Belief = Behavior

If you wonder why I do the things that I do, you can bet that if you believed the same things that I believe, you would do the same. The reverse is true as well. If I believed the things that you believe, I would do the same things that you do.

I'm not really talking about a macro level, although it applies... I'm talking about the very basic moment to moment beliefs that we have that determine how we act in an instant.

• "I believe that person intentionally cut me off in traffic, so I angrily honked and threw my hands up."
• "I believe that every little bit helps, so I recycle everything possible."
• "I believe that you are clearly wrong, I am clearly right, and that you are just out to get me, therefore I fired off that disparaging email."
• "I believe that I'm supposed to share and that the Salvation Army is a worthy charity, so I put a couple of dollars into the red bucket at Walmart."

You see how it works? The interesting thing is, we often label a person's behavior bad judgment, but in reality, they're just acting out their beliefs.

What does this mean? If I want to alter your behavior, I have to change your beliefs.