Knowledge Gap or Mindset Gap?
Oct 12, 2021
You have heard the phrase "knowledge is power". I love what one of my teachers, Dr. Matt James, says instead: "knowledge is potential power, action is real power".
A lot of times when we observe an undesired behavior, the first impulse is to think that is due to a lack of knowledge. Sometimes it is and I would say most of the time, it's not the knowledge… it's the mindset.
Knowing what the right thing is doesn't mean that we will act on it.
For example, we all know that eating vegetables and having an overall healthy diet prolongs our physical health and boosts our mental and emotional wellbeing. If we all know this, why do we sometimes struggle acting on this knowledge?
We all know that taking vacation and breaks during the day boosts productivity. How is it possible that we don't act on this knowledge?
In my Corporate days, there were plenty of times when we rolled out a new initiative or technology. We would run the numbers, present the immense benefit that it had for the company, and would still struggle with adoption rates. How come?
Often the gap is not in knowing what the right thing is. The biggest gap is in the mindset that requires embracing change and being consistent with it.
There are 3 top mindset challenges to adopting new behaviors. Below I recommend what to do to overcome these.
1. Lack of purpose or direction
Challenge: We are often on a "go, go, go!" mentality, focused on tactical items, doing without knowing the purpose of what we are doing. When this happens, we don't buy into what we are doing with intention, leading to inconsistencies with our behaviors.
What to Do: When starting a new initiative or adopting a new behavior, it doesn't matter how small, ask yourself and others: "for what purpose?", "how doing this will allow me to get closer to the vision of my ideal self?", "Is this aligned with my values?". Imagine your future self 10 mins, 10 months, and 10 years after having adopted this behavior. How does it feel? Does it make sense with what you are trying to be, do, and have? Find a purpose because once you do it, when it gets challenging you will be able to remind yourself of your "why" and this will help you to keep going.
2. Prioritizing short term satisfaction over long term benefits
Challenge: We love short-term satisfaction because we can get it now, we don't have to wait! Prioritizing eating that dark chocolate ice cream instead of following a healthy diet feels so much better at the moment. But what happens right after we finish? We feel guilty because we did something that we knew what not the best choice for us and it wasn't aligned with our goal. It's a lot easier to do what we are used to doing (it feels so comfortable) than to override this programming with a better choice.
What To Do: Similar to the recommendation above, Imagine your future self 10 mins, 10 months, and 10 years after having adopted this behavior. How does it feel? Does it make sense with what you are trying to be, do, and have? Practice patience and resilience with developing new habits. Recognize beforehand that it will not be comfortable, and celebrate when it gets uncomfortable. Because when it feels uncomfortable that's when you know that you are actually making progress.
3. Lack of trust - not experiencing results right away
Challenge: We start adopting the new behavior but we want results faster! We are not seeing enough results and it is taking a lot of effort. Similar to the Law of Physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The amount of energy you have spent by performing the previous undesired behavior is the same amount of energy - or a little bit more- that you will need to spend in adopting the new change.
What To Do: It is important to recognize that it takes time and that it will get easier as you continue to implement this new behavior. Remember the first time that you learned how to tie your shoes or how to ride a bicycle? In the beginning, it was challenging and as you continued to get used to it, it became easier. There will be a good amount of energy investment at first and the return on it will be huge if you commit to consistent implementation of this new behavior.
In the process of adopting a new desirable behavior, ask more questions and keep your purpose in mind, celebrate when it feels uncomfortable because you know you are growing, and recognize that there is an initial energy investment that will deliver huge returns for yourself and others.
FREE Resources:
Starting your day without direction? Start your morning on purpose with my go-to 5 mins routine.
Need Clarity? 3 Simple Questions to boost your clarity and make authentic decisions that lead to fulfilling outcomes. You also have journaling space for each question so you can capture your insights.
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