 2

2. Imagine achieving your subgoals and overall goal and write down how this makes you feel. Recall and reflect on this experience of success every time you have a meal.

If you can imagine it, it is certainly not out of reach. This visualization strategy helps you to direct attention and effort toward goal relevant activities and away from goal irrelevant activities.

It helps you to sync your being with your desired goal and spontaneously you will do things that bring you closer to success.

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 3

3. It is easy to focus on failures but let’s redirect and focus on successes. What are three things that you have accomplished that you are proud of? They can be small things or big things. They can be from last week, from two years ago or whenever. The main thing is that you feel proud about them. Every time you feel like giving up, read these accomplishments out loud.

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Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 4

4. Now it is time to get someone else involved to help encourage you along the way. Write down the name of a person that you trust, who would be willing to support you in reaching your goal.

1. Arrange a ten-minute appointment, once a week with this person. Write down the appointment day and time.

2. Explain your goal, subgoals and timeline for accomplishing them. Research shows that you are more likely to reach your goal if it is made public.

3. Let this person know about their two-fold role in this exercise:

a. They should give you genuine positive reinforcement about your ability to accomplish your goal. For example, telling you, “you can and will make it” / “remember that time when you did …, that shows you have what it takes” / “I am proud of you for taking this so seriously and know it will pay off” / “Keep at it, you are putting in great effort”

b. They should give you genuine positive and specific feedback about the progress you are making towards your goal. Such feedback should generally answer what and why – what did you do particularly well and why was it effective or important. For example, “I was impressed by how you stuck to your schedule this week, this is really helping you not to waste time. Great job, keep up the good work”

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 5

5. Another important key for success is giving yourself positive feedback and believing that you’re able to succeed. This enhances your ability to come up with creative ways to reach your goals. Fredrickson’s broaden and build theory describes how this works. It turns out that having strong self-efficacy beliefs engenders positive emotions. These emotions increase your cognitive flexibility and result in emotional well-being. In other words, by having positive emotions you become more aware and can respond better to events. Hence, you’re more likely to have creative, exploratory thoughts and actions.

Having negative thoughts causes you to become mentally narrow. For example, if you continually tell yourself, “I can’t do it, it’s just too hard,” it will be difficult to make progress towards your goal. By focusing on your apparent inability, it becomes nearly impossible to consider creative solutions that will lead to success. The reason for this is you’re stuck in survival mode and therefore can’t step out to see the big picture, consider more options and think more clearly.

By contrast, a person with positive thoughts and emotions is more cognitively flexible. In the midst of adversity they would not give up. Rather they may find an alternative pathway to reach their goal by reorganizing key tasks. Or they may break down their overarching goal into subgoals and work on one part at a time. This way they make progress, even in the midst of challenges.

Positive emotions can also undo the effects of negative emotions and trigger lasting changes in the structure and function of the brain that lead to even more desirable thoughts and behaviors. For this reason, it is important that our thoughts are positively inclined!

Set aside a few minutes a day to stand in front of a mirror and speak positively to yourself. You can tell yourself that you will reach your goal or reflect on past achievements. Think about past events that made you really happy. Anything that is positive is welcome! Write down when you will do this.

Develop Self-Efficacy: Exercise 6

6. Having role models is also particularly important for increasing self-efficacy. Role models provide crucial information and help fuel motivation. They show what steps need to be taken to lead to success and what things you should not do so that undesirable outcomes can be avoided.

Having role models can increase one’s self-efficacy because observers are apt to think that if they follow the same steps, they too will be successful.

Write down the names of one or two role models that have accomplished what you aim to do or have done something similar to what you would like to achieve. These may be coworkers or authors or someone you saw on YouTube. The main thing is that you look up to them in the area that relates to your goal.

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Take some time to observe and learn from these role models. You may for example have a chat with them, read their books or watch their videos. Write down the steps that they took to reach the goal that is similar to yours.

Summary

Psychological Capital (PsyCap) refers to one’s personal psychological resources and describes an underlying capacity that is crucial for motivation, problem solving, innovation and goal achievement.

There is a strong scientific basis linking PsyCap to desirable outcomes such as positive emotions, problem solving skills, job satisfaction, innovative behavior, and better performance at work. Just as you can go to the gym and get fit physically, PsyCap can be trained and enhanced so that you are fit mentally!

This greater order construct is comprised of four psychological resources that act in a synergistic way. In this post we focused on self-efficacy which is the belief in one’s own ability to reach goals and be successful.

Furthermore, we learned 6 ways to help develop self-efficacy. With about 10 to 15 minutes a day of targeted exercises we can become more confident about our ability to succeed. This plays a significant and positive role in how we perform at work or in other domains.

I wish you much success in your self-efficacy building!

References