At an early age, some beliefs are hardwired into our brains. The simple theory is: “If you don’t have that, you CANNOT.” The truth is, if you overcome some beliefs, you can change your life! But, how? Here are some convincing pointers that suggest otherwise, to prove that you are the sole owner of changing your life, by changing your beliefs.
What are limiting beliefs and how to remove them?
In a nutshell, a belief is something that you think exists. These can origin from a story, an experience, or simply a state of mind. A belief can be a standard or something that you perceive as correct. Oftentimes, these are just thoughts that have no foundation or any truth behind them.
Here are some examples:
- No diet can make me healthy
- I am not good enough
- I don’t have what “they” have, so I can’t succeed
The truth is your mind doesn't always know what's best for you. Its job is to protect you from getting hurt. When you have a pessimistic or negative perception about a particular outcome, your brain tries to make you safe and confine you to your comfort zone.
While this mode of operation has its benefits, it can become very limiting. It creates stumbling blocks to you achieving what you really desire.
Therefore, it’s important to do the work of reprogramming your mind by phasing out these limiting beliefs you can simply adopt a brand-new belief.
So, looking at the third example. Instead of choosing to believe you are limited in your ability to succeed, you can adopt a new belief such as:
I am talented, I just need more practice.
I realize this is often easier said than done. Our minds tend to believe the negative comments over positive ones. Often, regardless of how much encouraging or positive feedback we get in a given period, all it takes is just one negative comment to throw us off, and send us down a negative spiral. This is exactly why your mind needs more positives to counteract the negatives. You are now a step closer to change your life.
Read More: 4 Mindset Shifts For Success in Life, Leadership, & Career
Beliefs create fears that you should face
Limiting beliefs about yourself, (i.e. I’m not smart enough), about other people (i.e. they’ll think I’m crazy), come down to one feeling…Fear!
Fear of what might happen if you try, fear of what people might think, fear of proving that you’re good enough. This fear hinders you from having a success mindset. However, there are ways to dispel or push past your fears, so that you can move boldly towards the things you want and change your life for the better.
Let’s take the limiting belief “I need to have 3 degrees to get my dream job as an example. If we break down this belief to its core, it’s likely rooted in the fear that what you want isn’t available to you.
Now, when you’ve unraveled your limiting belief, it’s “simply” a matter of choosing to believe you already have what it takes to succeed in this new field, and what you don’t know, you’ll learn over time.
As you continue to assure yourself that you’re worthy and enough, you’ll find that you quickly move from believing something is impossible, to finding creative solutions for getting what you want, and gradually shifting from a limited mindset to a success mindset.
Wrapping Up - Are you ready to change your life?
Whenever you uncover a limiting belief in some area of your life, challenge yourself to do the work of reprogramming your mind through facing your fears, and then reframing that belief to one of opportunity and exploration. At the end of the day, no one is born with a success mindset. This way of thinking requires intentional effort, sometimes daily, and is a work in progress for all of us.
