Why is it useful to change beliefs?
Beliefs are powerful ‘mental filters’ that can have a significant effect on how a person makes sense of the world, how they behave, how they feel and how they communicate.
Beliefs can affect how much a person taps into their own resourcefulness and as a result they can affect how successful the person is at attaining their desired outcomes and goals.
In short, beliefs affect what happens next!
Of course if a person’s beliefs in a context are serving them and they are achieving the results they want then there may not need to be any belief change. Even so, the existing beliefs that ‘work’ for a person can be reinforced and made stronger by various steps in the belief change process.
If on the other hand a person’s beliefs in a context are ‘getting in the way’ of them
achieving the outcomes or goals or experiences they wish to achieve, then working through the belief change process can massively help them to ‘get out of their own way’.
Often people know what activities they need to engage in to make progress, yet if their beliefs are misaligned with carrying out those activities then they will ‘self sabotage’ sooner or later (often in the form of ‘two steps forward and one step back’ or procrastination).
There’s always a place for developing new knowledge and taking on more behavioural skills and it is so often a person’s ‘inner stuff’ (mainly belief-based) that is really what supports or hinders a person’s progress. Taking an ‘inside out’ approach tends to mean that a person becomes more wholly aligned with their success journey – Their heart and mind is primed and ready and so a person feels more naturally motivated to taking appropriate action and progress tends to have more longevity.
Success and achievement literature is widely in agreement that you need to ‘believe’ in yourself and your goals and the possibility of progress and success in order to thrive in life. The belief change process helps people to do this most effectively.
Beliefs are not the only factors that require attention to build increased progress and success into your life but they are pretty crucial foundation stones.
© Tony Burgess and Julie French