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“From Ancient Myths to NBL Glory: The Transformative Power of Belief”

Writer's picture: Jack McveighJack Mcveigh

Beliefs are powerful. They guide your attention, shape your actions, and influence your body’s chemistry—ultimately dictating how you move through life and what world you choose to create. From the moment you are born, you inherit beliefs from parents who set boundaries, teachers who explain how the world works, and coaches who pass on their past experiences. Over time, these outside influences become internalized, forming your mental roadmap for navigating challenges and seizing opportunities.

When my college basketball career failed and my relationships fell apart, I searched for answers in countless self-help books. Again and again, I encountered a strikingly consistent message: Beliefs shape your reality. Intrigued, I dug deeper and discovered that this is no new revelation. Throughout history, from ancient myths to modern psychology, countless stories and studies reveal the incredible power of belief to transform or limit our lives.

Below is one such ancient tale, the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, which vividly demonstrates the life-altering consequences of the beliefs we hold.


The Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

There once lived a masterful musician named Orpheus. His music could sway trees and still rivers to listen. One day, he fell in love with a beautiful woman named Eurydice. But fate was not kind to them—shortly after their wedding, Eurydice tragically died of a snake bite. Orpheus was stricken with grief. He could not sleep. He could not eat. Consumed with the idea of bringing her back, he devised a plan.

Orpheus believed he could travel to the underworld and win her back with the power of his music. He embarked on his quest with nothing but his lyre, confronting the underworld ruler, Hades.

Orpheus played his heart out. The song’s depth and sadness made Hades shed a single tear, and he agreed to let Eurydice return to Earth. Orpheus’s belief had made the impossible possible. His belief led to action, and his action created a new reality. However, Hades had one condition: when Eurydice followed Orpheus out of the underworld, Orpheus was not allowed to look back at her.

They agreed, but as the pair got closer to the surface, Orpheus’s doubt overwhelmed him. He believed Hades would trick him and not return Eurydice. Before leaving the underworld, doubt got the best of him, and he glanced back for a split second. Eurydice vanished into the air, returning to the darkness forever. Orpheus returned home alone.

Once again, his belief created action, and his action created his reality. This story tells a fundamental truth about the human experience. How powerful beliefs are. For thousands of years, this is how humans passed down knowledge.

Now, science is beginning to help us decipher these ancient truths.


Information Filtering

You perceive the world through your beliefs. Every waking moment, your mind searches for evidence to support these beliefs. In psychology, this is called confirmation bias. Neuroscience estimates that your brain absorbs 11 million bits of information per second—too much to handle. The brain uses a network of neurons called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) to regulate incoming information. The RAS does this by prioritizing information based on two factors:

  1. Novelty: New or unexpected stimuli grab attention. A renowned marketer, Seth Godin, popularized this idea with his “purple cow” metaphor. Drive past a thousand cows, and you may not remember any; drive past one purple cow, and you will remember it for life.

  2. Relevance: Information that aligns with goals, needs, emotions, or beliefs. For example, when driving on the highway, you will notice fast-food restaurants if you are hungry.

In 1979, a study tested how people’s beliefs about capital punishment affected their interpretation of mixed evidence on its effectiveness as a deterrent to crime. The participants interpreted the evidence to support their pre-existing beliefs, ignoring or forgetting information on the opposing side. Their pre-held beliefs shaped their perspective on reality.

This is happening to you all the time. If you believe you are a good shooter, you will notice evidence to support that. If you believe the coach does not like you, you will also notice evidence for that. Your brain takes in 11 million bits of information per second and filters it down to about 40–50 bits—less than 0.0005% of the total input. You cannot notice everything in your surroundings, so your brain uses your beliefs to filter how you perceive the world.


Self-Handicapping

Belief drives behavior. Consider a basketball player named Tye who believes he is no good at shooting three-point shots. Consequently, Tye does not want to practice three-pointers, feeling it is a waste of time. Instead, he works on ball handling and lay-ups.

When a 5-on-5 scrimmage starts, a teammate drives and passes to Tye in the corner at the three-point line. For a split second, he hesitates. His teammates yell, “Shoot it!” So he does. As he rises to shoot, his hand does a funny twist, and the ball clanks off the side of the rim. Tye thinks, “That is why I don’t shoot—I can’t.”

In psychology, this is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. It occurred twice for Tye:

  1. Practice: He chose not to work on his three-point shooting because he believed he was bad. Over time, he never improved because he never practised, further confirming his belief.

  2. Execution: When he finally shot the ball during a live scrimmage, his mind was at war with itself. He wanted to make the shot, but he also believed he would miss, so his body self-sabotaged to keep his belief intact.

The human body is intelligent; it seeks to support your held beliefs like it filters information. This pattern is also documented in children. If a child believes they are smart, they will do everything in their power to maintain that belief—study hard, strive for good grades, etc. But if they do not achieve a high grade, they might fake illness, avoid effort, or even cheat to protect their “smart” identity.

This is how beliefs drive behaviour. The athlete who believes they work hard will indeed work hard. Unlike Tye, the player who believes they are a good three-point shooter will create evidence to support that belief.


Chemical Release

Beliefs change how our brains chemically react to situations. Imagine walking in the woods on a beautiful, sunny day and having a great time. Suddenly, you see a large brown animal out of the corner of your eye. The animal steps into view—it is a grizzly bear. Your fight-or-flight response kicks in, releasing adrenaline and noradrenaline, and you sprint home.

A year later, you revisit the woods, this time with a friend. It is another beautiful, sunny day, and you are both having a great time. You see a large brown animal from the corner of your eye, and your fight-or-flight response kicks in again. You sprint home, not waiting for your friend, who remains where he is. The animal steps into his sight—it is a big, fluffy dog.

The external stimulus did not matter; your belief that a bear was there shaped your reality. Your belief created a particular chemical release in your body. This is an extreme example, but similar effects happen every day.

Consider Tye again. He is told he must guard the best player on the other team. Tye believes that if he gets scored on, he is a failure. This belief activates fight or flight, causing panic before the game. Despite that, Tye starts the game, plays well, and his team wins. He did get scored on, but it was not the end of the world. His fear of the future caused him needless physical and emotional suffering. The Stoic philosopher Seneca famously said, “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” He could have said, "You suffer because of your beliefs," which would have meant the same thing.

Beliefs control your physiology.


Beliefs Are Powerful

They are so powerful that they dictate your past, present, and future. I used the power of beliefs to make the biggest shot in NBL history. As a kid, I dreamed of shooting and making game-winning shots, yet when my career began, I never played in the fourth quarter.

I decided to use myself as a test subject, implementing daily practices to shape my beliefs around my ability to make clutch shots. One of the practices was looking in the mirror and saying, “I make big shots.”

Over the following months, I started believing that I make big shots. In practice, I noticed I was making clutch shots. In shooting drills, I rarely missed important ones. When I made a poor play, my brain would ignore it and focus on what I did well. I began playing in the fourth quarter, and my body responded with a calmness and focus that surprised me. My subconscious and conscious mind wanted to make big shots. Soon, the shots started to drop.


I remember making this and thinking, “This is what I do.” It was my first-ever game-winner, and I was not surprised. I believed it would happen—and it did.

My luck continued.


And continued.



Some call it manifestation, the secret, attraction, actualization, or projection. Call it what you want; I call it the power of beliefs.


If you want to change your life, start by challenging your beliefs. By reshaping what you hold to be true, you will alter your perceptions and transform your actions—and, ultimately, the reality you create.

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