Life is full of challenges and high levels of self-efficacy can help you better deal with these difficulties more effectively. Your belief in your abilities can predict how motivated you feel, how you feel about yourself, and the amount of effort you put into achieving your goals. We must believe in ourselves, if we allow doubt to take hold we will subconsciously sabotage our own efforts. One of the strongest influences acting upon us is the unconscious attraction pulling us to be the person we believe we are, so it is important that we hold positive self-belief at all times. Believing in yourself means having faith in your own capabilities. It means believing that you CAN do something — that it is within your ability. When you believe in yourself, you can overcome self-doubt and have the confidence to take action and get things done. A strong belief in yourself can bring you all these benefits and more: You recognize your ability to accomplish goals. You're optimistic about the future as you set goals and achieve them. Deep down inside, you know you can do anything. Once we stop believing in ourselves, we start shifting our focus to surviving instead of thriving. We start to do things purely for the external accolades, the things that will simply keep us afloat rather than helping us swim. We lose that zest for life. We stop doing things even if they bring us joy. Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality. The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life.