EP102: Believing is Seeing
CHOOSE WHAT TO BELIEVE…
…even before you see it (or have the ‘proof’).
Enjoy!
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(The notes below are only a brief summary of what is discussed in the podcast. Be sure to listen to get all of the goodness! If you would like a full transcription of the episode, please send an email request to: angie@angie-robinson.com. We’d be happy to provide that!)
As I record (write) this episode - it is the holiday season of 2023. This is the season of believing.
One of the fairly universal topics around believing during the holidays is about Santa Claus. When I was a kid, I full on believed in him. I can remember some specific experiences that provided the evidence that he was real for my little brain. There was a Christmas Eve that we went on a walk after dinner. I remember that my mom stayed back to do dishes. While we were out - I remember looking up into the sky and seeing a red flashing light. I just knew it was Rudolph! How cool to see Rudolph pulling Santa’s sleigh.
When we got back to the house - there were snow prints made by big boots that led to the stockings - and the stockings were full! Santa had been there while we were out!
Now - there are probably all kinds of holes you can poke in that story. Red flashing lights in the night sky = airplane. Mom staying back to do dishes = snow prints.
But for me, as a kid who believed - it was all real and it all made sense.
The point is this: I didn't have to actually see him to believe that Santa was real and he was there - at our house.
One of my very favorite holiday movies is 1994 Disney movie: The Santa Clause. In one of the scenes when Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) first becomes Santa and is at the North Pole talking to one of the elves (Judy) - Judy says to him: “Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.”
I love this quote. We don’t have to actually see something to believe in it. But that's not the way that our brains typically work. Our brains want the proof in order to believe something is true.
However, it actually works the opposite:
It's not when I get the promotion, then I can believe in my capabilities. I need to believe in my capabilities first and then I can get the promotion.
It's not believing that once my team performs to a certain level, then I can believe in the people in my team. I need to believe in the people in my team so then that they can perform to the certain level.
It's not when my boss tells me I'm doing all the right things, then I can believe I'm doing all the right things. I have to believe I'm doing all the right things before, and then I do the right things and then the evidence will be there.
Oftentimes we look for that external validation, that external proof before we actually can believe, and it just doesn't work that way. Not in a helpful, impactful, and really long lasting way.
Also - what you are believing before the evidence is there is really important.
If you believe that your presentation is going to go bad, guess what's going to happen. It's probably not going to go the way you want it to.
If you believe that the conversation with the employee is not going to go the way that it should - it probably won't go the way that it should.
If you're searching for a new job and you believe that it's going to be hard, you will see the evidence and it will be hard.
Our belief comes from a thought. What we know about thoughts is that they generate a feeling which is going to create the actions or inactions, and then provide the evidence for that to be true. So if I'm believing things that are not helpful, my results will match.
You don't actually have to see the north pole to believe that the north pole is there.
Think about this - you have a choice with what you believe. Choose what you want to believe, just because you believe, whether you see it now or not.
What Do You Think?
What will you choose to believe about yourself in the new year?
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