Why You Must Learn to Manage Your Internal Pictures

Probably about 15 years ago, I became acquainted with the idea of mental models. At the time, I thought they were very interesting.  Admittedly, I was not overly excited about the subject. As so often is the case, as we continue to reflect on something more seriously, sooner or later we discover the gold. And that’s exactly what happened to me with mental models; I found the gold!

As I thought about mental models for my article today, it dawned on me how appropriate mental models are for a New Year subject. The reason is, of course, that many of us are in the process of setting new goals and thinking about getting some things done that we perhaps failed to do in ‘22. You might be thinking, what this has to do with mental models; and the answer is plenty. If you are reading this article right now and you have some unfinished goals or projects from last year, you might just want to get excited because this article could be the impetus for your greater success in 2023.  Let me explain.

I always tell people that mental models are internal pictures we carry with us about how our world works — which is not a bad thing because they help us make sense of our world, and it’s great to understand what’s going on around us. As a matter of fact, it is pure agony not to; right? But here’s the thing about mental models. Even though they can be helpful, they can also hurt us by locking us into what is familiar, preventing us from pursuing and moving into something new.

Example. You’ve thought about writing a book. You know the subject and you have the title. But the book never gets off the runway. It could be, you have run into a mental model that says, “you can’t write a book”. When you get ready to begin your book, you run dead smack into your mental model, that internal picture that tells you that you can’t write a book.

Here’s another example from my own experience. When I was growing up, I was always told I belonged to a certain political party, and I was to always vote a certain way. Well, no problem — for a while. Then one day, I decided to do a little research; and what I found literally changed my life. I found, the political persuasions I had accepted as my own, were not my own persuasions at all. From that point on, I increased my own awareness of what I believed, and began to vote my own persuasions. More importantly, I learned to question assumptions I had accepted, which is crucial to personal growth. In other words, I began to manage my own mental models. With that management came the freedom to live my own beliefs based on my own values.

Remember this. Anytime we do anything that conflicts with our internal values, it creates inner tension within us. The problem comes when we fail to address that inner tension for a long period of time. Eventually, it goes away, and we may never experience the peace and self-actualization that comes from living our own truth.

From the perspective of the role of a leader, think about all the great ideas that never get put into action. It is very possible that those ideas have run into hierarchal mental models that are aggressively working to maintain the status quo. Your ability to manage your own mental models will develop the skill you need to help others overcome theirs, sometimes as simple as asking the right questions.