Philosopher's Notes Beyond Belief
Beyond Belief
The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Extraordinary Results
About the Book
304 pages
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Brian's take
Nir Eyal is one of the leading thinkers exploring the intersection of psychology, behavior design, and human potential. He’s the author of Hooked and Indistractable and has spent years studying why we do what we do and how we can regain control of our behavior. In Beyond Belief, he turns his attention to one of the most powerful forces shaping our lives: the beliefs that quietly determine what we think is possible. The core idea is simple: motivation doesn’t just come from goals or rewards. It comes from belief. When we believe our actions will lead to meaningful results, we persist longer, see more opportunities, and act with greater agency. Drawing on research from psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science, Nir shows how to replace limiting beliefs with practical ones that expand possibility, build resilience, and help us turn challenges into fuel for growth. Big Ideas we explore include The Motivation Triangle, The Three Powers, A New OS, Circle of False Promise, and Extraordinary Lives.
“This is how beliefs create visionary entrepreneurs.”
Beliefs don’t just change what you think is possible; they change what you’re capable of seeing as possible.
Nir Eyal
==“We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.”==
Anaïs Nin
==“If we want to change our relationships, the best place to start is with the underlying beliefs that shape our perception of others.”==
Nir Eyal
“As a free thinker, I’ve come to embrace prayer not as submission to religious dogma but as a practical tool for psychological well-being.”
Simply put, I pray because it make makes my life better.
Nir Eyal
==“When your life feels chaotic, remember: Disorder isn’t a sign that you’re failing at life; it’s proof you’re fully immersed in it.”==
Nir Eyal
“Beliefs that work focus our attention on what we can influence.”
They acknowledge obstacles while building confidence in our ability to meet them. They channel hope into action, turning intention into concrete steps.
Nir Eyal
Listen to the Note
27:13
Beyond Belief
Introduction
From the book
“Together, These Three powers—attention, Anticipation, agency—create a Robust Framework for Lasting Change.
They offer a new way to respond when things get hard, when progress stalls, or when doubt creeps in. Most importantly, they’ll show you how to turn belief into your most reliable tool for a happier, healthier, and more prosperous life.
Of course, not all beliefs are created equal. Every day, millions of people fight invisible battles with their own beliefs. They want to improve their health, relationships, and careers, but feel stuck—not because they lack effort, but because they’ve internalized limits that don’t actually exist.
These limiting beliefs are subtle; they whisper in the background. ‘This won’t work.’ ‘I’m not cut out for this.’ ‘I’ll fail again.’ If we don’t examine those whispers, we start to think they’re true. They quietly narrow our choices and shrink what we think is possible.
Fortunately, beliefs can change. And once you know how to replace a limiting belief with a liberating one, you can transform not just how you think but what you see, how you feel, what you do, and ultimately who you are.”
Brian's Notes
Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and human potential.
He previously taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.
He’s the author of Hooked and Indistractable (check out those Notes) and an active angel investor. Fun fact! He’s ALSO a friend and investor in Heroic. (Thank you, Nir!)
So, when he told me he was writing this book, I was fired up. I got an advance copy and LOVED IT.
If you’re looking for “The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Extraordinary Results,” then I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. (Get a copy here.)
It’s PACKED with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
P.S. As I typed out Nir’s bio that included his time teaching at Stanford, I thought to myself: “Self, what other authors/books have we featured who taught at Stanford?” It’s a solid group!
William Damon: The Power of Ideals, The Path to Purpose, Noble Purpose; Carol Dweck: Mindset and Self-Theories; Kelly McGonigal: The Upside of Stress, The Joy of Movement, and The Willpower Instinct; BJ Fogg: Tiny Habits; Bernard Roth: The Achievement Habit; Michael Ray’s Highest Goal; and Patricia Ryan Madson: Improv Wisdom.
BIG IDEA
The Motivation Triangle
From the book
==“We Are Better off Understanding Motivation as a triangle.==
==One side represents the actions you must take: your behavior. The other side stands for benefit: the outcomes you desire. But the bottom edge of the triangle, connecting the other two sides together, is your belief: your conviction that those actions will lead to the desired results.==
==All three elements of the Motivation Triangle are essential, but belief is the foundation.== Without belief, motivation collapses. Richter’s rats revealed that beliefs matter. More importantly, his research showed that beliefs can be learned. That means that no matter how many times you’ve quit in the past, changes to your beliefs can make you stronger, more powerful, and more resilient than you ever imagined.
Why do people fail to accomplish their goals? There are countless answers to that question, but the one thing that assures failure is quitting. Of course, quitting isn’t always wrong: I’ve quit many jobs, relationships, and projects. But success becomes impossible the moment you stop trying, the moment you give up like Richter’s rats.
