Every wonder why some things seem so easy for you and yet you feel very stuck in other areas? In today’s episode it’s time to discuss how our self-perception can powerfully shape our experience of the world. A small shift can make a big difference.
Transcript
Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan DOR with you.
Speaker:Once again, welcome aboard of the daily podcast.
Speaker:Friends.
Speaker:Hope you're doing okay.
Speaker:We don't normally date the podcast, but it's Friday.
Speaker:It's also minus five.
Speaker:That I'll tell you.
Speaker:I think I mentioned this the other day.
Speaker:I think it was Wednesday.
Speaker:I was due to get back out for another training ride.
Speaker:It was minus seven.
Speaker:Minus seven Celsius for all my American listeners.
Speaker:I think you got to do the math on that either way.
Speaker:It's not good.
Speaker:Minus seven and I wanted to share it with you because, uh, You
Speaker:know the process after all these years is still kind of the same.
Speaker:And I think it's useful for me to help people understand
Speaker:this is when it's minus seven.
Speaker:There is nothing in my brain that says, this is a good idea.
Speaker:So I think people listen to me and think that, you know, people
Speaker:like me are just a bit different.
Speaker:But special and that we just charge out there going.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Minus seven, bring it on.
Speaker:Not quite.
Speaker:I get up very early as most of you know, about sort of 3:34 AM these days.
Speaker:And, uh, there I am, and I'm doing a bunch of work first, and then I
Speaker:realized it's time to get ready.
Speaker:And I do another check on the apparent temperature and it's minus seven Celsius.
Speaker:So everything in my brain says, no.
Speaker:Everything in my brain comes up with all these interesting
Speaker:ideas of other things I could do.
Speaker:It's amazing how helpful your brain can be when he wants to get you to do
Speaker:something that, uh, That you're not sure you want to do or that you should commit
Speaker:to, but your brain has other ideas.
Speaker:I always like to remind people that we are rarely, always on our own side.
Speaker:We, uh, we can be sometimes, but we're often quite adversarial against ourselves.
Speaker:In terms of doing some things we have to do.
Speaker:So here's the point I fought this incredibly complex, intense mental
Speaker:battle that went on for about 30 minutes.
Speaker:Will I won't I will.
Speaker:I won't.
Speaker:I, maybe I could train later in the day.
Speaker:Maybe I could do something different today.
Speaker:Hey, you know, some something just push me through and I.
Speaker:Got my gear on.
Speaker:Went out and got it done and did about 65 kilometers in minus seven.
Speaker:And afterwards you feel great.
Speaker:You have a shower, you get your day underway and you tell yourself what a
Speaker:genius, what a brilliant choice I made.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, so here's the point is the teaching aspect of this.
Speaker:I am deeply convinced after all these years that the things that I was doing
Speaker:in a significant and move us forward.
Speaker:Uh, rarely the things we feel like doing.
Speaker:So always remember that the benefit, the payoff.
Speaker:Comes later.
Speaker:Feelings follow actions.
Speaker:I'm not suggesting you should go out and run.
Speaker:Or ride in minus seven is always relative, right?
Speaker:I'm sure there are people around the world who went out and
Speaker:wrote in minus 10 or minus 12.
Speaker:God bless them.
Speaker:So it's always relative.
Speaker:So for you, it could just be walking around the block
Speaker:or running a 10 K race or.
Speaker:You know, making a phone call.
Speaker:You don't want to make it.
Speaker:It's purely relative.
Speaker:It doesn't matter.
Speaker:I just tend to do a little bit more unhinged things,
Speaker:but you get my point, right?
Speaker:So that's a, we will do those.
Speaker:We will struggle to want to do the things we need to do.
Speaker:I want you to understand that it can be quite powerful once you understand.
Speaker:That you may not feel like doing the things.
Speaker:It can be quite helpful.
Speaker:At least that is for me.
Speaker:I think my strategy over the years, I've learned just to.
Speaker:To really not listen to myself a lot in those moments.
Speaker:And there's other times when, you know, meditation and journaling role
Speaker:try and specifically listen to myself.
Speaker:But when it comes to these things that our willpower struggles with.
Speaker:Try not to listen to yourself too much.
Speaker:Just take the action.
Speaker:Move forward.
Speaker:And the benefit comes later.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Last thing today is a quote.
Speaker:From Albert Bender, Albert Bandura was born in 1925.
Speaker:He's still alive.
Speaker:Uh, he is an emeritus professor at Stanford.
Speaker:And some of you would recognize the name Albert Bender road and
Speaker:Euro is a very famous educational theorist and psychologist.
Speaker:Who's done some interesting work.
Speaker:So he must be in his late nineties.
Speaker:Now must be what 96 would be about, right.
Speaker:I think, uh, so here's the quote.
Speaker:People's beliefs about their abilities.
Speaker:Have a profound effect on those abilities.
Speaker:People's beliefs about their abilities, have a profound effect on those abilities.
