Every decision starts with a belief. That is, we base our decisions on what we know to be true — what we believe. As Linda Henman writes, sometimes, however, we believe something that isn’t true.
Both intellectual and emotional, beliefs influence our behavior when facts and reason alone don’t. How do we develop our beliefs? Our early relationships, experiences, events and situations create and influence our belief systems. However, when we fail to examine our beliefs and bring them to the conscious level, we run the risk that we will continue to base decisions on false or inaccurate inputs.
So, what can you do to disrupt your belief system?
1. Kill Your Sacred Cows
Just because you’ve always believed something doesn’t mean you have to continue to believe it.
Stanford psychologist Lee Ross noted that people have a systematic tendency to ignore the situational forces that shape behavior. He called it the “fundamental attribution error.” The error comes from our inclination to attribute our behavior to “the way I am” instead of to “the situation I’m in.”
So, the first step, then, is to create new situations. Instead of creating an uphill battle for yourself every day, create a steep downhill slope and give yourself a push. Remove friction from the trail and scatter around lots of signs to…
