Are your Beliefs affecting your Business?

It works like this: When we have a belief, it’s likely that belief will lead us to take some sort of associated action. For instance, let’s say we believe that our ideas aren’t worth much and no one really cares about what we think. The action that follows might be that we rarely voice our views at work. That behavior will likely feed the belief in others that we have little to offer, or perhaps aren’t very committed to the company’s success. Which will then lead those coworkers to take action accordingly—they might not ask us for our views on important issues or include us in discussions. Which will then reinforce our original belief that others don’t value our views.              

The cycle will surely continue onward from there. Imagine what it will feel like after 20 or 30 years. We start to believe that the reality we’re experiencing is “who we are” rather than a result of how our beliefs have been acting steadily—if surreptitiously—on our reality. We know from studies of brain change and development that when we think in a certain way for a long period of time, the “routes” in our brain grow ever more deeply embedded. The deeper they get, the more we follow along the same path onto which our beliefs long ago led us. And on and on the cycle goes, each element reinforcing the existing beliefs of others in the cycle. As author, psychologist, and professor of social theory at Swarthmore Barry Schwartz says, “These effects can arise because sometimes when people act on the basis of ideology, they inadvertently arrange the very conditions that bring reality into correspondence with the ideology.”                  

All of which made clear to me how we each contribute to our own crises—both of conscience and of construct. It showed me that if I was frustrated with an action taken by others, I would do well to look away from them and turn back instead to inspect my own beliefs about the subject because, quite simply, our own beliefs are very often the cause of actions we don’t like by others. Most importantly, it showed me that if I wanted to alter the outcomes I was getting in any situation, I would do well to begin by checking out my own beliefs about the other person, myself, and the world. Mindful effort, effective understanding, and consistent practice over an extended period of time can reverse the cycle. The change starts with a decision to adopt a new belief, or if you’re thinking big, a whole new set of them.       

In the scenario above, we might decide to change our belief by telling ourselves, “What I have to say does have value.” Although it may be awkward and difficult at first, we start to act on this new belief. Rather than withhold our thoughts, we start to constructively share with others. As we do, people begin to believe that we have more to offer than they might have originally thought. In turn, their new belief will change their actions—they now start to ask for our opinion more often. That action begins to impact what we believe about ourselves, and our self-image slowly but surely starts to improve. Over time, we might become one of the most well-thought-of thinkers in the group.               

Having become mindful of this dynamic since reading the Wrights’ work, I can identify any number of situations in which I’ve unintentionally done damage to myself and to others around me over the years. Damn if I didn’t contribute quantitatively to my own demise! Our beliefs, in that context, are part of what’s called a “reflexive reality”—what happens around us is altered by our belief about what’s going on, which only reinforces our beliefs. If we believe our boss is out to get us, we’re on edge; our work quality decreases from the anxiety; the boss reads our uncertainty as apathy or a lack of commitment and begins to invest time in others, which just reinforces our belief that the boss is trying to be done with us.              

Just recognizing the nature of this simple cycle is incredibly powerful. Our beliefs lead us to take certain actions, which inform the beliefs of others, which lead them to almost always act in ways that reinforce our original beliefs. It’s what Claude Bristol wrote over half a century ago in The Magic of Believing: “Every person is the creation of himself, the image of his own thinking and believing. As individuals think and believe, so they are.”

From Secret #40

An exercise to help you understand your own beliefs and their power