Knowing what you believe is an essential part of becoming a fully-realized person. It is also helpful in a number of different ways.
Related: Listen to an episode of the Intellectual Roundtable Podcast, where Lee and Michael discuss this question: ‘What do you believe?’ We also discuss another question as well, ‘What are you willing to sacrifice?’
Knowing your beliefs can:
- Make you more confident
More than anything else, perhaps, your beliefs help define who you are. The more you know your beliefs, the more you know yourself, and the more confident you will be.
- Keep you from being fooled
If someone tries to provide you with misleading or manipulative information, knowing your own thoughts is crucial. In other words, they can help you navigate difficult waters.
- Help you make decisions
Companies often have a “mission statement” that provides guidance when there is a decision to be made. Personal beliefs can serve the same purpose. For instance, does an action get you closer to your ultimate goal? Does a decision match your values?
- Be a conversation starter
If you find yourself talking to a stranger and you don’t know what to say, falling back on what you believe is a good way to start. Talking about something you believe in will provide a topic to build a discussion around. Similarly, it can also be useful in determining how to respond to a conversation someone else starts.
- Make fulfilling friendships
If you know what you think and care about, you can surround yourself with people who have beliefs that are similar, or complementary, to your own. Those friendships are likely to resonate more significantly.
- Help you choose a meaningful career
Similar to finding friendship, the key to a fulfilling career can be an alignment of your own beliefs with a company culture or goals.
Can you think of other ways beliefs are important?
Easier said than done
Of course, talking or thinking about your beliefs is quite different from actually knowing what they are. In attempting to discover what you believe, you may even find that you question things that you have believed for a very long time. That can be very disconcerting.
Do you know what is important to you? What you are passionate about, and what is central to who you are as a person? What do you believe?