Self
The Power of Placebo To Boost High Performance and Self-Belief
The power of belief won’t cure diseases — but it can make a significant impact on your performance and wellbeing.
“Want another beer Brian?” My buddy Adam said. “Sure! I’ve already had three, but why not,” Brian said, grinning with contentment as we rested on the couches. We were in our early 20s, lounging and getting ready to go out to the bars that night.
Adam walked by, with a devious smile on his face, and returned from the kitchen with another beer, handing it to Adam.
I looked on, trying to contain my smile. Brian started talking about the incredible buzz he had, and began acting loopy. He commented that he thought he shouldn’t drive at all that night.
Moments later, he said, “I hope I don’t get tired too soon. I shouldn’t be getting this buzzed this early.”
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned to Brian and said, “Hey bud. I want you to read the label of that beer.”
He looked down and, a moment later, his face turned red with embarrassment. He’d accidentally bought O'Doul's, a non-alcoholic beer. He’d had no idea, despite it saying so right on the label. To his credit, he didn’t try to pass it off like he knew all along.
I said, “It’s OK Brian, there’s actually a tiny bit of alcohol in there. Maybe you felt its effect.” That wasn’t possible, as it only has .4% alcohol, but I felt bad for embarrassing the guy.
Regardless, the entire scene was fascinating to watch. Brian legitimately acted like someone with a buzz and it could have happened to any of us. It was a clear example of the placebo effect at work. The effect typically happens in drug trials, where a sugar pill is secretly given, yet still manifests the effects of a drug. The mind can easily trick you, and often, it does.
For example, sometimes when I have a headache, I’ll take an Advil and feel like my headache is gone two minutes later — even though I know that’s impossible. Yet my mind still pulls this strange switcheroo on me.
No, you can’t cure diseases with the placebo effect — despite a wave of pop-literature suggesting it can. A review of recent studies on the subject has proven this. But doctors don’t deny the powerful neurobiological, and psychological effects of a placebo, and they can be used to your advantage.
Differential outcomes are real.
A study by Dr. Kenneth Thomas found that patients who had encouraging doctors were happier and had better reactions during treatment.
Optimistic doctors said more positively framed things and made the patient feel they were managing their situation well. Conversely, pessimistic doctors did the opposite and produced less happy patients and poorer outcomes.
This energy has parallels in other fields. For example, as an athlete, I had a myriad coaches I dealt with over the years. I had the yellers, who grabbed you by the shirt and scared you witless. I had the quiet and detached coaches, who should have been more dialed in.
The best were those that knew when to drop the hammer, but stayed encouraging, constructive, and passionate. They framed their feedback around my potential, and the good things I was capable of.
They were specific and actionable. Most importantly, they made me believe I was already talented, and that it was just a matter of manifesting and capitalizing upon that talent. They treated our least talented athletes this way, and it was so inspiring seeing how these players worked harder and began to improve.
This matters because of a concept called identity foreclosure which plagues millions of people. It happens when a person locks in who they are, based on their upbringing and what people told them about themselves.
For example, I had trouble paying attention in class, and was belittled like something was wrong with me (I was later diagnosed with ADHD). And I eventually fed into that idea that I’d never be able to achieve focus and be a good student.
Obviously, we need to hear what reality is and be told the truth so we can improve. But that doesn’t mean we should be bludgeoned with excess negativity.
For example, it was shown the praising kids for being hard workers was more effective than telling them they were intelligent. Being a hard worker as their central identity allowed them to manifest more effort, where as children who were told they were smart often worked less hard, believing they didn’t need to. Which is remarkable if you consider it.
Kids, whether they were actually hard workers or not, worked harder if they were told they were hard workers.
There’s a confounding factor that might be snagging some of you. With the placebo — we are told it’s the real thing, which is what manifests the impact, right? How can we possibly use the placebo unless someone is giving us magic pills?
Dr. Ted J. Kaptchuk, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, found that the placebo even works when people are told it’s the placebo. It is a masterclass display of the power of belief. So where does this leave us? What do we implement this line of thinking.
How to use this effect
The key is to embrace roleplaying your ideal self or missing trait. Use the power of suggestion via the placebo, as a sort of healthy self-deception. Construct reality in a way that best helps you achieve your goals.
If you believe doing something will help you better at your job, it will be more likely to do exactly that. If you assume a new company strategy is useless and won’t help — it probably won’t. You’ve already written it off and shut it down.
You can also turn outward with the placebo effect. Like my good coaches did, give people encouragement. Tell them they are doing great, and improving at something new — even if it doesn’t seem that way. Describe what they’re doing well and why. When I became a coach myself, I found it invigorating to see the happiness and growth of others, and this effect became contagious, bringing joy into my life.
As a quick warning, beware of the nocebo effect. It’s the opposite of the placebo — and occurs when you take a placebo pill and start experiencing the side effects of a drug. A parallel behavioral example was with athlete parents. I saw toxic examples of reverse psychology, where they put their kid down, saying, “You have no talent for this. You’ll never win.”
They said this — thinking that it would coax their kid into performing better. In reality, it was just upsetting and demoralizing. Reverse psychology is proven damaging to relationships and lowers wellbeing. I never saw it improve a kid’s performance.
More plainly, resist the urge to be negative and cut yourself and other people down. Passing confidence and self-belief to others and yourself, can make a real difference — just like a sugar pill.
Have the courage to believe you are enough, and that your talent is adequate. Roleplay as your ideal self. Do a thought exercise, pretending you’ve just taken the magic pill that gives you the thing you are missing — and even consider using a stand-in piece of food as your sugar pill.
It is so easy for negativity to swarm you in moments of adversity and letdowns. Embrace optimism, and the idea that believing in yourself is a heck of a lot better than not.
