Don’t Limit Your Potential By Limiting Your Beliefs

Are you feeling stuck? Do you feel like you're not living up to your potential? It might be your limiting beliefs holding you back. Do you know what they are? Do you believe that you're not good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough? If so, it's time stop letting your beliefs hold you back from achieving your goals. 

So how do you go about doing that? Well, it starts by recognizing your limitations and then working to overcome them. With a bit of effort and determination, you can best them. So don't let your limiting beliefs get in the way of success – let's break through them and get you on a path to achieve anything you set your mind to!

Limiting Beliefs: What They Are and How They Hold You Back

Most of us have limiting beliefs. A limiting belief is a belief that you hold about yourself that limits your ability to achieve your goals. It's something that you tell yourself that holds you back from taking action or moving forward in life. 

These limiting beliefs are not something we create, but something that is "given" to us. In French, we would call them a "poisoned gift". They come from our parents, our family, teachers, etc... They are a reflection of what people believe about us (based on their own limiting beliefs) and they feel compelled to share them with us. Say them often enough, and we start to believe them. They sound something like this: "I'm not good enough," "I'm not smart enough," or "I'm not pretty enough." And pretty soon, we believe we can't achieve our goals and reach for our dreams because we believe that we are less than absolutely powerful over our life!

If you believe that you're not good enough, then you'll never try to achieve anything great. You'll never put yourself out there because you're afraid of failure. But the truth is, everyone experiences failure at some point in their lives. The key is to learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward. This is where having a growth mindset is critical! 

You see, limiting beliefs go hand in hand with a Fixed mindset. People who espouse a Fixed mindset are afraid of failure. They feel they have to get everything right. They tend to take an all or nothing approach to life, for example, they may say "Well, if I can't do this right, why bother doing it at all...!" They cannot see the richness that comes from failing or making mistakes.

The approach of someone who is Growth oriented is very different. They are not afraid of failure. They see mistakes as opportunities to learn. Thomas Edison was a perfect example of someone with a Growth mindset. He is well know for saying "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". Now, we're talking!

Identifying Your Own Limiting Beliefs

Start by taking inventory and making a list of all of the beliefs you have about yourself. 

Now look at your list and on the left write down the beliefs that keep you playing small. How do you identify those? Well, they usually sound like the ones I described above: "I am not 'blah blah blah' enough", or "I can't XYZ".  When you say these out loud, your feel constriction in your body. They leave you feeling powerless. They don't feel good in your gut. You may even know at a certain level that they are not true. 

Then, on the right, write those that propel you forward. They sound like this "I'm really good at XYZ", "I'm curious" or "I always give my best". More simply said, on the left, put your negative beliefs and on the right put your positive beliefs. 

Break Out Of Your Limiting Beliefs

So, now that you know that your negative or limiting beliefs are any beliefs that hold you back from living the life you desire, you can begin to deal with them! That starts with you living more consciously rather than being on auto-pilot. You must become more aware of your behaviors and pay attention to your thoughts, if you're going to succeed at course correcting.

The first step is acknowledging your limiting beliefs and recognizing that they are not true. A lot of times, we're not even aware of the negative things we believe about ourselves. We might not realize that we're holding ourselves back. So take some time to think about what you believe about yourself. What are the things that you tell yourself that hold you back? If you know Dr. Daniel Amen, he often says "Don't believe everything you think!" And it is so true. Our mind is a funny thing. It tells us things that have no basis in reality, so it's important that we challenge those beliefs. Just because you believe something, doesn't make it true! 

You can start by asking yourself what evidence you have that this belief is true. Show me the money! Why do you believe what you believe? Are your beliefs based on fact or emotion? If your beliefs are based on emotion, it might be time to let them go. Emotional beliefs can cloud our judgment and prevent us from taking action. If your beliefs are based on fact, it's time to examine the evidence. What evidence do you have to prove that it is absolutely 100% true 100% of the time? Is there any evidence that disproves it? This will help you to start thinking more critically about the beliefs you have about yourself. And I will bet you're going to find a whole bunch of times that this belief wasn't true!

