You're getting exactly what you expect (here's how to change it)

I just wrapped two speaking engagements this week where I taught this idea, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. So I'm sharing it with you too, because it might be the most useful thing you read all week.

It's called the Pygmalion effect.

In 1968, two researchers (Rosenthal and Jacobson) walked into an elementary school and told the teachers which students in their class were about to bloom. Those "bloomers" were chosen completely at random. There was nothing special about them on paper.

But by the end of the year, those kids really had pulled ahead.

Not because they were smarter. Because the teachers believed they would, and that belief quietly changed everything: the way they spoke to those kids, the questions they asked them, the patience they extended, the room they made for them to rise.

The belief came first. The results followed.

Here's why I can't stop thinking about it.

You are running this exact experiment every single day. On your team. On your clients. On yourself.

The story you're holding about someone is not sitting quietly in your head. It's leaking out in your tone, your body language, the projects you hand them, the second chances you give or don't. People become who we treat them like they already are.

And the person you do this to the most? You.

So let's put it to work. Here's how:

1. Catch the label.
Notice the quiet story you've assigned. "She's not ready." "He's difficult." "I'm just not a numbers person." Name it out loud. You can't reframe what you can't see.

2. Speak to the potential, not the problem.
Talk to people (and yourself) like the version that's already becoming. Not fake hype. Real belief, said plainly. "You're built for this" lands differently than "let's hope this works."

3. Change one behavior that broadcasts belief.
Belief isn't a feeling, it's a signal. Hand someone the stretch assignment. Ask the bigger question. Sit in the room a bit longer. One action that says "I see more in you" will move the needle faster than a pep talk.

4. Turn it inward.
This is Mindset Mastery in real life. The expectations you hold about yourself run the same play as those teachers did. Watch your self-talk this week like it's data, because it is. What you believe about your own capacity is quietly writing your results.

You don't need a personality transplant. 🤭 You need to notice the belief that's already driving the outcome, and aim it on purpose.

That's the whole move. Believe better, treat accordingly, watch what rises.

You've got this, and now you've got the plan.

Lead with Energy. Live with Intention. 🩷

Jody

P.S. If you just realized the label that needs reframing is the one you've been putting on yourself, that's worth a real conversation. Book a Discovery Call and let's rewrite it together. This is exactly the work I do with leaders one on one.