Believing is Seeing

And it all comes true.

Like a wheel inside a wheel, it turns on you.

And you think. What have I done? What can I do?

What you believe about yourself,

It all comes true.

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From the song ‘It All Comes True’

By John Mellencamp

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Your beliefs are both filtering and directing mechanisms. They frame what you see, allow into our awareness, and pay attention to. What your mind predicts will occur shapes your reality.

We see what we expect to see rather than what is truly there.

The same holds for what we experience in our bodies through the mind-body connection.

My numbers were three times the high range of some critical inflammation indicators. I had been in pain and feeling challenged to do basic things like getting dressed.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. It was not the first time I had felt this way.

After starting a prednisone Z-pack to reduce my inflammation and corresponding pain quickly, I experienced the worst pain of my life. It was more challenging than the sciatica I experienced prior to having back surgery.?

Did my knowledge of the lab results increase my pain level? Was I expecting more pain because of my newfound knowledge? Did the information I received adversely impact my mindset?

Surprisingly, my answer to all these questions is yes, and the implications are significant for leaders, teams, and organizations. How so, you ask? Read on to find out.

Our brains do much more than objectively observe and report objective truth. Our minds are perpetual prediction machines.

We are all constantly expecting what will happen next. The tricky part is that we manifest our outcomes through our thinking, thus exerting profound effects on what occurs.

In his book, The Expectation Effect, How Mindsets Can Change Your World, author David Robson makes compelling cases for how our beliefs create our realities, from our recovery from illness to the degree of pain we feel, the quality of our health, our weight, the way we feel, our self-control and mental focus, our intelligence and creativity, our memory, and our longevity. Whoa, that’s quite a mouthful.

Our expectations are highly susceptible to priming. Our brains use proximate data to guide the predictions that create our realities.

If we believe someone is smart, we will likely treat them that way. And when we do, they are likely to act more intelligently.

The process of taking a pill makes you feel better, even when it’s a placebo, most unexpectedly, even when we know it is a placebo.

These examples illustrate how prone we are to the influence of the information we receive, known as priming.

I don’t blame you if you are skeptical. It can be challenging to resist thinking it all sounds a little far-fetched.

Regardless of the degree you buy into the scientific findings described in the book. Your critical takeaway is that your mind is exponentially more potent than you comprehend. Once you integrate this understanding into your mindset, you can use it to improve your results.

I do not want to overstate the facts and imply that your mind is all-powerful. It is not. Yet, your thoughts profoundly impact you in ways you cannot comprehend.

Early in the book, Robson recounts the story of hotel housekeepers whose activity levels were akin to moderate exercise. Without an attuned mindset, however, their chores did not have the effect of a medium workout.

However, those who later came to believe their work was a form of exercise lost weight, felt more energized, and became fitter. The critical element here is that their expectations evoked the results. It requires belief for the benefits to transpire. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Beyond the extraordinary mind-body connections evidenced in The Expectation Effect, the findings in the book can be extrapolated to the influence leaders have on the performance of others.

Leaders help craft visions (aka predictions) for themselves, their teams, and their companies of what they will achieve. Infusing a collective set of beliefs among team members primes them to filter what they see and experience and interpret them in a particular way.

When they articulate and reinforce a purpose, core values, and primary strategy, they prime the minds of everyone else to manifest them. People with a shared mindset collaborate to bring their desired impact to fruition.

It is easy to understand how leaders can feel overwhelmed by the whirlwind of our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. They are in a perpetual state of catchup and at risk of burnout.

The relentless focus on increasing productivity prompts many companies to give leaders direct production responsibilities in addition to leading and managing. Consequently, they do not have the time, energy, or capacity to focus their attention on priming their associates, individually and collectively, with the mindsets they want. This is a setup for failure over time.

Leadership requires reflection and attention. Generating the collective mindsets that set the highest-performing teams and companies apart takes concentrated effort over time. ?

Culture and strategy do not magically integrate into the workplace on their own. People must be purposely guided.

Cultivating and maintaining the mindsets that will serve you best can be challenging. Developing habits and practices make it easier. The payoffs are more profound than you realize.

I implore you to begin today and create the self-fulfilling prophecies you desire.

Worthy Inquiries:?

1.????Do you accept that you do not see and experience the world as it is but rather as you expect it to be? If so, what are the implications for you and your team?

2.????Will you commit to raising your awareness of your expectations and strive to anticipate more positive outcomes?

3.????Knowing how susceptible our minds are to priming, will you prime yourself and others up to attain the outcomes they seek?

4.????Understanding that beliefs are contagious, are you, as a leader, willing to take responsibility for creating the collective mindsets you desire for your team and organization?

5.?????Will you practice compassion for yourself and others when you slip into unhelpful thinking habits and gently ease yourself back to those that serve you better?

Please reach out to me to help you and your associates adopt the mindsets that move you toward achieving your aspirations to benefit yourself, your team, and your organization. I welcome the conversation.??

Robert Hackman, Principal, 4C Consulting and Coaching, helps people live and lead with fewer regrets. He grows and develops leaders through executive coaching consulting, facilitation, and training of individuals, teams, and organizations. He is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He facilitates trusting environments that promote uncommonly candid conversations. Rob is also passionate about the power of developing Legacy Mindsets and has conducted over 50 Legacy interviews with people to date.?

A serious man with a dry sense of humor who loves absurdity can often be found hiking rocky elevations or making music playlists. His mixes, including Pandemic Playlists and Music About Men, can be found on Spotify.?