Self-efficacy

Alex Bandura’s famous Social Cognitive Theory says that things only get done if you believe you have some control during the situation. You have a problem, you want to fix it, and you believe you can. Bandura refers to this belief in your abilities as self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy is about believing in yourself. It’s important to believe in yourself, to think that you’re capable. Taking responsibility for your life means believing in yourself to some degree.

But if you want to really make a difference, you have to keep your self-efficacy in check. That belief better be grounded in reality. If it’s not, you’re going to get knocked off your high horse fairly quickly.

It’s about humility but believing in yourself. It’s about being courageous but not being stupid. At the end of the day, if you don’t believe in yourself, who will?

A Printer with No Ink

It’s happened to all of us. Just when you need it most, the printer runs out of ink. Let’s assume it’s your printer (not your roommate’s). That means it’s up to you to fill it with ink and paper.

But you don’t.

Days go by. Weeks go by. Weeks become months and before you know it that expensive printer has become an expensive paperweight for the better part of a year. You’re going green anyways—it’s better off out of commission. You get free prints at the library anyways.

You end up telling yourself anything and everything that takes you off the hook. Though ordering ink takes 30 seconds, the impetus to action isn’t greater than your crippling passion for taking it easy on yourself. After a year without a functioning printer, you decide to throw it away. Selling it on eBay requires too much learning.

We all have printers without ink in our lives—things that require attention but we’ve been ignoring for no acceptable reason. Maybe instead of trying to change the world with protests and Facebook dissertations we can take responsibility for refilling the ink, accomplishing those menial but necessary tasks.

This week, I will begin taking ownership for the printers in my life.

Will you?

My Angry Side

It doesn’t matter how much I advance in life, how many new perspectives I gain, or how much I understand the importance of gratitude. When I get angry, all of that goes down the tubes. It’s like I step back in time and lose all conscious processing. My body shakes with rage and I become an animal. Everybody in my way becomes a target for my aggression, and if something bothers me, I want to explode in fury.

I used to say I inherited the “angry gene” from my dad. Sure, it’s very possible that I have a predisposition for a short temper. But whether I allow that trigger to control my life is entirely up to me. It’s my responsibility. Not my father’s or God’s. Mine. And if it goes off and I hurt somebody with my words or actions? Well, that’s my responsibility, too.

It’s always on me. Nobody else.

So, I understand this. But what’s stopping me from actually remembering it in the moment? I’ve decided I have to attack this problem at the source. I can no longer ignore it and pretend that it’ll go away. I have to get scientific about how I’m going to be less angry. I’ve decided that from here on out, I will reflect on my anger every night. I will think about every occasion I got angry that day and why I got angry. On a subconscious level.

Maybe this process will help me learn more about myself so I can stop allowing my subconscious ticks to ruin my days. I can take back control and responsibility of my life. This is how I’m going to do it.