Do Your Actions Match Your Beliefs?

Srikumar S Rao
2 min readDec 14, 2021

We are all a mess of contradictions.

Frequently we do not even recognize that we are such a mess.

In our heads we are rational, sensible, and consistent.

So, we get annoyed when someone points out the inconsistencies that are a big part of our life.

You would probably agree that you are a citizen concerned about the environment and willing to do what you can to prevent global warming.

But, do you also like long, hot showers? And going on vacation to far flung places?

I rest my case.

In my course, Creativity and Personal Mastery, I have an exercise where I ask participants to examine their life and identify areas where what they do is inconsistent with what they believe.

Or what they say they believe.

Watch this four minute video for many more examples.

https://youtu.be/oaeD4c5bdV4

Don’t beat yourself up as you see how far you are from what you believe you are.

Become aware of these incongruencies in your life. Gently, gently, modify your behavior so that you are more aligned with your values. You will fail many times. You will simply forget. Each time you remember that you ‘forgot’, just come back to your new behavior.

Be patient and persistent. And, in six months or so, you will discover that your actions are much more aligned with your beliefs.

And your life will be less stressful and more joyous.

Peace!

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Srikumar S Rao

Srikumar Rao is the author of “Are You Ready to Succeed?” and creator of the celebrated MBA course, “Creativity & Personal Mastery.” // theraoinstitute.com