A funny thing happened last Thursday night in my Theory in Health Education class. Self-efficacy is being discussed heavily this past couple of weeks.
Self-efficacy is your belief about your capacity to accomplish set goals. You can think of it as confidence on steroids.
This past Thursday night, we took a self-efficacy questionnaire. We had 4 questions that consisted of a baseline survey and three more surveys that are taken after we are given new knowledge.
Our professor posed us with a baseline question: After class, you’re walking to your car and then suddenly someone starts attacking you. How likely are you able to fend off the attacker?
Here’s my self-efficacy questionnaire:
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| From 2012-02-18 |
If you notice, I have all 10s listed. Either I’m one cocky skinny guy or secretly a ninja. I marked 10 as my baseline not to be funny in class, but I felt confident enough that I could do fend off an attacker. With each additional survey, our professor went through typical self-defense training techniques and then she would ask us how likely we were to defend against an attacker.
Afterward, five of us shared our answers. I was the only one who put up all 10′s. We talked a little bit about them and then my professor pulled out of her bag some wood karate boards. She explained how you can build up your self-efficacy, but when a challenge arises, your self-efficacy can spike downward.
She then set up one of the boards between two bricks on the floor and then proceeds to break one with her foot. Crazy moment in class and I’ve never seen anything like that in a classroom. My professor then asks if anyone wants to try.
Immediately, one of my classmates, Courtney, called me out on my high self-efficacy scores and wanted me to try it.
Oh, shit. I just called out. I had to put my word where my mouth is and get up in front of the class and do it. I’ve never broken a board in my life, but I remember growing up my best man Corey always broke them for taekwondo. I always teased him about it and told him they were pre-broken before he did it.
Standing before my peers, my mind is going crazy. Questions like, how much of a fool are you going to make yourself out to be tonight? Can I actually break this? How much force is needed to break this board? Damn, I shouldn’t have put all 10s down.
My professor is explaining all the details to me and demonstrating the leg motion. The more I stood up there, the more anxious I felt, so I decided to not give any warning that I was going to break it. I remember my professor turning her head to the right a little while explaining something. I throw my right leg up and slam my heel into the board. I tried to channel every pissed off feeling that I’ve had lately into the board. My heel hits the floor and I’m a little stunned that I broke the board.
I think the amount of force I put into breaking the board and how I did it without warning surprised everyone. My professor jumped and screamed a little, so it provided a nice laugh.
Here I am with my broken boards:
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| From 2012-02-17 |
Breaking the board helped me realize that
1) It’s a great stress reliever
2) We sometimes, or I know I do, sells ourselves short at times.
What I mean with #2 is that whatever we’re trying to accomplish whether it is achieving career related goals, educational goals, spiritual goals, or relationship goals, we always have some self-doubt. Dante’s Inferno and Puragtory are classic example of someone doubting whether or not they will reach their end goals. But what I learned from Dante’s writing and from various experiences, you need the surround yourself with supportive people and you need to find ways to build up the inter self-efficacy.
Here are some of my favorite authors or books that have inspired me over the years:
Life After College by Jenny Blake
Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer by Tracy Kidder
