Ahhh, the good ol’ catchphrase: Believe in yourself.
If only it were that simple, right?
I know. This expression may feel cliché. But it’s worth looking closer at your belief system to better understand how it impacts your goals and your goal achievement. After all, your beliefs, both positive and negative, will affect your confidence and overall job performance. This, in turn, affects your ability to achieve your goals. To begin, we must consider where our belief system originates.
Limiting Beliefs
Throughout our lives, we’ve acquired a belief system—whether we’re aware of it or not. In fact, science tells us that our beliefs are mostly formed by the time we’re 7 years old. They’re ingrained into our mind, and honestly, we usually don’t stop to question them.
And that might be where the problem lies. Even though you’ve grown into a successful adult, your beliefs today may reflect your beliefs as a child. When you don’t recognize and overcome these types of limiting beliefs, or false beliefs that keep you from pursuing your goals and desires, you’re actually hindering your own personal and professional growth.
Limiting beliefs are primarily subconscious, which means you aren’t stopping to think about them. They’re a natural response. They’re conditioned based on past experiences and circumstances. As a child, these beliefs likely provided a place of certainty and probably reduced feelings of anxiety, doubt, and stress.
The power of limiting beliefs is mighty—and damaging—to all of us. Let’s take a closer look.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
You’ve probably heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy, which refers to predicting or expecting a particular outcome based on your beliefs. So, when you feel sure that you’ll make a mistake or a goal will fall apart, you’re actually setting yourself up to fail. Then when you choke, that negative outcome is validated—and further cements your limiting beliefs in yourself.
Now, it’s vital to note that you’re not alone. As business owners, we’ve all dealt with moments of self-doubt. Consider the following examples of limiting beliefs that occur subconsciously in our thinking patterns:
- “I am not _______ enough.” Athletic, tall, qualified, smart, good, wealthy…whatever it is, these beliefs are limiting.
- “I don’t have _______.” Support, time, money, knowledge, experience, resources…all these thoughts place boundaries on your potential and confine you to your current environment.
- “I can’t ever _______.” Succeed, win, get ahead, block out every minute of my day, ask for referrals and introductions, catch a break… these kinds of thoughts prevent you from trying and cripple your career.
- “I’m too _______.” Old, young, ugly, fat, tall, short…negative beliefs about yourself can lower your ability to see opportunities and prevent you from manifesting the outcomes you desire.
As you may have noticed from these examples, limiting beliefs are nearly always negative. It’s vital to note that your beliefs are just perceptions, not facts. Tuning into your attitude, assumptions, and even your environment can help you better understand your beliefs and, in turn, make your beliefs work for you to help you reach your goals.
Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
To beat those negative perceptions, work to shift all your energy to possible positive outcomes. You don’t have to make a vision board or chant mantras every morning; however, I do believe a vision board is important to have and chanting a mantra will help you in many ways. Simple imagining and visualization can also do the trick! Keep the following three suggestions in mind when recognizing and overcoming your limiting beliefs:
- Silence That Inner Critic. When you give power to that negative inner voice in your mind, it will pull you under without hesitation. Instead, challenge those thoughts. Ask yourself, What if I’m wrong about this? As soon as you recognize that a belief isn’t true, it loses its power. For example, you might have a negative inner voice when it comes to asking for referrals and introductions, or calling prospective clients – those people you haven’t spoken to for years even. What if you are wrong about all those negative inner critic comments and discard them, and then do what you know can produce the outcomes you want, so you can achieve your goals?
- Surround Yourself with Affirmation. The old saying is true: garbage in, garbage out. Keep your inner circle filled with positive people. They should encourage you, push you, and help you become the best version of yourself. Anything else may cause you to focus on the negative and view failure as unavoidable…and it also lets in that inner critic you’ve tried so hard to eliminate.
- Take Risks. Risk is part of being a leader. As a business owner, risk allows you to slay dragons every day. You’ll need to ignore those negative voices and challenge your limiting beliefs to keep moving forward. A risk could also be implementing some new technology to help your team members be even more productive, so they can get even more done, which will help your firm be even more successful. A risk could be hiring a new staff person when the budget is already tight.
When considering any kind of risk, I recommend you ask yourself, What’s the worst that can happen? What is the best that can happen?
Visualization is more than just daydreaming. It’s a scientifically proven technique that can help you train your brain to work for you, not against you. Studies show visualization can improve motivation, coordination, and concentration, while reducing fear and anxiety. And now, you can access my complimentary guidebook that will help you harness the power of visualization and create the business and life you truly want.
Download my Power of Visualization Guidebook today and start transforming your mindset and your business. With exercises and thought-provoking insights, this Guide will help you unlock your full potential and achieve the success you deserve. Don’t wait – start visualizing and enjoying your ideal business and ideal life today! Go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/visualization and get my Guidebook right now.
As you can see, limiting beliefs can limit your abilities, opportunities, and success. Take a moment to identify your own limiting beliefs and self-fulfilling prophecies. Write them down. Then think about how your ideal business and life looks. From there, you can set goals that help you visualize and reach your full potential. Think about what you want to do, not what you don’t want to do, or what you don’t want to happen. Kick those limiting beliefs to the curb, stomp on them, and take ownership of your future! You can squash your limiting beliefs!
If you would like help overcoming any limiting beliefs you might have, so you unlock a blueprint to creating and having your ideal business and ideal life, schedule your free consultation with me today!
Download my Are Your Limiting Beliefs Stopping You from Achieving Your Goals? Guidebook now by going to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/request-guidebook-limiting-beliefs/.
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