Self-efficacy is your belief in your capability to perform in a specific situation. Self-efficacy affects your effort, persistence, expressed interest, and the difficulty of goals you select. Your expectations affect your performance. You will live up to or down to your expectations. If you think you will be successful, you will be. This expectation phenomenon is often referred to as the self-fulfilling prophecy.

The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when your expectations affect your success or failure. As you can see, self-efficacy and the self-fulfilling prophecy go hand in hand. Your self-efficacy becomes your self-fulfilling prophecy. So you need self-efficacy, or confidence, and believe in yourself to put forth the effort needed to succeed at challenging tasks.