Chris Helder - The underestimated power of useful beliefs

Inside Influence

Greetings everyone, my name is Julie Masters and welcome to another episode of Inside Influence. In which I delve into the minds of some of the world’s most fascinating influencers – or experts in influence - to get to the bottom of what it really takes to own your voice - and then amplify it to drive an industry, a conversation, a movement or a nation.

In this episode, we are diving into the world of inner influence chatting to a true master of Influence, Chris Helder.

Chris is one of world's most sought-after keynote speakers and he is the author of three bestselling books: The Ultimate Book of Influence which has been published in five languages - Useful Belief, which is one of the highest selling Australian business books of all time, and Cut The Noise which (speaking directly to the parents amongst you) is about achieving better results with less guilt.

For anyone who has seen Chris speak (and if you haven’t – YouTube is a feast of videos) you’ll know that his energy as a storyteller is another level. In fact I often show videos of Chris speaking when teaching presentation skills – I do that as he’s one of the best examples I know of deliberately setting your internal state to not only harness and amplify energy – but also use body language to switch on every one of the senses of an audience.

First time I saw him speak… these guys don’t need a speaker – they need a miracle – now I don’t know that I would go so far as to call Chris a miracle – but what he did that morning was nothing short of miraculous.

So – other than all that – why did I ask Chris if he was willing to come onto the podcast?

We’ve known each other a very long time. In fact well over a decade. During that time I’ve watched him break down the art of influence for hundreds of times. Then there was a period of time where – as both our lives evolved and changed – we hadn’t spoken to each other for awhile. At least from the outside that period of time seemed to coincide with a time for him of deep introspection. When we did next speak he put something to me – something he had been thinking about – that he felt sat at the absolute root of our ability to influence at every level – and it blew my mind.

Ever since I’ve known him – Chris has had a saying: "The most important words we say all day - are the words we say to ourselves, about ourselves, when we are alone by ourselves". Which raises an interesting question – if that’s true – why does positive thinking so rarely work?? The place that Chris reached – after a career of driving change in this area – is that positive thinking in and of itself is doomed to fail – what we need instead are useful beliefs.

The key here is the word useful. Sometimes things in life are not positive. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. No amount of positive thinking is going to change that. The truth is - there is no absolute truth. I know that sounds annoying. Especially if you’re trying to navigate yourself through uncertainty – either home, life, economy. But it’s worth the time (at least the next hour) to really think about it.

Once you know the truth, once you have all the facts – it becomes agnostic. The only thing that makes a difference after that point – the only thing that stands between you a clear strategy or overwhelm – is the story you choose tell yourself about the situation – and whether it’s useful or not.

I managed to catch Chris in a rare quiet moment, back stage at an event of I was recently at an event with Chris – we had a choice between getting some food and having this conversation – I think it was pretty worth it.

Some of the areas we dove into include:

● The Future of Thinking in the next economy.

● How we manage fear and move through guilt with ease

● The Power of Accelerated Focus

● The Reticular Activating System – and why you need to know what that is when it comes to developing Useful Belief

● How do you break through unhelpful ‘mental loops’

● How to gain clarity through ‘Time Travel’ – and not the kind that involves Michael J Fox and a DeLorean

This podcast is for anyone ready to look at their beliefs around change, influence – and our ultimate ability to master our state and get clear (or useful) in any given moment. It was a special conversation with someone special from my world. Please enjoy my conversation with the powerhouse that is Chris Helder.

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