What are the stories you tell yourself? Are self-limiting beliefs stopping you from living your best life? Limiting beliefs can hold you back from living the life of your dreams.
“You begin to fly when you let go to self-limiting beliefs and allow your mind and aspirations to rise to greater heights.”
~Brian Tracy
As human beings, we all tend to have a certain belief about ourselves. The beliefs that empower us, and the limiting beliefs that dis-empower us. Those stories we tell ourselves about what we can and can’t do. Or the stories and beliefs about why we can’t do something. What people believe they are capable of, or not capable as the case maybe. We make excuses for why we can’t achieve certain things in life or why life is the way it is.
I asked you again: What are the stories you tell yourself? Are self-limiting beliefs stopping you from living your best life? The stories we tell ourselves why we can’t do things are simply that – they are just stories.
They say; “it’s a bad economy, it’s a bad business, “I did not get the same opportunities”, “I’m too black, I’m too white”, I’m too tall, I’m too short, etc. Or they say; “I don’t have enough money to…… “I can’t loss weight, I can’t be my ideal size; (they are not prepared to change their eating or exercise habits), I can’t date because I’m too old, etc. These are few stories we tell ourselves to justify why we don’t have what we want and desire. These are what we call limiting beliefs.
We all have limiting beliefs because that’s part of life, but most of us are not aware of them because limiting beliefs work on a subconscious level – meaning we are not conscious of them. These limiting beliefs are there to kind of protect you by keeping you in your comfort zone – they want to keep you in the “safe zone” to avoid taking risks. But as we all know, growth happens outside of your comfort zone. Anyone who grow mentally, physically, or spiritually knows that growth is not found in comfort zone.
What Are Limiting Beliefs?
Limiting beliefs are those things you believe about yourself that place limitations on your abilities. They are simply assumptions about reality that are not true. Limiting beliefs keep you from reaching your most significant potential. They get in the way of what you think is possible for yourself and keep you from living your happiest, most fulfilling life. Whatever your limiting beliefs are, they restrict the scope of how you see the world.
Limiting beliefs keep you from seeing what’s possible for yourself. Maybe you see your dream job and think, I’m not capable or qualified enough for it, so you end up not applying for the job. Maybe you have been heartbroken in a relationship, so rather than trying again, giving love a chance again, you say to yourself, it’s not worth it.”
Our beliefs can put boundaries and limitations on what we regard as reasonable behaviour. Your belief that cheating is wrong limits you from simply cheating. This limiting belief is probably a good one to have. Therefore, we can say that there are positive and negative limiting beliefs. In fact, we need some limiting beliefs in order to, you know what, limit us from doing stupid shit.
Limiting beliefs can also keep you from taking necessary actions to be your authentic and powerful self. We all have life goals to purse. We want to achieve something that could help us to fulfil our purpose. But while we are all success driven, purpose driven, have goals in life, we’re also bombarded with loads of reasons to hold back – our motivation get clouded by fear, self-doubts, low self-esteem, insecurities and limiting beliefs.
Some common limiting beliefs that are holding you back:
SELF – Nothing ever works out for me. I don’t deserve to get what I want. I’m not that good at anything. Nobody cares about what I think. You feel like you can’t do something because something is absolutely wrong with you.
HEALTH – It’s too hard to lose weight. Getting older means fat and sick. It’s not possible for me to heal. I’m a sufferer, I’m this, I’m that… I will start tomorrow. I have to starve myself to get in shape. I will start when I’m ready.
SUCCESS – I’m too old to create a new opportunity. It’s hard to find a job I like… I’m too old to start a business… etc. You feel like you can’t do or create something because no one will let you.
LOVE AND RELATIONSHIP – Love is hard to find. All the good ones are taken. If I ask for too much, people will leave me… No one will love me if… etc.
And the list goes on… I still have limiting beliefs, but what I do, is I don’t listen to theme anymore. Limiting beliefs prevent us from making changes in our lives. They stop us from turning our dreams into reality.
Here are 3 ways to overcome your self-limiting beliefs:
- Self-awareness: Know what you stand for. When you truly know yourself, you gain more confidence.
- Mindset: Overcoming your limiting beliefs starts with working on your mindset. Get your mind right and the rest will follow suit.
- Monitor your self-talk: As Jim Kwik says. “Your mind is always eavesdropping on your self-talk.” Be careful of what you say to yourself. You are listening. So make sure what you are saying to yourself is empowering, nourishing and inspiring.
Transforming your limiting beliefs about your health, finance, success, relationships, ability to be more is a key ingredient of bringing balance into your life.
Do you have a limiting belief that is holding you back right now?
Conclusion
Remember this secret sauce: Limiting beliefs get destroyed through action. And with action comes result, with result comes confidence – with confidence you start to lower your limiting beliefs and slowing you stop listening to them.
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