Personal Dialogue and Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief that one can display the appropriate behaviors in order to deal with upcoming situations of varying outcomes. It’s the quality that one can keep a form of levelheadedness throughout a work process and keep that leveled head despite whatever outcomes or circumstances come by in the future. Verbal persuasion is a huge tool in keeping self-efficacy and those words that bring alignment should be coming from yourself the most.
Words of encouragement and a supportive social group are a huge factor in saving one’s sanity, but instead of waiting for times to engage in conversations with others, it’s best to access that form of positive talk from your own personal self-dialogue. Speak to yourself throughout the process as a form of reassurance that things will see an end, and good or bad, there is always going to be something to take away from it. You can push to get to the finish for the sake of ending the stress, but what happens when the outcome turns into something of a disappointment instead of a success? As long as that feeling of disappointment can be morphed into a conversation with yourself that continually says “What’s next?” instead of “I should’ve changed that.” it’ll be easier to get back to a form of levelheadedness.
The quality of your thoughts determines the tone of the back and forth dialogue that goes on in your head. To keep consistency and self-efficacy, speak to yourself in a way that you would when comforting a friend. When someone that’s close to you is going through a trying time, you would do your best to say the right words to create a sense of ease. Support yourself the way you would support others, and the calm will be easier to find amongst the storm.