Beliefs and Empowerment

11 min readNov 16, 2020

Welcome to this post on beliefs. Beliefs are a key pillar in your mindset and this post looks at creating powerful stories to move your identity towards that growth mindset.

To get the latest articles from Agoge Project delivered straight to your inbox weekly, then subscribe on this page here.

Let me start with tale of twins. And no, not the twins in the picture.

There were Twin sons born to an alcoholic and drug addict who is serving life in prison for the murder of a liquor store cashier. The twins didn’t have much going for them. A reporter tracked the twins down later in life so see how they’d turned out. One of them ended up just like their father, a drug addict who ended up in jail for attempted murder. The other, his twin however has no alcohol or drug addictions, he’s happily married with 3 children and is physically fit, has a good job and is happy.

Both were asked, unbeknownst to the other why their life turned out the way it did. Was was amazing was that they both had the same answer:

‘What else could I have become, having grown up with a father like that?’

What is a belief?

So what do I mean by belief?

Whilst belief can often be mixed with religion, we’re not going to be looking at that today. It can and very much is associated with religion for many people and it’s just much wider than that.

Think of your life, as a timeline of events. As I mention in my post on stoicism, it all comes down to perspective. Each event in this timeline has multiple ways to interpret it. One person may see it as an obstacle, the other an opportunity.

We often choose to let events shape our lives however it’s really our beliefs as to what those events mean that shape them. Let me say that again just to make sure. It is our beliefs as to what the events we experience mean that shape our lives. We attach meaning to each event. And it’s the meaning we attach to those events and how we interpret them that dictates what we are today and what we’ll become tomorrow.

We all have a set of beliefs and values and they are mostly unique to us. We will definitely also have shared values and beliefs with other people but we all have our own combination which inform the choices we make.

Common beliefs we’ll have with people are generally societal, such as western or eastern values, our collective history, and shared national values ranging from diet and nutrition, to economics and politics to the way we mourn the dead. Some of our beliefs are also shaped around the law and norms and culture.

So where do your beliefs come from?

Environment

It’d be useful to Free yourself from the story that you are a product of your environment. We looked at the story of the twins. Same environment. Different belief, different outcome. Another example is Nelson Mandela who decided that his environment will not dictate who he is or what he would believe. While circumstances may be difficult at times, each of you has the power to choose what you believe in order to become the “captain of your soul.”

Events

The day you graduated. The first day of a new job. That big promotion. The death of a loved one. Even terrorist attacks. Think about what 9/11 did you people’s beliefs. Events impact our lives profoundly causing us to form beliefs, often unconsciously, which affect our entire worldview. Can you think of an event that has impacted you in a positive or negative way?

Knowledge

Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential power. Applied knowledge is a dynamic tool in knocking down the walls of limiting beliefs. Become a life-long learner, and seek out knowledge with laser focus. Put yourself in proximity with people who know more than you do. Proximity is power! Model the best and learn from their experience and you can create the beliefs that will compel you to succeed.

Past Results

We all create beliefs around the results of past achievements or failures. But past results do not equal future results. Build certainty and confidence by building on successes, even small ones. Stack positive results in order to believe you can achieve what you set out to do.

Future Vision

Just as past experiences impact your beliefs about what is possible, so does your imagined experience of the future. It is absolutely essential that you create a compelling future. No one else can do this for you. Prime yourself for success by first taking a few minutes to visualize your success. Then make it compelling by writing down the reasons you MUST make it that way. Imagine the way you will feel if that is your future. Finally anchor this in your body by standing up and celebrating!

The Table Concept

In simple terms, your beliefs are ideas that you have certainty with.

There’s a concept called the table concept. Basically, the top service is your belief. And you build the foundation in the legs with reference points.

You may have an idea that you’re intelligent. If you’re uncertain about this, then it’s simply an idea. If you’re confident that it’s true, then it’s a belief. As this depends on how many reference points you’ve got to back it up. If you’ve been scoring high in tests, always know the answer to quiz questions and have been told that you’re intelligent, you’ll have reference points to back your belief. Whether or not it’s true is irrelevant to your belief.

And there’s always two sides. This isn’t fact.

The opposite is also true for a limiting belief. You might have a limiting belief that you’re terrible at math. You may have reference points where you’ve not done well in a test or didn’t learn your multiplication tables as quickly as other people. You use these reference points as proof to form the belief that you’re bad at math.

The issue is that we can find references and experiences to back up both negative and positive beliefs. It’s similar to confirmation bias. You can always find something to confirm this idea in your head.

Build a better table

Solution: Build a better table.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into a few examples.

What matters is the level of empowerment

Since we can back up both limiting and positive beliefs with the experiences from our lives, depending on which ones we choose and the lens through which we see it, it’s irrelevant whether or not these beliefs are true or not. What matters most is if they empower or disempower you.

I absolutely love this quote from Michael Jordan. He’s a king of mindset. And he’s a living example of failing forward as we’ve discussed over the last few sessions.

