Monday, April 2, 2007

When is a Belief not a Belief

When you read how someone has made a success of their life; do you ever say "boy, they were lucky" or "it's who you know" or "what do you expect; they have ...". I know I have. I would give some kind of mystical aura to events that I wish would happen for me BUT there is always some explanation as why it can't happen for me; something beyond my control.

Yesterday I was reading digital nomads post and checked out Bill Vaughn's Wealth From Thin Air and something clicked on reading his first secret. It was a concept that I had been searching for without knowing what it was for years. Then today I was reading the post by Tony D. Clark from Success from the Nest on finding your purpose and from Guy Kawasaki's Blog - How to Change the World about fixed and growth mindset's and everything jelled.

I have read all kinds of self-help material and I am very aware of not applying negative statements to myself such as "I can't" and have been reasonably successful in eliminating them from my vocabulary. What I hadn't connected to was the fact that when I say statements like "boy, they were lucky"; it is also a statement of belief. Beliefs I had unknowingly accepted just by agreeing to what other people were saying without thinking.

How many beliefs do we have that we have unconsciously accepted that are forming a barrier to creating our wealth from within? So I have set for myself the task to become aware of any statements that I use that limits me in any way. Once discovered; I am going to research why I believe that and whether it is true. I believe I will find that it isn't and I will have knocked down another barrier to living my life to the fullest.

I will be posting about milestones on this journey under the category "Wealth from Within" and you are all invited to share in the comments your success stories and triumphs.

The answer to the question: Whenever a belief is unquestioned.

Isn't it time to own your beliefs?

15 conversations:

Unknown said...

OK. How do we start the journey. I find I have to ask my brain questions in the right context, instead of just searching.

We should have a list of questions.

How do I...?

Peter Haslam said...

Excellent point digital nomad. Tomorrows post will start the process with The Art of questions.
Thanks for the comment

Sandee said...

Peter, haven't been kicked off as of yet. I have found that when one says "this person or that person was lucky" that we really don't know that. Until you walk in their shoes, it's only an assumption.

Just as folks can look at us and tell us how lucky we are. Yes, I'm very lucky is so many ways, but there was some price involved there as well.

I'll come back tomorrow for the The Art of questions.

Peter Haslam said...

thanks comedy+. Please contribute your own questions as the conversation develops.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for pointing out my post, Peter. I love your expansion of the idea of belief. Beliefs are powerful, and can be both positive and negative.

Your call to question our beliefs is important. Once you reach the level of *knowing* vs. *believing*, you begin to realize how fragile beliefs can be.

S. Camille said...

Peter,
This was a great post. I was really able to connect with what you were talking about because you shared 'your story' of it. Awesome. Of course, I entirely agree with you on the 'beliefs' concept, as you know. For me the question is 'How do I stop believing in something if I have no reference for a better belief?' I get stuck sometimes because my personal experience doesn't include some good examples for me to reference to. So another question would be 'How do I use the experience of another as a reference for changing a belief that just doesn't want to come unstuck?'
I too will be back to see the Art of Questions!

Thanks again Peter,
Great Post,
Camille

Peter Haslam said...

Thanks Camille. I can tell this will be an interesting conversation for all of us. Keep the questions coming. Like all good conversations we can use each others ideas to carry us to the point where we can answer our questions or tomorrows post

Sandee said...

Hi Peter, I didn't get kicked off this morning. Whatever you did seem to work. Have a great day...

Sandee said...

Peter, I have gone from your homepage to your comment section and then back to your homepage several times now and no problem. I have done this in Firefox not Internet Explorer. So, it's IE not you. I will use Firefox when I want to visit your site! Case solved...

Peter Haslam said...

Thanks comedy+ for your help.

Anonymous said...

I work for Guy Kawasaki. Thanks for the link to Guy's recent posting: More on Professor Carol Dweck and Mindsets!"

Mary-Louise
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

Peter Haslam said...

Thank you Mary-Louise

S. Camille said...

Hey Peter,

I think the last link in "links to this post" has been spammed. check it out. The real link location took me a while to find, but here it is http://soho-quest.blogspot.com/2007/04/gotta-get-beliefs-are-your-beliefs.html

Camille

Peter Haslam said...

You were right Camille. Thank you I deleted link

Anonymous said...

Great post, Peter. The last line really sums it up. I used to be a "aren't they lucky" thinker, but thanks to learning more about the importance of expressing gratitude, I now can think "Isn't that wonderful! I'm so glad they are successful."

It makes me feel like I share a part of their success and that it brings me closer to my own success. No more bitterness or negative beliefs about who does or does not deserve wealth/success.