Glossary
Focus on past success
What is Focus on Past Success?
Focus on past success prompts a person to recall or list previous occasions when they successfully performed the target behavior or parts of it.
What counts as past success?
The taxonomy specifies success with the behavior itself or its components. General praise or memories of unrelated achievements do not automatically meet that definition.
An example of focusing on past success
Before a presentation, a speaker lists occasions when they successfully explained part of the topic to colleagues. Those memories concern components of the task ahead. Recalling an unrelated success, such as learning to cook, would not necessarily tell them what they can do in this presentation.
How the technique is defined
The original BCT Taxonomy v1 definitions specify this as technique 15.3. The definition identifies the content of the prompt. It does not establish that recalling success always changes confidence or performance.
How past performance relates to confidence
Bandura’s self-efficacy theory treats experiences of successful performance, often called mastery experiences, as one source of information about personal capability. Recalling a relevant success can bring that information back into view.
For the speaker, remembering a clear explanation of one difficult idea may support the narrower judgment, “I know how to explain this part.” It does not establish that every part of the presentation will go well. Recalling an accomplishment is also different from gaining a new mastery experience through practice. That connection explains the technique’s rationale; the taxonomy definition by itself does not prove that a particular recall exercise improves performance.
Why it matters
A specific past success gives a person something concrete to examine: what did they do, and which part of it is relevant now? That is more informative than a general instruction to believe in themselves.