Are your limiting beliefs stopping you?par Gaby Da Silva, PCC
Growing up I was told “Money doesn’t grow on trees”, so I grew up believing it was very difficult to acquire money and therefore aspiring to become a millionaire was too slim of a possibility to even truly be considered. I was told “there’s always someone else smarter than you out there”, so I learned that competition would be fierce and that I would never be the best at whatever I set out to do.
It is pretty difficult to succeed, believe in ourselves and stay motivated when our beliefs are so negative and really just working against us! Such beliefs stop us from taking the next step; we even end up by sabotaging ourselves in the process of getting what we want. We do this for a few reasons; let me name a couple right now.
One reason relates to the fact that your mind gives you more of what you focus on. If you believe that achieving a certain goal is very difficult then your mind will go out of its way to prove you right. In other words, if your thoughts and feelings are focused on how difficult it is to reach a specific goal your mind will find ways to sabotage your trials – it will help you give up and fail. Why? So it can support your limiting thoughts, and you could then say: “See, I told you there would be someone better out there!”, “See I told you, you wouldn’t make it!”
Imagine if you did not have those negative beliefs or fears roaming inside of you but instead you had an ultimate confidence in your abilities to succeed. Imagine what it would be if you believed that your success would bring happiness and positive contributions to yourself, your family and your community. If this was your reality, you would see each obstacle and failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. Through the power of your positive mind and your positive beliefs you would be propelled to your desired success - to your best life possible!
To explain another reason why our limiting beliefs would stop us, I would like you to consider the following scenario: Imagine you have come to believe that most people who become successful have done so to the detriment of their marriage. What if you believed that successful people spent little to no time with their children?
If these were the thoughts quietly driving your subconscious what would you do if an opportunity presented itself to suddenly become more successful? Would you jump both feet in? Probably not, because in the end you wouldn’t want to do anything to become that person! You would probably start finding reasons why it wouldn’t work for you and find a way to talk yourself out of that opportunity without even realizing that you were doing it.
Here are two things I invite you to do to overcome your limiting beliefs: 1st Rewrite your limiting beliefs into positive, motivational beliefs. For example, if you believe rich people get rich by taking advantage of poorer people then you could rewrite your statement this way: “As a rich person I can be of help to my community and become a positive role-model for my children”. 2nd Repeat and visualize the new motivational belief you have just created.
You get more of what you focus on, so focus, visualize, think about what you want in the form of positive statements, positive visualizations and positive beliefs - and you will start to notice opportunities cropping up around you.
To become aware of fears, limiting beliefs, internal dialogue and to start making a shift for the best, a life and business coach is a powerful resource. Coaches help you recognize the obstacles and support you to find the very best steps to achieve your goals in an effective and efficient manner.
Remember to be the change you want to see. -Gandhi
