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.

Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan DOR with you.

Once again, welcome aboard of the daily podcast.

Friends.

Hope you're doing okay.

We don't normally date the podcast, but it's Friday.

It's also minus five.

That I'll tell you.

I think I mentioned this the other day.

I think it was Wednesday.

I was due to get back out for another training ride.

It was minus seven.

Minus seven Celsius for all my American listeners.

I think you got to do the math on that either way.

It's not good.

Minus seven and I wanted to share it with you because, uh, You

know the process after all these years is still kind of the same.

And I think it's useful for me to help people understand

this is when it's minus seven.

There is nothing in my brain that says, this is a good idea.

So I think people listen to me and think that, you know, people

like me are just a bit different.

But special and that we just charge out there going.

Yeah.

Minus seven, bring it on.

Not quite.

I get up very early as most of you know, about sort of 3:34 AM these days.

And, uh, there I am, and I'm doing a bunch of work first, and then I

realized it's time to get ready.

And I do another check on the apparent temperature and it's minus seven Celsius.

So everything in my brain says, no.

Everything in my brain comes up with all these interesting

ideas of other things I could do.

It's amazing how helpful your brain can be when he wants to get you to do

something that, uh, That you're not sure you want to do or that you should commit

to, but your brain has other ideas.

I always like to remind people that we are rarely, always on our own side.

We, uh, we can be sometimes, but we're often quite adversarial against ourselves.

In terms of doing some things we have to do.

So here's the point I fought this incredibly complex, intense mental

battle that went on for about 30 minutes.

Will I won't I will.

I won't.

I, maybe I could train later in the day.

Maybe I could do something different today.

Hey, you know, some something just push me through and I.

Got my gear on.

Went out and got it done and did about 65 kilometers in minus seven.

And afterwards you feel great.

You have a shower, you get your day underway and you tell yourself what a

genius, what a brilliant choice I made.

Yes.

Um, so here's the point is the teaching aspect of this.

I am deeply convinced after all these years that the things that I was doing

in a significant and move us forward.

Uh, rarely the things we feel like doing.

So always remember that the benefit, the payoff.

Comes later.

Feelings follow actions.

I'm not suggesting you should go out and run.

Or ride in minus seven is always relative, right?

I'm sure there are people around the world who went out and

wrote in minus 10 or minus 12.

God bless them.

So it's always relative.

So for you, it could just be walking around the block

or running a 10 K race or.

You know, making a phone call.

You don't want to make it.

It's purely relative.

It doesn't matter.

I just tend to do a little bit more unhinged things,

but you get my point, right?

So that's a, we will do those.

We will struggle to want to do the things we need to do.

I want you to understand that it can be quite powerful once you understand.

That you may not feel like doing the things.

It can be quite helpful.

At least that is for me.

I think my strategy over the years, I've learned just to.

To really not listen to myself a lot in those moments.

And there's other times when, you know, meditation and journaling role

try and specifically listen to myself.

But when it comes to these things that our willpower struggles with.

Try not to listen to yourself too much.

Just take the action.

Move forward.

And the benefit comes later.

All right.

Last thing today is a quote.

From Albert Bender, Albert Bandura was born in 1925.

He's still alive.

Uh, he is an emeritus professor at Stanford.

And some of you would recognize the name Albert Bender road and

Euro is a very famous educational theorist and psychologist.

Who's done some interesting work.

So he must be in his late nineties.

Now must be what 96 would be about, right.

I think, uh, so here's the quote.

People's beliefs about their abilities.

Have a profound effect on those abilities.

People's beliefs about their abilities, have a profound effect on those abilities.

I think it was Henry Ford that said whether you think you can, or

you think you can't you're right.

Okay.

So what bender is reminding us here is it's what we think about our abilities.

Can have a profound effect, a genuine shift on our performance in key areas.

You know, you look at some of the great athletes, you know, some of

the, whatever sport you're into.

You know, American listeners might be a Tom Brady's here in Australia,

or one of our rugby players.

Cameron Smith recently retired rugby league player.

Who's played about 4 billion games and.

Played at every level at the top level.

And, uh, interestingly, you know, just very resilient.

I saw him in the airport months.

He's not a big guy.

He's uh, but he's just, you know, survived a lot of injury.

And I think people like that, like, um, You know, look at, uh, Australia's.

Um, one of Australia's best female tennis players in history

looks like being Ash body.

Who's.

You know, doing really well at the moment.

So whether it's women or men, whatever sport, we find these people who just

have this X factor of performance, right.

And what is that?

Well, it's it's.

Partially years of experience and commitment leading to beliefs

about what's possible for them.

Right.

So that they, they do something, they struggle, they have some success

and the success reinforces their belief about their own capacity.

So, if you think of a significant area of life, it's this, how do we generate this?

How do we generate this idea of this positive sense of belief?

About our own capacities in key areas?

Right.

As I said a couple of days ago, I could have.

I could try and convince myself that I have remarkable.

Basketball skills and should be in the NBA.

Well, there's two problems.

One is I don't have remarkable basketball skills and two I'm five foot eight.

So, you know, it doesn't mean that we just have fanciful beliefs, but I

think bender is pointing us to this reality, that what we think about our

capacity really does shape our capacity.

So we have to again, be active and deliberate in choosing belief systems

and thoughts about ourselves that are impairing rather than destructive.

So I want you to think about an area that you feel you have success in, right?

Something that you net naturally know you do.

Well, that could be anything from, you know, you know, that you speak well at

the United nations, general assembly all the way to, you know, that you can

cook the best birthday cake of anyone.

You know, it doesn't matter what the.

What the action is.

It just matters about what your perception of your capacity and ability is.

So think about something you do.

Well, you'll notice that.

How do you know you do it?

Well, you've had some success, right?

And you've had positive feedback.

Usually.

So.

Look at an area of life that you do well in.

And drill down on that belief and see if you can kind of overlay that on

something you want to get better at.

So take an activity or something that you'd like to improve.

And try and develop a more, you know, get some small wins.

Just get some small wins.

You know, some people struggle sometimes to start an exercise

program and, you know yeah.

Because why, because they might be, you know, 10.

Pounds 20 pounds, overweight, whatever.

And they're worried that they don't look great in gym gear.

So what do they do?

They never go because they have this belief that if I go

there, people will look at me.

If I go there, I won't know what to do.

You don't need to be a master in the gym.

You just need to start.

And once you start, you get momentum so often teach them momentum principle

that sometimes do you want to get a bit of belief about an ability?

Just get a small win, just go off to something small, take

a step, get the momentum and you'll keep moving from there.

All right.

It's quite a lot in that today.

Albert Bandura people's beliefs about their abilities have a

profound effect on those abilities.

So let's try and move in belief systems that are shifting us forward.

Why.

So we can make billions of dollars and dominate the planet.

No, because the more that we actualize our capacity and ability, the more we

can live fully and be a blessing to other people, to how the world works.

It's not about getting stuff.

It's about giving, giving stuff.

All right.

I'm done.

You can tell I've had a couple of coffees and I'm excited to be here in the studio,

hoping to bring you some good news.

I hope you have a great weekend.

I'm going surfing and, uh, Not in minus seven.

They, they, people do that.

You.

That people actually do that.

And there's parts of the world where they actually go surfing and there's ice.

And.

Polar bears in the water and stuff.

All right.

My name's Jonathan Doyle.

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