Useful Belief - Chris Helder
ISBN: 0730385396Date read: 2022-11-30
How strongly I recommend it: 3/10
(See my list of 360+ books, for more.)
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Self-fulfilling beliefs. Focus on what is helpful to believe about a situation, and it can become true. Some good ideas, told in a weird way of a fictional guy getting on an airplane to speak at a conference.
my notes
Useful belief: focusing on what is helpful in dealing with a situation we can't change.
"I believe this is the greatest time ever to work in the nursing industry.
I don't know if that's actually true.
But because I believe it, it makes me better at my job."
Truth is irrelevant.
Once I have a useful belief about the present, I will see the opportunities.
Example of a useful belief: you had the parents you were supposed to have.
If you believe that, it is easier to make sense of what you learned from your parents and the importance they had on your life.
Truth usually doesn't help you get the result you want.
What matters is whether or not that idea is a useful thing to believe.
Truth is subjective anyway.
Parents complain about “kids today”.
This is not a useful belief. Beliving that this is the greatest generation of kids makes me a better parent.
Most people do this unconsciously on some level. They try to make the best of every situation.
Ask yourself at a conscious level, “What is the most useful belief I could have about this situation I'm walking into?”
Successful people solve problems and keep moving forward.
They ask themselves, “What is the most useful thing I could do right now? What strategy can I employ that would make this situation the best it can possibly be?”
Truth is overrated.
Useful is simply more important than true when it comes to empowering yourself.
Is it useful to get angry?
Useful beliefs:
This is the best time in the history of the world to be in your industry/company/job.
This is the greatest time ever to be a parent (and to be a child).
Useful to see the opportunities.
Useful belief to influence colleagues in the workplace: we're all members of a really exciting, innovative, well-informed generation.
If I believe Generation Y is a great generation to manage, then I'm a better manager.
Successful people see opportunities that unsuccessful people don't see.
If you believe the markets are not going to let you make money, then you won't.
If you believe the sales environment is terrible, you won't see ways to make sales.
Inner power: to feel that everything will be okay.
Regrets need to be transformed into opportunities for learning.
Embrace a new useful belief for your business.
The past is gone.
That the way they did business in years gone by may not work today.
Look at their current situation and ask themselves what they want to do about it.
Accept and embrace a new reality.
Useful belief: I can create my own reality.
I used to let others dictate how I should fit into the box they had created for me.
I came up with a series of useful beliefs for me, to guide me.
Acting as if:
To start implementing a change, act as if.
Be the person you really want to be.
Act as if you are that person.
Meeting you can't avoid? Adopt a useful belief about the meeting.
Confident that something productive will come of it, or that you will learn something or encounter some new ideas.