The baseball season has started and after 13 games my team already own the worst record in baseball – 2 wins and 11 losses. The pre-season expectation for the Royals has long since evaporated and we are now wondering just how bad it can get.

Sport often provides us with examples and metaphors for other areas in our lives and a recent incident highlighted the power of our belief systems. Beliefs are things that we hold to be true, especially where there is limited or no evidence. We all have them, and they can be positive or negative and have a huge effect on what we try, and what we achieve.

One of the Royals pitchers recently became a starter having spent a couple seasons in the bullpen. He was used to only pitching one or two innings, so the switch made a change for him. He was delighted to make the change but in spring training he had a couple of games where his first inning was shaky, after which he settled down. Everyone started talking about this tendency prior to his first regular season start.

There were reports and interviews with him and he said how excited he was, and that it would probably affect his first inning, after which he expected things to improve. He felt he would have trouble containing his excitement early on, and that it may affect his control.

Guess what? First inning he pitched he used up about 30 pitches and gave up 5 runs. Most of them before getting anyone out. I don’t know whether this could have been any different, but it can’t help going into the game thinking you always have a rocky first inning.

The point of this story is to illustrate that what others say is true of us, and the limited evidence we see from our experiences, can become things we hold to be true. As a relief pitcher you only get one or two innings usually, so in the past this must have been a strength. Once a belief becomes fixed, we look for evidence to support it and filter out evidence that doesn’t.

This is also true for us throughout life. We may beleive we don’t deserve promotion or a better life, or that we are bad at making presentations. Such beliefs become self-fulfilling and can be limiting.

The good news is that our belief system can be changed, and we can choose to do so. Look for evidence that contradicts our belief. Think about how we would be if we thought differently and act accordingly. It’s not easy – we cling to belief systems as they are part of us. If they are not serving us though, we are better off without them.

The pitcher in question had a much better game last night – no runs in the first and no earned runs in the game. Sadly the Royals still lost. Believing the Royals can win the World series again is one that will take a while for me to change……