The most formidable obstacle to any meaningful change is rarely a lack of good strategy or resources. We don’t fail because we make mistakes; mistakes can be fixed. We fail because we quit, and we quit far more often, and far too soon, than is good for us.
What if we could change that?”
Brian's Notes
That’s from the Introduction.
Nir is one of the world’s leading thinkers on motivation. He literally wrote the book on how to get people to take action on tech platforms (Hooked) and then wrote the book on how to make sure you don’t get hooked by those same platforms or anything else in your life (Indistractable).
In this book, he presents a new model: The Motivation Triangle.
The Motivation Triangle, like all good triangles, has three sides. ==We have the Behaviors we need to take and the Benefits we will receive on the two sides. Then we have the base of the triangle: our BELIEF that we will succeed.==
To make his point in one of the most viscerally powerful ways imaginable, Nir walks us through the fascinating research done in the 1950s by a biologist named Curt Richter.
Now, although this research study wouldn’t pass modern ethical standards of experimentation, the results are simply jaw dropping.
We chatted about this study in our Notes on Black Hole Focus by Isaiah Hankel but the way Nir tells the story is incredibly (goosebumps) compelling. It’s how he opens the book.
Get this…
Richter got a bunch of rats and put them in tall glass cylinders that were half-filled with water. He wanted to see how long they would swim before giving up.
Nir tells us: “The average rat gave up and slipped under the water’s surface in about fifteen minutes.”
(Gah.)
Now…
Richter wanted to see if wild rats would outperform domesticated rats. He ran the study again. They didn’t. In fact, they underperformed.
Then…
He ran the experiment again only this time, right as exhaustion was setting in, Richter pulled the rats out of the water, dried them off and gave them a chance to catch their breath before he put them back in.
Then he asks…
How long would you guess they swam after that?
(Seriously. Pause for a moment and think about that.)
Then he tells us: “I’ve posed that question to audiences when discussing Richter’s study. Most people expect the answer to be surprising. Many guess that the rescued rats swam for thirty minutes, or perhaps even an hour. One hour? That’s four times the original swim time and quite an ambitious guess!”
Then he tells us to think of times in our lives when we pushed past our own limits and asks us if we’ve ever gone FOUR times further than we thought possible.
Unlikely.
THEN…
He drops the crazy bomb on us.
Get this…
“But here’s the astonishing thing: The rats Richter previously rescued paddled for an average of sixty hours. Not sixty minutes, sixty hours! One experience of rescue dramatically changed their threshold for giving up, increasing it from fifteen minutes to more than two days of swimming. Those rescued rats were 240 times more persistent!”
I literally said “WOW!” to myself as I typed that.
I will repeat…
The rats that had one experience of rescue swam for SIXTY HOURS!!! (Over TWO DAYS!!)
They were 240 (TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY!) times more persistent!
Richter said: “The rats quickly learn that the situation was not actually hopeless; thereafter they again become aggressive, try to escape, and show no signs of giving up.”
To which Nir says: “This profound difference wasn’t due to physical changes. These were the same rats with the same bodies. The transformation happened entirely in their minds.”
Want to find the same type of belief “to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Extraordinary Results”? That’s what the book is all about. (Get it!)
P.S. After Nir invested in me/Heroic, I asked him why. Being worthy of his kind words (and applying the wisdom in his book!) deeply inspires me: “I’m thrilled to be an investor in Heroic! Brian is unstoppable and I look forward to seeing the impact Heroic will have on the world.”
The best part about that? We’re currently going through a nice little Seth Godin-approved “dip” in the business—resetting our strategy and getting ready to go next level after learning some things that aren’t working as well as we want.
Every morning as I journal, I remind myself of my two prior businesses that succeeded. Then I draw a little curved line that starts going up, then dips down, then curves back up—reminding myself that ALL of my successes have come on the other side of challenges.
I’ll be thinking about Nir’s rats and the 240x improvement in performance when we maintain the power of The Motivation Triangle with the foundation of BELIEF.
As I typed *that* I thought of this passage from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich: “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step *beyond* the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”
Spotlight on YOU real quick.
Think about one of your achievements YOU are most proud of. Did you have to fight through a few moments of despair and dig deep to make it all come together? Of course you did. With Heroic, we call those “Hero Bars.” Make sure you’ve got one ready at hand to fuel you through your current challenges!
BIG IDEA
The Three Powers of Belief
From the book
“In The Chapters Ahead, you’ll See how This Works in Real Life: how People in Wildly Different Situations Have Used Belief to Transform what Seemed Impossible into Reality.
You’ll meet a man who undergoes surgery without anesthesia by shifting his beliefs. You’ll see how an entrepreneur built a hundred-million-dollar business and helped thousands of unhoused individuals get back on their feet. You’ll discover why placebos work even when we know they’re fake and how beliefs about aging can predict longevity better than traditional health markers.
