BUILDING SELF-EFFICACY
Self-efficacy — your belief in your ability to carry out the actions needed to reach a particular goal — powerfully affects how you approach a task and deal with obstacles. You can increase your self-efficacy for a particular activity by experiencing success, observing others who are successful, seeking support and encouragement from others, and turning stress into a motivator.
In this journal entry, identify an activity that you initially didn’t believe you could do but went on to complete successfully. Describe how achieving small successes, observing successful people, seeking support and encouragement, and using stress as motivation increased your sense of self-efficacy for that activity.
Then identify an activity you would like to perform more confidently. How could you build feelings of self-efficacy for this activity? What small tasks might you complete successfully to build your confidence? Who could encourage and support you, or be a good model? How can you manage your stress so you can continue to make progress?
VISUALIZING SUCCESS
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Visualization is a powerful success strategy that can instill positive emotions, help you assess the relevance of your goals, and motivate you to follow through on your intentions. Try a short visualization activity designed to help you reflect on your motivation for being in college.
Find a quiet, peaceful place where you can be alone. Close your eyes and breathe in deeply through your nose. Hold for a count of three, and then breathe out through your mouth. Repeat this process until you feel your body relaxing and your mind clearing.
Imagine yourself in a graduation gown walking across the stage to receive your diploma. You shake hands with the college president, and as you walk off the stage you notice a video camera pointed at you. A reporter asks if she can interview you for a “graduation success story.” You agree. Think about how you would respond to her questions: “How are you feeling right now? What does this accomplishment mean to you? What explains your success? How did you stay motivated when the going got tough? How will your life change now that you have this degree?” The reporter thanks you for your time, and you walk back to your seat.
Translate your thoughts and feelings about getting your degree into action steps. What three actions could you take this week to ensure that you’re on the right path and to make this graduation scenario come true?
MONITORING, EVALUATING, AND ADJUSTING FOR COLLEGE SUCCESS
When you monitor your progress, evaluate the results of your strategies, and adjust your strategies as needed, you take responsibility for your learning. Practice each of these skills in the following activity.
Monitoring Your Progress
Pretend that you’re the instructor of this course and that you have to assign yourself a letter grade as a student. Give yourself a grade that honestly reflects three class-performance criteria: your attitude, effort, and results up to this point in the term. You may use + or – designations such as A– or C+.
Letter grade: _____
Evaluating Results
Explain why you gave yourself this grade by responding to the following questions:
How would you describe your attitude toward this class? How might you consciously or unconsciously convey this attitude toward your actual instructor?
What kind of effort have you put into this course so far? Such effort might include reading, taking notes, completing assignments, participating in classroom discussions, reflecting on course material, and applying your new knowledge.
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What results have you achieved in this class up to this point? Results can include quiz grades, written feedback on a journal entry, points for completing an assignment, and your instructor’s verbal acknowledgment of a thoughtful response you provided, as well as class attendance, participation in discussions, and assignments turned in on time.
Making Adjustments
Give yourself both positive and constructive feedback on your attitude, effort, and results. What are you doing well? What could you improve? What adjustments will you make in the next week to improve your performance (or maintain outstanding performance) in this class?
LEVERAGING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN YOUR CAREER
In this chapter you’ve learned about intrinsic motivation, which in some cases can be more powerful than extrinsic motivation. To explore how intrinsic motivation can affect your career success, respond to the following scenarios.
You’ve won the lottery, but one condition of receiving the money is that you have to work forty hours a week. What three occupations would you consider pursuing? Why? (Don’t worry if they require more education — you’ll have the money to pay for it.)
A company offers you a job with an annual salary of $2 million. You’re asked to create a unique job title for yourself and outline five job responsibilities based on activities you most enjoy doing. What title and responsibilities would you select?
Identify the worst job you’ve ever had (or could imagine having). Besides an inadequate salary, what made (or would make) it the worst job?
Based on your responses to these three scenarios, create a list of intrinsic rewards that motivate you. How might you use this list to make career-related decisions, such as choosing a major, identifying a career path, applying for a job, accepting a job, or leaving a job?