Look at that belief. Rather than allowing all those failures to form limiting beliefs, he uses them to empower him.

Beliefs are malleable

Here’s another example. Remember the story about how Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in 1954. For 1000s of years prior to this, the world had the disempowering belief that it was impossible. But Roger chose to believe that it could be done and mentally rehearsed the occurrence in his mind as well as doing the physical training. Once he proved it was possible, he shattered the limiting belief for everyone else and within a year a further 37 people broke that barrier too.

Bannister’s time was 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

Just 46 days later, on 21 June 1954, Bannister’s record was broken by his rival Landy in Turku, Finland, with a time of 3 minutes 57.9 seconds, which the IAAF ratified as 3 minutes 58.0 seconds due to the rounding rules then in effect.

Beliefs are really powerful

Think of where we’d be if some innovators and game changers hadn’t had unreasonable beliefs.

But beliefs also have the power to completely destroy lives. Limiting beliefs are what hold us back and they are all to prevalent in the world. It’s also sometimes referred to as a victim mindset. Or the blame game. In language terms it’s the projection.

If you want some inspiration of what beliefs can do, watch the paralympics.

Again, it’s a mindset. It’s stories. It’s words. A frame of mind and how you choose to see obstacles.

Levels of beliefs

Your beliefs have different levels of emotional certainty attached to them. And They can be categorised into opinions, beliefs and convictions. Opinions are quite malleable however they can develop into beliefs once the reference points start to stack up. Finally, these can merge into convictions which are held with such certainty that a person would usually get angry if their convictions are questioned.

Convictions carry a lot of emotional attachment and are usually linked closely to a personal identity whereby changing the conviction would mean significant pain and giving up or changing your entire identity.

If you want a good example of a belief that has his the conviction level, then watch a few documentaries on flat earthers. Their identity is so closely linked to their belief that they can’t change it nomatter how much evidence they get. And that’s where we get into danger zone.

All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs. But how do we do this? In order to change a belief, you need to associate it with pain and doubt.

We’ve all done this before, we’ve held a belief close to our heart but then years later we start to doubt and question it. This could be triggered by new experiences or new information. Once the doubt creeps in you can change the belief and start to build the foundation of it with new reference points.

On a positive note, holding the right convictions is the key to mastery in life. Having the right convictions can push and drive you through any obstacle and compel you to make healthy lifestyle choices giving you maximum enjoyment and fulfilment with your life.

So how do you move from destructive beliefs to empowering beliefs and convictions? It’s all about leverage. If you got enough leverage you can change any belief. Anyone can. How do you build leverage. With the use of both Pain and Pleasure. You first need to associate the limiting belief with pain and doubt. Then you need to start building new powerful references to reinforce your new belief.

This can be more difficult than you think because many beliefs are tied to social proof. But social proof isn’t always accurate. Remember: It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.

So what kind of pain? It’s not enough link pain to what your think in your head. It needs to be linked to pain in your nervous system. Pain in your gut.

Let me give you an example. You know you shouldn’t eat tons of sugar in your head. You know you shouldn’t drink tons in your head.

But you do it anyway, knowing that it could cause future pain. It’s for the short term pleasure you’re after. But we’ve all done it before. We’ve eaten so many sweets that our teeth hurt and we’re like nah, don’t want that anymore. Or we’ve got a kind of liquer we won’t touch anymore.

It’s that kind of pain you need to link to it. The one where someone says ‘tequila shots’ and you get that gut wrenching feeling.

But what we often do is we link pain to the things that we have to do. Gym, urgh, it’s so painful. Studying. Painful. You need to start linking them to pleasure. How do you do that, you start building those references and search for past references that already exist.

So are you can see, it’s a building process. You need to tear down that old belief. Find the evidence and disprove it. Destroy it.

Then you need to go dig into your past for references that adhere to your new belief. There will be references there. You need to find them. Then build on them. Use your language. Empower a new belief with strong architect language. Create powerful stores. Your words create stories and stories create your reality.

Think back to my last post on obstacles. Look for those obstacles and flip them.

And finally, create new evidence.

Limiting belief:

I’ll never be a good runner.

Firstly — language — use of the word never. Let’s translate that into. I’ll never be a good runner if I keep this negative attitude and using conflict language. I can become a good runner with practice and dedication.

Pain? Well, there’s all the health options but the true pain comes from the horrible feeling of being left out when all your friends sign up to do the london marathan and it’s all they talk about for 6 months. The pain is in the loneliness.

Gain or pleasure: a new skill, better connection with your body. New friends. New connections with current friends. A goal to work towards.

Evidence? I came last in that race I did when I was 12. I fell over once when running for the bus.

Any evidence to dispute that? Well, I can run. I did win that blindfolded spoon and egg race when I was 6. I did also complete the charity 5km three years ago.

Keep on building those blocks.

How do you build new evidence. Well, go out for a run. Boom, that’s another block. Use empowering language. I can learn to be a good runner. I am learning to be a good runner. Nothing has stopped me before.

Find out your limiting beliefs and start empowering yourself with new ones.