Notice your confirmation bias
Spot the beliefs that cloud your perspective.
Confirmation bias is our tendency to favor information that supports our existing beliefs and to ignore or dismiss information that contradicts them. This powerful bias sustains false or misleading beliefs and can affect ourselves, our communities, and society at large.
Some beliefs have a big impact because they shape your thoughts, decisions, actions, relationships, and how you engage with the world. On a personal level, assuming you are not capable of change can hold you back from growth. In your relationships, believing you can’t trust the people around you makes it harder to connect. At a societal level, assuming that the system is rigged can stop you from trying to make a difference. And believing your individual actions don’t matter can limit both your sense of responsibility and your influence on the world.
Noticing your confirmation bias is like taking off tinted sunglasses that color everything you see, revealing the true colors.
The first step to reducing confirmation bias is to notice it, especially around beliefs that have a significant impact on your life or the people around you, since it’s impractical to examine every belief. Notice your bias at work with curiosity, like a scientist, and be as objective and honest as you can. Be gentle with yourself; bias is natural, and your mind simply evolved this way.
After any situation where your beliefs might have negatively affected your reaction, whether in daily life, or while reading, watching, or listening, ask yourself:
🤔 Which of my beliefs affected the experience? If so, how and why?
This helps you identify the specific belief at play and understand how it influenced your perception, thoughts, decisions and actions.
🤔 Have I ever tried to challenge this belief? Why or why not?
This encourages reflection on whether the belief has been questioned before, highlighting its persistence and automaticity.
🤔 What triggered this belief during the experience?
This helps you notice patterns and cues that activate the belief, increasing awareness of how and when it operates.
For example, you might want to exercise regularly, but each time you start you give up after a week. You reflect on this and notice the belief “I can’t stick to new habits,” which leads you to quit (first question). You realize you’ve never questioned this belief, so it continues to influence your behavior (second question). The trigger is feeling frustrated and discouraged after missing a session, which activates the belief without your noticing (third question).
Once you are aware of an unchallenged belief, you can start to loosen its grip. Look for evidence that contradicts it, step back and observe the belief instead of identifying with it, or simply hold it more lightly.
Awareness won’t remove bias, but it allows you to respond with clarity and intention instead of having your perception clouded by a belief.