Each story illustrates one of the Three Powers of Belief: attention, anticipation, and agency.
==1. Attention: Seeing What You Believe==
==We’ve been told, that ‘seeing is believing,’ but studies show the opposite is just as true: Believing is seeing. You’ll learn how beliefs shape perception, why attention is the gateway to possibility, and how to train your mind to notice opportunities others miss.==
==2. Anticipation: Feeling What You Believe==
==Beliefs act as emotional forecasts, shaping your energy, mood, and performance. You’ll explore the science of placebos, the psychology of placebos, the psychology of expectation, and how to design beliefs that pull forward instead of holding you back.==
==3. Agency: Doing What You Believe==
==This is the power that turns belief into sustained action, even in the face of uncertainty. You’ll see how ancient rituals, modern neuroscience, and mental training can help you stay motivated when most people give up.”==
Brian's Notes
That’s from the introduction.
As I typed that I (a) got fired up just feeling into the power of the wisdom of this book when we tap into those three powers of belief and (b) remembered I forgot another Stanford professor.
I forgot to mention Dr. James Doty, the late great neuroscientist who helped establish the scientific validity of manifesting.
In his book Mind Magic, he walks us through his six-step process and tells us: “Manifestation is about cultivating a fierce belief in possibility.”
And: “Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not. Find the place inside yourself where nothing is impossible.”
His process parallels Nir’s.
Let’s recap the three powers of belief.
- The First Power: Attention = The Power to SEE What You Believe
- The Second Power: Anticipation = The Power to FEEL What You Believe
- The Third Power: Agency = The Power to DO What You Believe
Each of those powers gets its own section in the book with three chapters bringing it to life. Let’s explore some of my favorite Ideas and help you apply them to your life TODAY.
BIG IDEA
A New OS
From the book
“This Discovery Suggests Something Profound about Human Nature.
==Helplessness isn’t learned at all. It’s our default. What we must learn is hope.==
These neural circuits are strengthened through experience. Each time you successfully exert control in a challenging situation, you reinforce brain pathways that can override your passive defaults—and activate what Seligman calls your ‘hope circuit.’ Over time, this creates what amounts to a new operating system for dealing with adversity, one that views problems not as threats to avoid but as challenges to engage.”
Brian's Notes
That’s from the first chapter in the third section of the book on the third power of belief: “The Power to DO What You Believe.”
Here’s the Arnold Schwarzenegger quote preceding the third section: “You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” <- How great is that?
As I checked out my Notes on Arnold’s book Be Useful for parallel wisdom I might want to share, I found this gem: “Granted, I am a lunatic. I don’t do anything like a normal person. I don’t have normal dreams. My risk tolerance for big goals and new challenges is sky high. Everything I do, I do big.”
And… While we’re in that Note, know that Arnold says EXACTLY what Nir is saying regarding the need to “ SEE ” what’s possible. (The First Power of Belief!)
Arnold tells us: “What I am saying is that if you want your vision to stick, if you want to increase the chances of success looking exactly like you hoped it would when you first figured out what you wanted your life to look like, then you need to get crystal clear on that vision and tattoo it to the inside of your eyelids. You need to SEE IT.”
Of course, Arnold also echoes Nir’s wisdom that we must DO what needs to get done if we want to have a shot at hitting our big dreams: “Regardless of the size of your dream, if you don’t push yourself, if you don’t give it your all then you’re only letting yourself down. ‘No man is more unhappy,’ the Stoic philosopher Seneca said, ‘than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself.’”
Did you know that, when he was working to become the best body builder in the world, Arnold pushed FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS of weight in *every* one of his workouts?
True story. Which begs the question: How much weight are YOU pushing these days?
Start with the vision of what you want to create. SEE IT. Know you can create it. Then go do the hard work to make it a reality. All day, every day. Especially… TODAY!
P.S. Want “a new operating system for dealing with adversity”? Of course we all do! The key? Learn how to use all of life’s challenges as FUEL for your growth—see “problems not as threats to avoid but as challenges to engage”!
As you know, I tattooed my body with “ ANTIFRAGILE CONFIDENCE ” after giving a *bunch* of talks on the subject to some of the world’s most elite performers—from special operation forces commanding officers to athletes and coaches. (Check out my blog post on the work I was privileged to do with Luke Donald and his championship-winning European Ryder Cup team for more on how they crushed it.)
P.P.S. As per our chat in The Science of Scaling (which is basically a business application of this book’s wisdom, btw), our current focus for Heroic is hitting the “impossible” goal of 1 million Philosopher-Heroes changing their lives with PN. The next phase? Focusing on our scientifically-validated Heroic OS. The thing it helps you do? Forge antifragile confidence.
