We Truly Become What We Think About

I was talking with a CEO recently who reminded me how much our past influences our future. He had been through several negative experiences over a long tenure with his parent corporation. There was no end to the examples he could draw from his present day encounters, which confirmed his expectations about how he and others would be mistreated by the company.

A Different Approach?

From an outsider’s point of view this company is like most others in their industry, trying to do what they can to survive in an increasingly pressured environment. No question, some of the decisions made at the overall company level were having a negative impact on this fellow’s operation. Could some other choices have been made that would have been more helpful? Maybe.

Is There Another Way?

The issue was not that what the corporation was doing was so terrible. The issue was that this CEO had chosen to frame his past experiences in such a way that he could not allow any positive interpretation of his present experience. This was the clearest example I had had in a long time of how we become what we think about. He had gone so far down the path of interpreting experiences with this company in a negative way that he couldn’t see any other ways to look at it.

"We Only See What We Know."

Patterns of thought are habits. You encounter some people who look at almost all of their experiences, even the ones that have hurt, in a constructive way. Others seem to have the world dumping on them. What we can see in our environment is only what we allow ourselves to see. No one sees all of their current environment. We see those things that are consistent with what we expect. As a physician friend of mine puts it, “We only deal with what we see, we only see what we know.”

Our culture is one in which people are taught to anticipate negative future events. All it takes is watching the evening news or reading the newspaper to confirm this fact. This CEO has clearly bought into the prevailing mindset, and it is currently having a negative impact on his career and his whole life experience.

Make the Change

It is interesting, and profitable, for us to be aware of our thoughts. Our mind is going all of the time with thoughts whipping through at lightning speed. Taking a moment to stop once in a while and observe the content can be very educational. Habits, including thought patterns, are not something we are consciously aware of. Habits are also what shape our lives and create our future. If we train ourselves to pay attention we can gradually change those thought patterns and create the future we want instead of the one that just happened.

Create the Awareness

The experience with this CEO has been very positive for me. I have again renewed my interest in my thinking habits. I would ask you to do the same. Make a conscious effort to be aware of your expectations. Sometimes the easiest way to get in touch with thoughts is through feelings. Feelings tell us what is really important to us. They add the power to our creative thought processes. Have fun with this. The possibilities are huge.

To learn more about what you can do to ensure hiring right the first time and sign up for your free newsletter visit www.positiveoptions.net. Dr. Kasner helps organizations develop and implement hiring systems that take the guesswork out of hiring.

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