How to Re-Wire Your "Default Settings" Using Stanford Research

A friend of mine—a smart, capable leader—spent forty years believing they “just weren’t a singer.”

It was one of those little identity stories we all carry around. It wasn’t a tragedy, just a fact. I don’t sing. Then, in their forties, a therapist encouraged them to take a voice lesson. Not to perform. Not to impress anyone. But simply to challenge the structural integrity of that belief.

Nine months later, they could sing. Not in a "sell-out stadium" way, but in a way that shocked them. Same person. Same vocal cords. The only thing that changed was the assumption they walked in with.

Dr. Jacob Towery, a psychiatrist at Stanford, uses this exact example (from his own life) to describe what researchers call mindsets—an overused, under-understood concept by much of the developed world. These are the internal lenses that silently shape how we interpret that world.

We don’t usually notice them because they’ve been with us so long they feel like facts. But they influence everything: how we react to stress, how we lead, how we learn, and how we show up on the starting line.

And many of us are operating with mindsets we’ve never actually chosen. And whether we’re attempting to win an Olympic gold medal, build a business, or be a better parent, our mindsets will be one of the most important factors.

The Hidden Dependencies

Most of the people I work with—from executives to professional athletes to musicians—hide these unchosen mindsets inside small, socially acceptable dependencies. We say things like:

• “I need my morning coffee before I can think straight.”

• “I need to clear my inbox before I can start the real work.”

• “I need to feel ‘ready’ before I have that difficult conversation.”

We treat these statements as facts. But they aren't facts; they are beliefs. And deeply buried beneath those beliefs is a limiting mindset: "My capability is conditional."

This mindset silently whispers that you are not a generator of performance, but a vessel that requires the perfect external conditions to function.

Bricks vs. Blueprints

To fix this, we’ll want to stop confusing beliefs with mindsets. Here is the distinction I use:

A belief is a specific conclusion. It is the conscious self-talk you hear in your head during a specific moment.

• “My heart is pounding, I must be anxious.”

• “I’m not naturally creative.”

• “This pressure is going to crush me.” 

A belief is one brick.

A mindset is the underlying logic. It is the subconscious rulebook your brain uses to interpret reality that feeds your beliefs.

• The "Threat" Mindset: The fundamental view that discomfort is a signal of danger. (This forces you to believe your pounding heart is anxiety).

• The "Fixed" Mindset: The fundamental view that ability is set at birth. (This forces you to believe you aren't creative). 

A mindset is the blueprint for the building.

Put simply: Beliefs are what you think. Mindsets are how you think.

If you try to change the thought ("I am excited!") without changing the logic ("Discomfort is dangerous"), your brain will reject it as a lie. You have to update the blueprint to move forward sustainably with your beliefs.

Unpacking the Research: It’s Not Just "Positive Thinking"

When I talk to executives or athletes about mindset, I often see eyes glaze over at first. They think I’m talking about "manifesting" or "thinking happy thoughts."

I’m not. 

And neither is Stanford.

The research coming out of Stanford is no stranger to this newsletter. Labs like Alia Crum’s and Carol Dweck’s prove something much more radical: When you change the "blueprint" (the mindset), your physiology changes to match it.

Here are the three studies that completely changed how I think critically about performance:

1. The Milkshake Study: Mindset alters metabolism. Researchers gave two groups the exact same 380-calorie milkshake.

• Group A saw a label describing an "Indulgence Shake" (high fat, high sugar).

• Group B saw a label describing a "Sensible Shake" (low calorie, healthy).

Logic says their bodies should react the same way—the nutritional content was identical. Biology disagreed. Group A’s ghrelin levels (the hunger hormone) crashed steeply, signaling total satiety. Their bodies physically believed they had feasted. Group B’s ghrelin stayed relatively flat. Their bodies "believed" they were still hungry. 

The takeaway: Your stomach doesn’t just read the nutrients; it reads the label your mind puts on them. Your metabolism follows your mindset.

2. The Stress Paradox: Mindset alters mortality. We are constantly told stress kills. But a massive study tracking 30,000 adults over eight years added a critical nuance. High stress did increase the risk of death by 43%—but only for those operating with a Stress-is-Debilitating mindset. These were people who believed the pressure was breaking them down.

However, the participants who experienced high stress but held a Stress-is-Enhancing mindset (viewing stress as energy or priming)? They had the lowest risk of death of anyone in the study—even lower than the people with little to no stress. 

The takeaway: The stress wasn't the killer. The conviction that stress is toxic was the killer. The lens determined the lethality.

3. The Nocebo Effect: Mindset manufactures symptoms. We all know the Placebo Effect (expecting a cure can cause healing). But Dr. Towery highlights the darker inverse: the Nocebo Effect. Studies show that if you take a harmless sugar pill but believe it has negative side effects, your body can physically manufacture those symptoms—nausea, headaches, fatigue. This isn't "all in your head"; it is in your biochemistry. Your brain anticipates a threat and releases the specific neurochemistry to create the suffering you expect. 

The takeaway: If you walk into a meeting expecting it to be a disaster, you are literally priming your biology to ensure it is.

What This Means for Leaders

When I was standing at the top of the bobsled track in Vancouver, staring down the barrel of an Olympic final, my heart rate was through the roof.

If my mindset was "Threat," my brain would have concluded: "My heart is pounding. This is fear. Something is wrong." My body would have tightened up, constricting blood flow to my muscles in preparation for damage.

But because we had rebuilt our system, my mindset was "Priming." My brain concluded: "My heart is pounding. This is fuel. My body is preparing to explode off this block."

Same physical sensation. Different blueprint. Result: Gold medal.

When I coach people today, we don't just swap out a brick. We look at the blueprints. We move from "Proving" (I need to be perfect to be worthy) to "Improving" (I need to learn to get better).

We are all operating in a world that demands constant adaptation. We can’t always control the friction. But the science is clear: we have absolute control over the system we view it through.

How to Start Clearing the Lens:

1. Audit the Reaction: When you feel tension or a "need" (like that morning coffee dependency), pause. Ask: Is this a biological fact, or a psychological story about my limitations?

2. Separate Event from Story: The event is: We missed our Q3 targets. The story is: I’m a bad leader. Keep the event. Ditch the story.

3. Renovate the Blueprint: Stop asking "Am I good at this?" (Fixed Mindset). Start asking "How do I get better at this?" (Growth Mindset).

Check your building. If it’s not serving you, renovate it.

- Steve