Chapter 5
The Performance Placebo
Mind over matter
‘Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.’
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Human beings are brilliant learners. It’s often said that we learn more in the first seven years of our lives than we do in the rest of our lives. As babies, we’re like sponges absorbing all that we see, hear and experience. We master complex skills, learning to walk and talk. We model how other people think and behave.
As impressionable youngsters, we take on the ideas and opinions of those we look up to – parental figures, teachers, friends. These thoughts that we’ve acquired and collected become beliefs or rules that unconsciously shape and direct our choices and actions. Some are learned fast, via a specific event. ...
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