Our beliefs are so powerful that they literally blind us to other perspectives of reality.
There came a time when I had to acknowledge that the thoughts I was thinking weren't helping…but hurting me!
They kept me from succeeding in many different things, the most important one being to start my own business.
First, though, I had to identify those thoughts (beliefs) that were holding me back. For me, these included:
- You're not smart enough
- You're too lazy to do this
- No one will want to work with you
- You don't know anything special – look how many people already know this
These thoughts and labels caused me to think and act in a certain way, triggering a chain reaction of behaviors, which consequently attracted the events and circumstances in my life that I was experiencing at any given moment.
The same holds true today: the thoughts and labels I believe about myself are what help me to succeed (or not).
Well, that's all well and good, but now what?
I'm glad you asked.
There's quite a bit involved when trying to change or overcome limiting beliefs, but the gist of it is:
Challenge them. Question their validity.
Take just one and work on it for the next week.
Belief: I'm not smart enough
Challenge: Why not? How do I know I'm not smart enough? What does that really mean – that I don't have right degree? Or that I just don't know?
Because you've challenged your limiting belief, questioned it, began to see that it may not be true, you've weakened it.
Now you can replace it with an empowering belief:
I already have all I need to succeed within me.
I know, simple.
But really – it's what I've done to change my mindset and personal beliefs. I've taken one at a time, challenged it, replaced it with a mor accurate belief and practiced.
Each day I make a conscious effort to change how I think. Now, if I were to try to change ALL of my thinking at once I would give up. That's way to hard and pretty much impossible. But, by focusing on just one limiting belief at a time I'm able to make small changes that lead into big results.
