Like many, I’d like to start from the idea that I have no beliefs. That everything I believe is objectively true, correct, and right. Subjectively, it feels like that. But my beliefs have changed so much over the last few years that I know that can’t be true.There are things that I accept as true about myself and about the world that I have not verified, many of which are unverifiable. But I’ve related to them very differently throughout my life, and it’s my relation to my beliefs that has constituted the clearest definition of growth that I can think of.At first, these beliefs were a part of me. For 3/4 of humans on the planet this is still the case. For most, their beliefs are Subject, not Object. I am a Christian, they might say, implying their wholesale adoption of an entire belief structure that someone created 2,000 years ago, and many millions have added to since. I am an entrepreneur. I am a Democrat or Republican. There’s a tendency to state our beliefs as though they were our very essence, not realizing that the water we’re swimming in — be it Libertarian water or Buddhist water or Startup water — is itself the source of those beliefs.“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” ― Oscar WildeAbout 75% of humans don’t realize they can get out of the pool. For these people, their beliefs are entirely synonymous with their identity (The Righteous Mind (book) is a worthwhile deep dive into this), and to the degree to which this remains the case, those people are stuck.I’ve been stuck before. I’m sure I’m still stuck in some areas. Still blind to the lenses through which I see the world. But more and more often I’m developing a knack for seeing my beliefs for what they are, which provides a stable foundation for growth.In my experience, if you’re willing to do the inner work of excavating your beliefs, if you’re willing to suspend judgement and look at your inner monologue with curiosity, the way an anthropologist might (meditation helps with this), you learn a couple things.You learn first that your beliefs are not you. They are separate, distinct, and changeable. Second, you learn that they’re not capital-T True, but rather opinions masquerading as facts for the purposes of simplicity (it would be harder to live in a world in which we needed to question everything). And third, you learn that it doesn’t matter if they’re True, because true or not, verifiable or not, your beliefs shape your life in the same way a house is shaped by its frame. Your beliefs set the limits of who you can become.In seeing this (beliefs are not you, not True, and they dictate the path of your life), I acquired a superpower. I realized I could change my beliefs, and that by changing them I would change the path of my life and my business.Growth as a leader looks an awful lot like progressively moving your beliefs/identity from Subject to Object, and then consciously choosing which of your beliefs serve you and which should be discarded.Related, Seth Godin wrotea really interesting piece the other day in which he proposed a framework through which to evaluate your beliefs. First you have to excavate them through radical self inquiry. You have to be willing to look objectively (this is no small task, and I can attest that it usually requires some pain). But once you’ve identified one, I like this framework for the evaluation:Is it working?Is it helpful?Is it true?Do you need it to be true?What would change your mind?So here we are, hustling, and mostly blind to the extent to which the outcomes we produce are a product of our beliefs. Only those people who believe they can start a business ever actually do. Only the people who believe they can be President of the USA actually are. Over the last 15 years I’ve learned that I can change my beliefs to support me in what I’m up to in the world. I can consciously design a belief structure that most supports my goals and expand the limits of what’s possible for myself, if I am able to see my beliefs as separate from myself. To look at them as Object, rather than subject.From where I’m standing there is no more direct path to growth. And yet most of us aren’t willing to look.“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” ― J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan——-From Second Mountain Startup, the weekly newsletter for conscious startup leaders. see hubwealthy.com/wealthy
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