P.P.P.S. In the margins on this page, I told myself to remind you to check out our Notes on 10 to 25 by Dave Yeager. It’s all about “ The Science of Motivating Young People.” It’s a must read for parents and echoes the wisdom in this chapter.
And, check out our Notes on The Psychology of Hope by Rick Snyder and The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile for more on the power of agency and small wins.
BIG IDEA
The Circle of False Promise
From the book
“From Academic Tests to Weight Loss to Career Advancement, Mentally Rehearsing Victory Consistently Led to Fewer Victories in Real Life. ‘The More Positively People Fantasize or Dream about Their success,’ Oettingen Explains, ‘the less well We do.’
Positive fantasies feel great in the moment. They give us an initial rush of optimism and temporary relief from uncertainty. But like any high, the effect wears off. Unsurprisingly, after the high comes the crash, often accompanied by deeper discouragement when reality fails to match our fantasized expectations.
As members of Oettingen’s team dug into their research data, they found a darker side: Positive fantasies could also worsen people’s moods. For people struggling with depression, for instance, positive fantasies actually correlated with a higher likelihood of future depressive symptoms. The result is a self-reinforcing cycle I call the Circle of False Promise.
It begins with an uplifting fantasy of achieving our goals. We soon discover that the actual path forward requires far more effort than our dreamland scenarios suggested. The stark disconnect between fantasy and reality often disappoints us, leading us to scale back our efforts or abandon our goal entirely. We come away feeling more helpless and inadequate than we started. The worse our lives feel, the more we try to escape by sinking back into our fantasies about the future. The whole process repeats itself, again and again. Each unfulfilled fantasy becomes further evidence of personal failure. Each unsuccessful attempt at ‘manifesting’ reinforces our belief in our helplessness.”
Brian's Notes
That’s from the Conclusion: “Good Beliefs, Bad Beliefs” in which, as you guessed, Nir lets us know that not all beliefs are created equal.
Here’s what you need to know…
The science is UNEQUIVOCAL (!!!)… Yes, you need to start with a vision of the future you’d like to create. That is really really important.
==BUT… Then you must IMMEDIATELY (!) “mentally contrast” that hoped-for future with the obstacles you will face AND your plan for how you intend to overcome those obstacles.==
Nir leans on Gabriele Oettingen and her research to make his point in this chapter. Gabriele is another friend and her book Rethinking Positive Thinking is extraordinary. Check out those Notes for more on her WOOP process.
Don’t get trapped in The Circle of False Promise.
As Nir advises in his commentary on the risk of following Secret -like magical thinking that results in “spiritual bypassing—a way to avoid the difficult work of taking responsibility for what we can control…. Waiting for divine interventions while avoiding effort is just another way of surrendering control. Effective belief systems should inspire action, not replace it. As the saying goes, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’”
BIG IDEA
Extraordinary Lives
From the book
“As You close This Book, You Might Feel Inspired to Reinvent Everything: to Overhaul Your Beliefs, Transform Your Habits, Revolutionize Your Life.
Resist that impulse. ==Grand overhauls often collapse, setting us up for the kind of disappointments that ironically lead us back to the same place we started—back to limiting beliefs. What endures is the next small step that you can take now, creating evidence strong enough to carry you forward.==
The world will not get less chaotic. Uncertainty and setbacks will always be a part of our story. Your brain’s first instinct may be to pull back, to freeze, to wait—that’s your ancient circuitry doing its job. But instinct isn’t destiny. Agency overrides passivity….
Extraordinary lives are not built on grand declarations. They are built on small efforts—actions that create evidence, evidence that strengthens belief, belief that fuels more action until possibility itself expands. That is how people achieve breakthrough results and rise beyond belief.”
Brian's Notes
Those are the final words of the book.
I ALWAYS (!) love pulling out the final words of a great book as they often capture the essence of the book so powerfully.
Want to move beyond belief, stop limiting yourself, and achieve extraordinary results?
BUILD TRUST IN YOURSELF by doing the little things well—doing what you say you will do whether you *feel* like it or not. Create the evidence that demonstrates your commitment to excellence. Then our Belief and our Behaviors forge the antifragile confidence we need to use obstacles as fuel and achieve the Benefits of sustained motivation.
THAT is the essence of the Heroic OS. Know who you are at your absolute best. Know what, specifically, you do when you’re at your best.
Then DO THOSE THINGS when you feel your worst. Then, the challenges that used to break you become the very fuel for your next-level of growth.
THAT is what it means to forge antifragile confidence. THAT is how we move beyond belief, stop limiting yourself, and achieve extraordinary results.
I believe in you. And I believe in us. Here’s to doing the hard work to activate our Heroic potential so we can change the world—one person (and one virtuous act!) at a time, starting with you and me and all of us together… TODAY.
Affiliate disclosure: Some book links may generate a commission at no additional cost to you.
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