Suspend disbelief by working with a group

“There’s something really powerful about groups and shared experiences. People might be skeptical about their ability to change if they’re by themselves, but a group will convince them to suspend disbelief. A community creates belief.”

–Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit

If you’re considering a change in your life, like picking up a new creative hobby, or exercising for the first time in a while, there’s probably a mountain of evidence showing why you won’t be successful. This mountain of evidence rises high in front of us, made up of memories of failed goals, dwindled motivation, and dead ambitions. 

This is why it’s so hard to change. Deep down, we don’t believe we can. 

But something special happens when we try something in a group. When we see other people climbing the mountain, we start to believe it’s possible. When people summit that mountain, we wonder if we can, too. When someone less talented than us makes it to the top, we know we can. 

Change can happen alone, but it’s much more likely to happen in a group. Chasing goals requires us to wrestle with disbelief. When we see other people doing what we want up close, we can suspend that disbelief. We work on the goal as if it’s possible. We talk to ourselves and others as if it’s possible. 

If it has been done before, it is possible. Left to its own devices, your mind tries to convince you that it’s not. Start working with a group, and you’ll quickly see that it is possible.