Speaker:I think it was Henry Ford that said whether you think you can, or
Speaker:you think you can't you're right.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So what bender is reminding us here is it's what we think about our abilities.
Speaker:Can have a profound effect, a genuine shift on our performance in key areas.
Speaker:You know, you look at some of the great athletes, you know, some of
Speaker:the, whatever sport you're into.
Speaker:You know, American listeners might be a Tom Brady's here in Australia,
Speaker:or one of our rugby players.
Speaker:Cameron Smith recently retired rugby league player.
Speaker:Who's played about 4 billion games and.
Speaker:Played at every level at the top level.
Speaker:And, uh, interestingly, you know, just very resilient.
Speaker:I saw him in the airport months.
Speaker:He's not a big guy.
Speaker:He's uh, but he's just, you know, survived a lot of injury.
Speaker:And I think people like that, like, um, You know, look at, uh, Australia's.
Speaker:Um, one of Australia's best female tennis players in history
Speaker:looks like being Ash body.
Speaker:Who's.
Speaker:You know, doing really well at the moment.
Speaker:So whether it's women or men, whatever sport, we find these people who just
Speaker:have this X factor of performance, right.
Speaker:And what is that?
Speaker:Well, it's it's.
Speaker:Partially years of experience and commitment leading to beliefs
Speaker:about what's possible for them.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So that they, they do something, they struggle, they have some success
Speaker:and the success reinforces their belief about their own capacity.
Speaker:So, if you think of a significant area of life, it's this, how do we generate this?
Speaker:How do we generate this idea of this positive sense of belief?
Speaker:About our own capacities in key areas?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:As I said a couple of days ago, I could have.
Speaker:I could try and convince myself that I have remarkable.
Speaker:Basketball skills and should be in the NBA.
Speaker:Well, there's two problems.
Speaker:One is I don't have remarkable basketball skills and two I'm five foot eight.
Speaker:So, you know, it doesn't mean that we just have fanciful beliefs, but I
Speaker:think bender is pointing us to this reality, that what we think about our
Speaker:capacity really does shape our capacity.
Speaker:So we have to again, be active and deliberate in choosing belief systems
Speaker:and thoughts about ourselves that are impairing rather than destructive.
Speaker:So I want you to think about an area that you feel you have success in, right?
Speaker:Something that you net naturally know you do.
Speaker:Well, that could be anything from, you know, you know, that you speak well at
Speaker:the United nations, general assembly all the way to, you know, that you can
Speaker:cook the best birthday cake of anyone.
Speaker:You know, it doesn't matter what the.
Speaker:What the action is.
Speaker:It just matters about what your perception of your capacity and ability is.
Speaker:So think about something you do.
Speaker:Well, you'll notice that.
Speaker:How do you know you do it?
Speaker:Well, you've had some success, right?
Speaker:And you've had positive feedback.
Speaker:Usually.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Look at an area of life that you do well in.
Speaker:And drill down on that belief and see if you can kind of overlay that on
Speaker:something you want to get better at.
Speaker:So take an activity or something that you'd like to improve.
Speaker:And try and develop a more, you know, get some small wins.
Speaker:Just get some small wins.
Speaker:You know, some people struggle sometimes to start an exercise
Speaker:program and, you know yeah.
Speaker:Because why, because they might be, you know, 10.
Speaker:Pounds 20 pounds, overweight, whatever.
Speaker:And they're worried that they don't look great in gym gear.
Speaker:So what do they do?
Speaker:They never go because they have this belief that if I go
Speaker:there, people will look at me.
Speaker:If I go there, I won't know what to do.
Speaker:You don't need to be a master in the gym.
Speaker:You just need to start.
Speaker:And once you start, you get momentum so often teach them momentum principle
Speaker:that sometimes do you want to get a bit of belief about an ability?
Speaker:Just get a small win, just go off to something small, take
Speaker:a step, get the momentum and you'll keep moving from there.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:It's quite a lot in that today.
Speaker:Albert Bandura people's beliefs about their abilities have a
Speaker:profound effect on those abilities.
Speaker:So let's try and move in belief systems that are shifting us forward.
Speaker:Why.
Speaker:So we can make billions of dollars and dominate the planet.
Speaker:No, because the more that we actualize our capacity and ability, the more we
Speaker:can live fully and be a blessing to other people, to how the world works.
Speaker:It's not about getting stuff.
Speaker:It's about giving, giving stuff.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:I'm done.
Speaker:You can tell I've had a couple of coffees and I'm excited to be here in the studio,
Speaker:hoping to bring you some good news.
Speaker:I hope you have a great weekend.
Speaker:I'm going surfing and, uh, Not in minus seven.
Speaker:They, they, people do that.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:That people actually do that.
Speaker:And there's parts of the world where they actually go surfing and there's ice.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:Polar bears in the water and stuff.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:My name's Jonathan Doyle.
Speaker:This has been the daily podcast.
Speaker:Please make sure you hit subscribe.
Speaker:Please share this with some friends.
Speaker:And I'm going to have another message for you very soon.
