What Is Self Efficacy And Self Respect?

• Self efficacy allows you to adapt to an ever changing world.
• Self respect allows you to achieve your dreams.
• Both self efficacy and self respect are needed for high self esteem.

In the last article you learnt about the two main components of self esteem. Self efficacy, which means having a basic level of confidence in your actions, and self respect, which means recognising your value and worth as a person.

In this article we shall now explore these two components in greater detail, and find out why they are important in your life.

What Is Self Efficacy?

In the dictionary, efficacy is defined as being capable of producing a desired result or outcome.

Having confidence in your basic efficacy therefore means having confidence in your ability to learn what you need to learn, and do what you need to do in order to achieve your goals.

Self Efficacy Is Not…

Self efficacy is not a belief that you will never make a mistake, or do everything perfectly the first time. Likewise it is not a belief that you will master every and any challenge life throws at you.

If you expect to do everything perfectly the first time, you are bound to be disappointed. No matter how talented a person may be, everyone will make mistakes at some point in their life. And it is through these mistakes that real personal development will occur.

However this does not mean to say that you should expect to fail the first time you try something, for true self efficacy means having a trust and confidence in yourself and your abilities.

This means that you should adopt an attitude that you are capable of learning what you need to learn, and that you are committed to doing your very best to master the skills required to overcome any challenge.

No one can ask any more of you if you always try your best, and you do this by trusting and believing in yourself.

Is Your Knowledge Doubling?

In a world in which the total human knowledge is doubling roughly every 10 years (some would argue even more rapidly since the creation of the Internet), your security rests only in your ability to learn and adapt to rapid change.

This is why self efficacy is so important. Because if you have confidence in your ability to think, learn and deal with the challenges life throws at you, then you stand an excellent chance of adapting to and succeeding in this very competitive and changing world.

However if you lack self efficacy and give up when challenges come your way (because you doubt yourself and your abilities) then you will most likely take a back seat whilst those around you speed forward.

Remember, self efficacy does not mean you will never fail or experience problems. But it does mean that if and when these challenges do appear, your confidence and belief in your ability will see you through to the end. Another word to describe this would be persistence.

Self Respect & Self Efficacy

Just like self efficacy entails the expectation of success as natural, self respect entails the expectation of love, friendship and happiness as natural.

However, it is important to note that although self efficacy and self respect are separated here for the sake of convenience, in reality they constantly overlap and intertwine with each other.

What Is Self Respect?

Self respect is a strong belief in your own value and worth as a person. It is not a delusion that you are perfect or superior to everyone else, but rather a belief that your life and well being are worth acting to support, protect and nurture.

With self respect comes a recognition that you are worthwhile and deserving of the respect of others, and that your happiness and personal fulfillment are important enough for you to work for.

This is why self respect is such an important component of self esteem. As in order to live successfully, you need to pursue and achieve things that have value and meaning to you.

Without a basic level of self respect you are unlikely to consider yourself worthy of these things, and so you will either not pursue your hopes, dreams and aspirations, or be unsatisfied and unable to experience happiness if you do get them.

In addition to this, if you lack self respect for yourself, you automatically allow others to treat you disrespectfully.

When you allow people to treat you disrespectfully you then further lower your self esteem, which invites more disrespect, thereby lowering your self esteem again in a never ending cycle.

Fortunately, if you ever find yourself in this cycle, all you need to do is never tolerate anyone who either treats you disrespectfully, or talks to you in a disrespectful manner.

Once you stand up for yourself you will automatically increase your self respect, and by doing so increase your self esteem.

Self Esteem In Summary

To summarise these two important components of self esteem, remember that true healthy self esteem comes from having confidence in your thoughts and actions, and knowing that eventually you will achieve your goal.

With this expectation also comes the realisation that sometimes you may fail, but knowing that your commitment and persistence will see you through in the end.

In addition to this, true self esteem also comes from knowing that you are worthy and deserving of the goals you seek.

If you do not feel worthy enough to have or achieve something, then you will not try your hardest to get it and so will set yourself up for failure.

So remember, both self efficacy and self respect go hand in hand, and true self esteem cannot exist if they are absent.

So from now on adopt an attitude that anything is possible, and recognise that it is possible because you deserve it and are good enough for it.

A final word of caution. Do not delude yourself into thinking that you are deserving of something just because you want it. You must always work hard and to the very best of your ability to obtain the things you want in life.

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