The influence of beliefs on your behavior
Convictions are some generalizations about the reality around us. Each of us has a unique set of convictions about the surrounding world. This set to a large extent determines how we behave every day. In NLP, getting rid of unnecessary convictions and acquiring useful ones is one the most effective methods of a lasting change in your behavior.
Before I more precisely describe what it is and what you can do about it, conduct a little experiment.
Look carefully around the room where you are. Remember well everything that is in red. Only once you’ve done it, read on.
How many blue objects can you recall?
Probably less than those red ones. Why? Because you had some kind of a filter applied to the color, which allowed you to pay attention mainly to the red objects. Convictions work exactly the same way. They are reality filters.
Our brain creates generalizations that facilitate our functioning in this world. If you believe for example that all blondes are stupid, you'll still find evidence for it. Even if only two out of ten turn out to be little less intelligent, you will treat the two as an evidence for the truth of your conviction. This is a normal behavior as that’s the way our mind works.
Every conviction has an impact on your behavior. If you say that science is difficult, it will always be so for you. You will not have enough motivation and even when you sit down to it, you’ll definitely fail to succeed. If you believe that you lack confidence in dealing with others, you’ll be shy and it’ll be hard for you to start a conversation. If you think that eating fast food is unhealthy, you’ll choose to eat something different.
All convictions are both true and untrue. Those in which you believe are always true for you and you act as if they really were so. If you believe that you are a sociable person, you act like a sociable person. The very change of that conviction can completely change your behavior. Remember, things you believe in determine your behavior. So believing that science is either hard or easy makes a huge difference. The good news is that you can choose what you want to believe in and in this way change your behavior and thus the quality of your life.
The change of convictions
Start with writing down all the convictions that limit you. Absolutely all that will spring to your mind. Let me give you some examples: "I have little confidence," "you need a lot of money in order to be happy", "I have a lot of problems", "I often get sick", "science is difficult", "it’s difficult to be successful," "life is hard "" I am not attractive. " Here, try to be absolutely honest with yourself.
Look at the piece of paper filled with your convictions. Choose the ones that bother you most in life and deal with them first. Every day, choose the one conviction that you want to change and do the following exercise. Print this conviction in large letters on a separate sheet. Think about how the conviction is manifested in your life, and which behaviors are the result of believing in it. List in your mind, or write down all the consequences of believing in this very conviction.
Now let us consider how your behavior would change if you had a conviction which is the opposite of the one you want to get rid of. Then write down on a piece of paper (on the back of the same or the another one) the reversed conviction. It is important that it’s worded positively (for example, "science is easy," and not "science is not difficult"). Consider how you would change your behavior if the conviction was true for you? List all the benefits of believing in this conviction. After completing this exercise, live and behave throughout the day as if it was true for you. As if it was yours. Let it become a part of you.
On the next day focus on the next points on your list. Every few days you can see how much the convictions from the previous days are rooted in your life. If they haven’t rooted yet, you can repeat the exercise.
Another great and effective way to change convictions is to read books written by experts in a given field. Exhaustive arguments and interesting stories influence your subconscious mind, so that convictions acquired in this way are rooted deep in your psyche. Therefore, it is worth finding an authority in some field, and read their work.
To make it more simple, I will give you some examples. If you have a great conviction about money and the financial world, I recommend a book by Robert Kiyosakiego. You will begin to believe that even you can have money in abundance. If you want to make your life easier, get rid of problems and be more happy - read Richard Bandler, the creator of NLP. His books are full of multi-level metaphors and stories in which the conscious mind often gets lost, and your subconscious is fed with convictions that change lives for the better. If you want to have a different look at the concept of success and the process of making it to the top, I recommend a book by Brian Tracy.
There are also many NLP techniques you can use to change your convictions. You can learn one of them from reading the article Changing your convictions.
The first time I came across NLP, I was convinced that a change is all about different techniques and clever methods. So I dealt with them and put off the matter of convictions for some time later. It soon became apparent for me that without a proper basis the techniques are useless. Actually, the techniques are not even needed to change one’s behavior.
These are the convictions about the surrounding world that are the main and most important things you need to consider if you want to change your behavior. Now, when I run myself training courses in NLP, the first and most important thing for me as a coach is to change the limiting convictions of the participants of the training. In this way they open to new knowledge and new opportunities.
Here are some examples of the most beneficial convictions. Choose the ones you like best and think about how they can affect your behavior. Use them to change for the better!
It is me who decides how it affects me is what others say and think about me.
There are no problems, only challenges.
There is no failure, only feedback.
I always learn from mistakes.
I become a better person day by day.
I can feel perfectly well without any reason.
I can learn absolutely anything.
I spend time only with those with whom I feel the best.
I am attractive and confident.
I can learn something interesting from each person.
All diseases are curable.
I can be successful and I deserve to be rich.
Learning is easy and pleasant.
Write your valuable convictions in the comments section below!