This subject matter is too important to waste time so I’m going to get right into it. What am I talking about here? LIMITING BELIEFS!
What you should know is that EVERYONE has some limiting beliefs that they need to work through. This is normal because our conscious mind is limited in its capacity. It is not until we increase our awareness or consciousness that we begin to recognize our limiting beliefs.
What is a Limiting Belief?
A limiting belief is any belief, state of mind, or conviction that limits you in any way. This belief can be about you, the people around you, and/or how you feel about the world.
It should be noted that a lot of your limiting beliefs stem from childhood. What happened is that your parents, well-intentioned, said or did something that you didn’t quite understand. You created a story about what was said and over time, you believed this story to be true. This was the beginning of a limiting belief.
As a result, you live your life in limited ways. Fundamentally, you believe these stories because you think they protect you and keep you safe but they really keep you stuck.
Limiting beliefs impact your mental existence because your beliefs along with your values and ideas are a function of your mind.
How Are They Formed?
Believe it or not, every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause. Your limiting belief is the effect so let’s look at the cause. I discuss the Law of Cause and Effect in great detail in my course.
As mentioned before, a lot of limiting beliefs begin in childhood but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop new ones in adulthood. Let’s take a look at how they are formed:
- Fear – worry and/or anxiety that your basic needs won’t be met. Over time, this could turn into a fear of death, judgement, criticism, rejection and the like.
- Experience – perhaps you do something wrong once and get in trouble for it. You then draw the conclusion that you will always get into trouble for doing that. This happens when you fail to challenge other factors.
- Victimhood – you make excuses for yourself because you don’t want to see yourself as a failure. When something doesn’t workout, it’s easier to place the blame elsewhere. When you excuse your behavior, you are limiting your growth because you’re not open to learning the lesson and that creates more stories which become self-fulfilling prophecies.
- Education – as a child, you relied on your parents and teachers knowledge. The problem is that your educators were limited in their own knowledge and you believed what they told you. Although well intentioned, their information caused you to doubt yourself which limited you.
Education can be tricky because it limits us by thinking in black and white, good or bad, right or wrong. It doesn’t teach us anything about the gray area which is where all growth happens.
Simply relying on the education, knowledge of others, may have a limiting effect on what you believe to be true about yourself. The question becomes, how do you identify your limiting beliefs?
The answer is actually quite simple and includes two steps!
Identifying Limiting Beliefs
#1 – Examine Your Behavior: Think about your actions in varying situations where you’ve responded negatively and/or without regard. What was the reason behind your response? You may discover it was a limiting belief.
For example, if you believe that failure is a bad thing, as opposed to a learning opportunity, you will believe that you should avoid doing anything that may cause you to fail.
#2 – Identify What You Actually Believe: This includes all of your beliefs, not just those that limit you because you may not know what they are at this point. If you can, categorize them:
- Health
- Family
- Friends
- Finance
- Charity
Decide which ones move you towards your goals and get rid of those that move you away from your goals.
Most Popular Limiting Beliefs
The interesting thing about limiting beliefs is that they sound like everyday language we use. On the surface, it seems harmless but if you were to dig deeper, you’d find the limiting belief.
Some of these phrases include:
“I’m not worthy”
“Rich people get richer, poorer get poorer”
“You have to work hard to make a lot of money”
“There is only so much to go around”
“This is a doggy dog world. You either do or get done”
“Only the strongest survive”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees”
“Someone has to collect the garbage”
If you are guilty of believing any of these, don’t feel bad because there are millions of people who are just like you.
At the end of the day, limiting beliefs are just stories that you make up in your head and you assign them significant meaning.
Maya Angelou said, “when you know better, you do better.” Perhaps, you didn’t know before, but now you do. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
If you’re ready to release your limiting beliefs, click here to set up a discovery consultation and work with me.
