3 Beliefs that will Determine Your Success

I am continually reminded in both my professional and personal life that our behaviors are a direct reflection of the beliefs that we bring into any situation. Our ability to choose how we view situations may be our greatest power. Below are 3 Beliefs that have been proven to play a crucial role in your ability to succeed at work and home.

1.   Belief About Your Control

If you believe that you have control over what happens, then you have what psychologists refer to as an internal locus of control. If you believe that you have no control over what happens and that external variables are to blame, then you have what is known as an external locus of control.

The belief about your ability to influence your situation not only impacts how you respond to the challenges that happen in your life, but also your motivation to take action. When we establish a belief that our actions do not matter, we eliminate any options for improvement and worse, eliminate our motivation to search for them.

The most successful among us – know that it’s not the adversity itself, but what we do with it that determines our fate. 

2.   Belief about Your Ability to Learn

Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’ says people can be split into these two categories when it comes to their ability to develop and grow:

Fixed Mindset – A belief that one’s basic abilities, intelligence and talents are fixed traits. We either have a talent for something or we don’t so we resign ourselves to the fact that there is no opportunity for growth or improvement.

Growth Mindset – A belief that intelligence can be developed, that the brain is like a muscle that can be trained. Effort is the key to ongoing development and growth.

Motivation seems to be key. If you have a belief there will be a positive payoff for your effort, you will work harder instead of succumbing to helplessness. Success becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy

Understanding that we have the power to choose either a fixed or a growth mindset is empowering. One phrase that can help you when encountering areas of your life where you experience a fixed mindset is to change your internal and external language by saying “I haven’t been able to improve (skill, ability, situation, relationship, etc.), “YET”. This important shift sets you up to look for forward-focused solutions, that with effort, will help to improve your situation.

3.     Belief About How You See the World

Did you know that there are more than 70 identified cognitive biases that impact how we view situations? It is easy to see how this dynamic plays out with the following statistics.

• 75% - 90% of population consider themselves better than average in positive personality traits and performance
• 94% of professors rated themselves above average relative to their peers
• 88% of people think that they drive better-than-average

If you are a human-being you will bring some level of bias to how you view situations and the world in general. Three of the top biases that we need to understand about how we view the world are:

 We Think Our View Is Best

We fail to recognize the constructed nature of our own perception. We believe that we see things just like a video recorder does. We think we see things free of bias from our experiences, preferences, values, and goals. We think that we only see the truth and anyone who doesn’t see it this way must be misinformed, lazy, crazy or stupid.

We Don’t Adapt When We Are Wrong

Confirmation bias shows that once we have established a belief or conclusion, we become reluctant to change that perspective, even if we are introduced to information that is inconsistent or opposing to our initial beliefs. This is made worse by our desire to ignore any opposing information while we actively seek out information to confirm established beliefs.

We Judge Others Differently

 When we see a person doing something, we tend to assume that their actions are because of “how they are” and underestimate the influence that situational factors have on the behaviors we observed. 

A simple example is driving on the highway and quickly merging across two lanes to not miss your exit. We might justify our actions by saying we were running late or no one got hurt. But when a car speeds past you while quickly merging across two lanes, we tend to make negative character judgements along the lines of them being a reckless or inconsiderate person.

Conclusion

The beliefs we choose about our control, our ability to learn and how we see the world have a direct impact on our actions and our ability to achieve our most important goals. This fact makes it critically important for us to make sure that the choices we make about these 3 Beliefs do not negatively impact our ability to make effective decisions, build healthy relationships and continually learn. Remember, these 3 Beliefs are a choice, so work to make sure you are choosing an outlook that helps you thrive.

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About the Author: Tony Gambill is the CEO of ClearView Leadership, an innovative leadership and talent development consulting firm helping executives and managers bring their best leadership self to their most challenging situations.