The second step is to start reframing your beliefs. This is where you take the negative belief and turn it into a positive one. For example, if you believe "I'm not good enough", you can reframe that to "I am constantly learning and growing and becoming more and more skilled". If you believe "I can't do XYZ", you can reframe it to "I am capable of anything I set my mind to". Just changing the language from negative to positive can have a profound effect on how you feel about yourself and your ability to achieve your goals. 

As we re-frame our beliefs, there is one important thing to keep in mind. When we say "I am XYZ", we take ownership for that belief. When we own something, it is much more difficult to get rid of it. For example, saying "I am a loser" is very different from saying "I have the habits of someone who doesn't succeed in what they try". Can you feel the difference? When you ARE someone who XYZ, it becomes part of your identity, whether good or bad, it is a part of who you are. But, when you are someone who has the BEHAVIORS of someone who XYZ, that is much easier to change. You just need to focus on changing the behavior, habits and actions to something else. This is easier to do than changing your identity.

The third step is to start practicing positive self-talk. This is where you catch yourself when you are having negative thoughts and turn them into positive ones. For example, if you find yourself thinking "I'm such an idiot!", catch yourself and say "No, I'm not an idiot, I made a mistake and that's okay". You can also start telling yourself things like "I can achieve anything I set my mind to," "I am worthy of love and respect," or "I am capable of great things." When you start to believe in yourself, you'll be amazed at what you can achieve.

The fourth step in breaking through your limiting beliefs is to take action. This is where you put what you've learned into practice and start taking steps towards achieving your goals, despite your fears and negative beliefs. Don't let your beliefs hold you back – do the thing and achieve anything you set your mind to!

Remember, you are not your thoughts and you are not your limiting beliefs. You are so much more than that! So don't let them hold you back from living the life you desire. You can break through them!

Taking Action in Spite of Your Fears

I want to take a moment to dive a little deeper into step number 4. Breaking your limiting beliefs will take action and with action comes the need for courage. Courage is a funny thing. As you do the things that scare you, you'll realize that you're still alive! You haven't dropped dead! Woohoo! And developing this courage muscle is absolutely vital because we can only overcome our fears by doing what we fear most.

Let me give you an example. I used to have an irrational fear of getting in front of the camera to share my message. At the same time, I knew that not doing it was holding me back. But you know what the scariest thing was? Pushing that danged Record button! I would stand there, hesitating... Do I push it or not? Do I record or not? My heart would race, my palms would sweat. And then little by little, as I realized it hadn't killed me yet, it got easier. See, I had to DO THE THING to GET OVER THE THING!

I don't know what limiting beliefs you need to eradicate. But I do know that the more you lean into them and the more you do what scares you, the quicker you'll grow and move on from what's holding you back.

Staying Motivated When Working Towards Your Goals

If you're anything like me, you've started down the path of breaking your limiting beliefs and taking action towards your goals, but then something happens... Life gets in the way. You get busy, or you get distracted, or something else comes up and suddenly you find yourself off track. 

When this happens, it's important to have a plan in place to get yourself moving again. For me, this looks like calibrating what my Must-Dos and my Nice-to-Dos and focusing on the things that make a difference. For you, it might look like setting small, attainable goals that you can focus on each day or week, such as writing 500 words each day or recording one video per week. 

The key is to keep your goal in front of you so that you don't forget about it and to make it small enough that you can realistically achieve it, even on your busiest days. 

Conclusion

Breaking through your limiting beliefs is not an easy task, but it is possible. Remember to take things one step at a time, be gentle with yourself, and have a plan in place to stay motivated. You can do this! And I believe in you!

I hope this article was helpful in breaking through your limiting beliefs. If you have any questions or comments, please share! I wish you all the best on your journey to achieving your goals!