The human brain is a powerful tool; the truth in the saying “fake it ‘til you make it” is proof of that. For this reason, self-efficacy is a feedback loop; believing in yourself will render greater and greater results, whereas giving up on your ability to make change is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The truth is that everyone has the ability to affect almost anything, at least in a small way. But when you have low self-efficacy (toward anything), you convince yourself that you can’t. Many people with low self-efficacy will give up on taking any action, or sabotage themselves in whatever action they do take by not giving a real effort.
Self-efficacy is often talked about in association with election voting. Many people who don’t vote do so because they don’t believe they will have an impact. While it may be true most of the time that a single vote would not have swayed the results, this way of thinking makes the flawed assumption that all other people are voting. When someone doesn’t vote, they artificially give all other voters a tiny bit more influence in the election. So if you have any preference in an election, be sure to vote, because the power of 1 vote is infinitely greater than 0 votes. While I think voting is an excellent medium of self-efficacy, it is far from the only one.
No action is an action, and often one that runs counter to our intentions. Unfortunately, many people don’t consciously realize this when choosing to take no action. This especially goes for being an active-by-stander. Taking no action, even if you don’t have bad intentions, means that you are part of the problem.
Having low self-efficacy is often (if not always) damaging to yourself and/or others. So believe in yourself; have hope. No matter how small of an impact you may be able to make, never lose hope that the collective sum of individual actions can lead to great effect. Sometimes hope is all we have left.