SINGAPORE – I was a terrible student for most of my pre-university education. My favourite subject at school? Recess.

I hated school because I wasn’t good at spelling or fractions. I remember praying often as a child for the suffering to end.

At the time, I wasn’t sure if there was a God. I prayed because I was desperate. Strangely, when I did so, I felt calmer and more reassured. While the prayer helped, I still resisted schoolwork like the plague and continued to do badly.

American author Nir Eyal’s latest book, Beyond Belief, co-written with Julie Li, made me reflect on my childhood academic vicious circle.

Eyal, who writes in the book that he is a proud Singapore resident, shares that many of our limits aren’t physical. They are psychological and rooted in our belief systems. He elaborates on how the hidden assumptions we carry in the form of beliefs shape how we see ourselves and how we feel, and how those beliefs hold us back.

Through the lens of the book, I now understand that my lack of motivation stemmed from the belief that I wasn’t good at school, based on how I was faring in fractions and spelling. This eventually resulted in me getting poor grades, reinforcing a vicious circle. The belief that I wasn’t good at school was my limiting belief.

The book also describes how we often fail because we give up too early. By quitting too soon, we deprive ourselves of the good outcomes that persistence can bring. As the saying goes, “winners never quit and quitters never win”.

I was particularly fascinated by chapter nine, on how prayer can be used to help people change their underlying belief systems and strengthen them to increase their persistence in overcoming challenges.

In what could have been written only in a multicultural, multi-faith country like Singapore, Eyal found that prayer is surprisingly common across all faith traditions.

He writes: “Residents find nothing remarkable about the fact that a Catholic church, a ...