Career affirmations, in vocational psychology dictionary

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Dictionary of Vocational Psychology

Career Affirmations

Statements that reinforce or affirm an individual's faith, confidence, and belief that he or she can achieve particular vocational goals. Such statements generally take the form of a few sentences that the individual can review on a daily basis. It is assumed that reflecting on the application of such statements to one's own career situation can bolster the individual's self-efficacy beliefs, shore up one's vocational identity, increase one's flexibility to take advantage of promising chance events, increase one's courage in tackling the work or self-development tasks that need to be done, and in general improve one's ability to employ one's will to achieve one's vocational goals. The risk of using career affirmations is that one may develop an unrealistically high belief in one's ability to achieve one's vocational goals, and misapply one's time, effort, and other resources. Counselors making use of career affirmations with clients should therefore endeavor to help the client maintain a healthy, realistic perspective even as they attempt to increase their level of optimism, courage, and strength of will.

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