How To Overcome Mental Blocks Using Einstein's Model

The Secret of The Law of Relativity’s Success

Isaac Newton’s law of gravity had been around for hundreds of years before Einstein came up with his theory of relativity, revolutionizing our understanding of interstellar gravity. There would be no space program, no moon landing, and no billionaire race to be the first to Mars without Einstein.

But his theory would never have been accepted if it had required overturning Newton’s law.

After all, it was a law because it had been proven many, many times. Real world experience showed that was how the world worked.

Just like your mental blocks.

We hate to be wrong. In the distant past, being wrong about:

• where the animals we hunted could be found

• if that animal was likely to attack

• if that food was safe to eat

could mean death. Not just for us, but for our entire tribe.

We learned to equate being wrong with death.

We still use that phrasing. We say we did something wrong, and “died of embarrassment.”

As a result, our brains will go to extreme lengths to prove that we’re right.

This happens with our mental blocks, too.

At some point in the past, we had an experience that made us think a certain thing was true about the world. We create a belief.

Because our brains hate to be wrong, they set out to prove that belief is true.

In a famous study, a group was divided into people who believed they were lucky, and people who believed they were unlucky. They were each asked to walk to the same location, following the same path. The researchers placed a $20 bill on the sidewalk in the exact same place each time.

The people who believed they were lucky all picked up the money. Their brains proved them right. And the ones who believed they were unlucky? Not a single one even saw the money. Their brains proved them right, too.

If you have a negative belief, like you’re not good enough, or nothing ever turns out for you, your brain will prove that it’s true. That’s the way our brains work.

That brings us back to Einstein. How was he able to get people to believe in the theory of relativity? It flew in the face of Newtonian physics! And people knew that Newtonian physics worked. It was proven!

Simple. He didn’t say that Newton was wrong. He didn’t say that Newtonian physics didn’t work.

He said that it was specific case. It was a simplification of a bigger theory.

When you’re actually standing on a planet, the effects of the planet’s gravity are so much stronger than anything else, you can basically disregard the other planets.

You have to leave Earth, traveling at very high speed, before Einstein’s theory predicts anything different from Newton’s laws.

You can use the same trick to get around your own mental blocks.

Let’s say you have a mental block. A common one, like if you speak in public, people will laugh at you. And you will die of embarrassment.

You have a great opportunity for a promotion. It will be work you enjoy, with more freedom to choose your own projects, and a higher salary. It is better in all ways — except one. It requires you to make a monthly presentation to the public.

Because you know how your brain works, you know that it will do everything possible to prove your mental block is true. You can prepare for your speech as much as you like. When the time comes to give it, you will forget your lines, or stutter and stammer, or drop your cue cards, or trip going out on stage.

People will laugh at you.

After all, it’s happened before.

But using Einstein’s trick, you don’t have to try to convince yourself those things didn’t really happen. You can just make them a special case. A simplification.

How to create a bigger belief

What you need is a bigger belief. In some limited context, your old belief is true. But in a larger context, your new, bigger belief is true. Here’s how to create that bigger belief.

1. Identify all the instances where your old belief was true. You already know these. Your brain shows them to you any time you’re thinking about speaking in public.

2. Find the common elements in all of these instances. For example, they could have all happened when you were a child. Or when you were insufficiently prepared. Or when you were forced to speak in public and didn’t want to.

3. Ensure your new situation doesn’t share that element. If you’re thinking that the new job will force you to speak in public and you don’t want to, don’t pick that element. But childhood or lack of preparation might be good ones to choose.

4. Reframe your belief as if/then/but. If you speak in public when you are not prepared, people will laugh at you, but if you’re fully prepared, they will applaud for you.

5. Test the new belief. This is the crucial part. Your brain will try to prove your belief is right. So, create a test scenario where you are fully prepared for a speech, and give it to some of your friends.

Once your brain has proven that your new belief is true, it will continue to prove it to you.

New This Week

Usually in this space, I tell people about the three biggest blocks that were resolved during the past week. However, this week I’d like to let you know that two people unexpectedly dropped out of my Vision-to-Reality 90-day goal achievement program, scheduled to start on Monday, May 13.

If you’re interested in taking one of those spots, please email me.

Here are the new LinkedIn banner and feature graphics.

Keeping with the science theme, today’s quote comes from renowned neuroscientist Abhijit Naskar.

He’s talking about messages, but what are beliefs except messages our brain sends and receives to itself? The most important part of the message — 9 times as important as the rest — is the context of the message.

The context of your belief is more important than the words of your belief.

Using the example from the main article, your belief about speaking in public might be “I’ll make a fool out of myself and everyone will laugh at me.” Those are the words. But what is the context?

When this belief causes a mental block that prevents you from taking a promotion, the context is “every time I speak in public.” But, after you use the Einstein trick on it to narrow the context, it becomes “when I speak in public without proper preparation.”

There are many professional public speakers who would agree with that belief!

Build a bigger context for your dreams!

Jennifer Dunne, Caribbean Compassion Coaching