The Importance of Belief Systems
We are moulded by our beliefs.
I discovered the powerful consequences of having a positive (or a negative) belief system through a book called Your Erroneous Zones
How many of us are living in this negative feedback loop? The more you don’t perform towards your own expectations, the more you do not want to perform in the next time. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of a vicious cycle.
Your inner voice screams… save yourself from embarrassment! Do you remember the other time when your friends said that you are not suitable and you are ridiculous?!
While I did not have a stellar grade point average (GPA) in polytechnic, I managed to secure places in top universities such as National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU).
Did I get it the first time? You bet….. not!
I was rejected by my preferred choice on the first attempt. To make the situation even bleaker, I was rejected by SPRING for their SPRING Executive Development Scholarship.
Was I devasted? YES!
Am I defeated? NO!
In my mind, there are always types of inner voices – positive and negative. Or the angel and the devil. After reading Your Erroneous Zones and Tale of Two Wolves, I realised that the future is mine to create.
“If no one wants to believe in me, at the least, I should believe in myself and push forward in what I believe that I can achieve. After all, the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Against self-doubt, I re-applied for both my university and scholarship using a different manner of application.
After many weeks of apprehension and rounds of interview, I secured both of my wishes.
It was my mindset to drive to conquer my own fears and give myself an opportunity to present myself better in front of the panelists.
Through this personal raw experience, it served as a positive feedback loop and it reaffirmed the value of mindset.
It led to me pursue further understanding of the science of mindset – Carol S. Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Being young once, we were easily impressionable by our environment. Our belief systems trace back to our upbringing. After a number of failures, we no longer want to pursue and we give up too easily.
We were taught this word called impossible. This causes us to operate within our limited circle of competence. It harms our future earning power and limits our growth potential. The way I look at it, as we grow up, we have a responsibility towards ourselves to explore and understand the basis of our mindset.
It is so sad to see people having this artificial “glass ceiling” which they imposed it upon themselves.
“What is the worse that can happen if you fail?” A learning lesson!
Have you read about the story of Four-minute Mile?
Many scientists and experts said that our human body was not capable of doing a 4-minute mile. Some even claimed that the human race attempted it over a thousand years and none succeeded. If I am a statistician, the results are conclusive. Period. No arguments about it.
Yet, there was a rebel, Roger Bannister, who believed otherwise. On 6 May, 1954, he broke the 4-minute psychological barrier. His secret was constant visualisation and self-affirmations every single day. He broke the so-called “glass ceiling” and paved way for another person called John Landy who did it as well.
Right now, history also recorded high schoolers who broke this record.
If these mere mortals like Roger Bannister who did the “impossible”, what is impossible?
Are your belief systems serving you in the right way?
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
― Mahatma Gandhi