A belief is formed when your subconscious mind and an event – collide and mix together.

When a random event takes place , your subconscious mind, based upon your personality and character, creates an association (rule) to explain what that event means to you. That’s how, for example,  a pessimistic person and an optimistic person can see the exact same incidents and interpret the meaning of those events very differently.

For example, maybe you tried making an offer to purchase a property without any training (the incident), and when it didn’t go right, as a pessimist, you decided “this investing doesn’t work and you’ll never be successful.

Now imagine the same incident, but instead, due to your optimistic view point, you decided that investing, like most thing, isn’t hard, it just requires training and practice to be successful and eventually you’ll “get it.”

In reality, neither belief is “true” however they will create very different investing behaviors.

When a belief is first formed, it starts out relatively weak. However weak it may be, realize  these beliefs act as a lens through which future events are viewed. (You know, like when you buy a new car, you start seeing that car everywhere.) The belief filters out evidence (facts) that don’t support the belief and emphasizes evidence (facts) support it. This filtering process causes the belief to get stronger until, in your mind, the belief appears to be entirely “true.”

That’s why we say, “what you believe is true for you” and “you’ll find what you’re looking for”. This filtering process let’s you be “right”!

We’ll explore why “being right” isn’t always a “good” thing next time..

Filed under: Mindset

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