Convictions that outcomes are determined by one's own actions can be either demoralizing or heartening, depending on the level of self-judged efficacy. People who regard outcomes as personally determined, but who lack the requisite skills, would experience low self-efficacy and view the activities with a sense of futility

Many people who gain recognition and fame shape their lives by overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles, only to be catapulted into new social realities over which they have less control and manage badly. Indeed, the annals of the famous and infamous are strewn with individuals who were both architects and victims of their life courses.

In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.

The content of most textbooks is perishable, but the tools of self-directedness serve one well over time.

In the self-appraisal of efficacy, there are many sources of information that must be processed and weighed through self-referent thought

The satisfactions people derive from what they do are determined to a large degree by their self-evaluative standards

Accomplishment is socially judged by ill defined criteria so that one has to rely on others to find out how one is doing.