How to instantly improve your workplace (without changing jobs
Two people can sit in the same office, do the same job, and report to the same boss, but still have completely different views of their jobs. One may feel trapped in a toxic workplace, while the other may be energized by it. Difference? It’s not about their work, it’s about what they believe about it.
You’ve no doubt created mental images of everyone you’ve worked with. One person might be lazy, another might be super smart, and there’s always that one co-worker we tend to put in the ‘difficult’ basket. We spend a lot of time thinking about how we can change other people’s behavior, but what if the solution to improving our workplaces started by challenging our own invisible thinking?
This is Nir Eyal, the author of the new book Beyond Belief he says. This week, I spoke with Nir, whose book made the New York Times bestseller list; It was his third book to make the list. Hooked And Does not get distracted.
“We don’t see people as they are, we see them as we believe them to be,” he says. “We see our beliefs about them because the brain doesn’t see reality, it sees what it predicts about reality.”
Some of the research behind this is what psychologists call the ‘fundamental attribution error’. This is our tendency to assume that other people’s flaws are due to their personality, while our own mistakes are due to our situation.
It was invented by psychologist Lee Ross in the 1970s and explains why when a colleague misses a deadline we blame their personality (“they’re lazy!”) but when we do we blame the surrounding circumstances (“I’m busy!”).
If you can change some of these beliefs, you may find that your work suddenly becomes a little more energizing than it was before.
There are three ways we perceive the world through facts, beliefs, and beliefs. Facts are objective facts, such as the freezing of water at zero degrees or the speed of propagation of light. At the other extreme is faith; a belief that doesn’t require any proof but can still be inspiring.
There are beliefs in between these two, and Nir says they should be viewed as tools, not facts. “The brain lacks the ability to see reality accurately, so it sees it through this little attentional keyhole.”
Take the coworker you fired because every little thing they do helps prove that they don’t add much to the workplace. What would happen if you believed something different?
“You can try the belief that this person is not lazy, they are just not given the right work to improve,” Nir said.
The goal is not to deceive yourself or even gaslight yourself. Nir says there are four questions you can ask yourself if you want to expand on some of the existing beliefs we hold: ‘Is this true?’, ‘is it absolutely true?’, ‘who am I when I hold on to this belief?’ and ‘Who would I be without this belief?’ When you get to the bottom of honest ones, you will learn that you can hold multiple beliefs at the same time, both limiting and liberating.
Of course, none of this is to excuse bad behavior or pretend there are no problems. What this means is realizing that you have much more control over the world around you than you think.
And if you can change some of these beliefs even just a little, you may find that the same office, the same boss, and the same job suddenly become a little more energizing than they were before.
Tim Duggan is the author of: Worc Backward: The Revolutionary Way to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter timduggan.substack.com
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Tim Duggan is the author of Working Backward, Cult State, and Killer Thought. He is one of the founders of Junkee Media and writes a monthly newsletter called OUTLET.
