Are You An Agent Of Change?

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved ~William Jennings Bryan

We can become agents of change in all areas of life – and be happier for it.

That’s what psychological research tells us. But what if circumstances are so brutal that it seems impossible to effect change? What if we were imprisoned or tortured?

On September 25, 1942, Victor Frankl, a Viennese psychiatrist, was arrested and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, together with his wife and parents. Here is what he said:

Most people in a concentration camp believed that the real opportunities of life had passed. Yet, in reality, there was an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph, or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate, as did a majority of the prisoners.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember those who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a person but the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances – to choose one’s own way. ~ Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl worked as a doctor in the camps and saved many lives. He also set up a mental health unit where he worked to prevent suicides. His family members perished in the camps. But Frankl survived against all odds, and went on to be on to be one of the great Viennese psychiatrists.

The ability to choose our destiny is due to the power of the mind.

In order to understand more fully how the mind can change reality – and to separate fact from hype – I’ve enrolled in a paper on Positive Psychology. Tal Ben-Shahar is running an online course through the University of Pennsylvania. (He’s the teacher who did a series of lectures on Positive Psychology at Harvard. The first week he had 40 students, the next 150 and then the class then quickly climbed to a record 800!)

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. ~ William James

I’ll be writing a series of posts on the power of the mind based on Tal Ben-Shahar’s course.

First I want to introduce the idea of self-efficacy, which means the power of producing an effect. The term was coined by psychologist Albert Bandura in 1994. You can find the link to his research article here.  Bandura’s ideas and research results are crucial steps in understanding the power of the mind.

To believe in our self-efficacy means that we believe we have what it takes to succeed.

We don’t have to extraordinary in order to change not only our life but those of others. Ordinary people can become great agents of change. On December 1, 1955 an unknown seamstress changed the world by doing something very simple. She wouldn’t budge from her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama. This was Rosa Parks, the ‘mother’ of the Civil Rights Movement. The law at that time said that a black person should give up their seat to a white person, but Rosa Parks staid sitting on her seat.

You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals ~Edmund Hillary

What happens when we feel that our effort can make a difference?

That’s a very important question. Because life feels radically different, depending on whether you believe that you can make a difference by your effort, or whether you think that no matter what you do, nothing is going to change.

Please consider your life for a moment. Are there areas where you feel effective, and others where you don’t?

What would happen if you believed you have what it takes to effect change – even in the difficult areas of your life?

Self-trust is the essence of heroism. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

How do we create a feeling of effectiveness?

Bandura lays out four ways:

1. Success breeds success.

We create a sense of effectiveness by ‘mastery experiences’. What that means is that success builds a robust sense of effectiveness. And failure can undermine this confidence – especially if failure happens before a sense of self-efficacy is firmly established.

Bandura adds an interesting rider:

Early success is dangerous

If we experience only success at the start of an endeavor, we come to expect easy results and are discouraged by failure.

I think that’s true. In my eighteen years of martial arts training, I saw a lot of talented people come – and go. The ones who struggled and had to work hard at their success tended to stay.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.Robert F. Kennedy

2. Role-models can heighten belief in oneself

I’m sure we’ve all experienced that. The way we think about a good role-model is: “If he/she can do it, I can too!”  The key to choosing a role-model is that we must be able to identify with her or him, otherwise their success doesn’t lift us up, it pulls us down.

3. Our self-belief grows when others encourage us

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lit the flame within us. ~Albert Schweitzer

Bandura called this third way of strengthening people’s beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed: ‘social persuasion’. What we need in life is at least one person to believe in us.

How can we become that one person?

I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a ‘transformer’ in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. ~ Stephen Covey

Each of us can be a mentor, an encouraging parent, teacher, neighbor or friend!

We can give appreciation and encouragement freely – we are not diminished by this. If anything, we grow and become happier when we encourage others!

Thousand candles can be lit from just one candle; the life of the candle is not shortened. The Buddha

4. We can strengthen our self-belief when we learn to interpret emotional and physical reactions positively.

Imagine that you’re about to go on stage and address a packed hall. You are offstage but you can hear the audience. The lights are on and you are minutes away from walking up to the podium. By now you have butterflies in your stomach, your knees start to knock. Your mouth is dry and your pulse is racing. Right?

You can lift your performance through giving these symptoms a positive meaning. This is what Bandura means when he says that the interpretation we put on our emotional and physical responses is a factor in creating effectiveness.

For example, if you feel nervous about public speaking, you can change your self-talk. Instead of telling yourself, “Oh, I’m so nervous, I can’t do it!”,  you can say to yourself, “Good! You’re keyed up. You need that in order to perform well.”

You cannot prevent the birds of worry and care from flying over your head. But you can stop them from building a nest in your head.

When we talk about the power of the mind, we are essentially talking about changing our habitual stories.

“Nothing I can do will make a difference” is a story. So is, “I know I’ve got what it takes.” One is passive and leads to suffering. The other has drive and can create happiness and success.

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In his comment on my post How to Learn (Almost) Anything and Feel Incredible Doing It, reader Kirk Fisher said:

All stories keep us from truly seeing our lives with openness. Would you agree?

I’m not sure. Maybe we always live by stories. Even the most exalted aspiration is nothing but a story. Maybe some stories are skillful, and others are not.

What do you think?

Photo by estherase>