How To Eliminate Limiting Beliefs In 6 Easy Steps
Have you ever heard yourself say something like “I can’t do this because_____.” Has that belief held you back for most of your life?
If so, you’re not alone, we all have limiting beliefs that get in the way of achieving our full potential. That’s why today we’re focusing on the types of beliefs that hinder our ability to reach our full potential.
Today’s post is the final installment of four, where I’ve talked about self-awareness. Being self-aware is the number one predictor of success in leadership, so it’s crucial that, as leaders, we all work on our limiting beliefs so that we can become exceptional leaders.
The first blog post was about the broader topic of self-awareness, the second was about core values and beliefs, the third was about strengths and weaknesses, and today’s post is about limiting beliefs and how to eliminate them.
What exactly are limiting beliefs?
Limiting beliefs are negative beliefs that guide our attitude, our actions, and our behavior.
Also, they’re interpretations of, rather than facts about particular situations, circumstances, and events.
Limiting beliefs exist to protect us from a perceived and negative outcome.
Even worse, they move us away from rather than closer to our goals, and they’re rooted in our emotions.
Why do limiting beliefs matter?
Beliefs create our reality. That means, limiting beliefs, which are negative beliefs, create negative experiences, and they can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Additionally, limiting beliefs prevent us from reaching our goals, affect our character, and our relationships.
In short, limiting beliefs have such an impact on our lives, it’s in our best interest to identify our limiting beliefs and replace them with empowering beliefs.
What do limiting beliefs sound like?
Here are some statements:
“I can’t do that because…”
“I don’t deserve that because…”
“Well if I do that something bad is going to happen.”
“I can’t do this because people will think…”
“One day, I’ll change.”
“Exercise isn’t that important.”
“Getting my hopes up always leads to disappointment.”
“My health is holding me back.”
That’s what limiting beliefs sound like. If any of these statements sound similar to anything that you’ve thought or said out loud, you likely have limiting beliefs.
I want to encourage you to consider digging deep and unearthing those limiting beliefs. After all, you can get rid of them and replace them with empowering beliefs to reach your full potential.
How do limiting beliefs affect your life?
You feel worthless, place blame on anything, everything, anyone, and you don’t accept responsibility. You blame genetics; other people, and you blame the weather. You’re addicted to the struggle, or what we call self-sabotage. You may have all or nothing thinking, and you don’t value yourself.
Do these sound familiar? Well, if so, I’ve got good news for you. You can overcome limiting beliefs. I’m going to give you six steps that you can take today to help you overcome limiting beliefs.
6 Steps to overcoming limiting beliefs
1. Identify your limiting beliefs. For example, pinpoint a belief that has held you back throughout your life such as “I am not good enough for_____ “ or “I don’t have enough______” (time, money or experience).
2. Acknowledge that your limiting beliefs are interpretations of, not facts, about particular circumstances, situations, or events. Start by asking yourself why you believe this belief to be true, and don’t stop until you run out of answers. Next, determine if your belief is really an interpretation of the facts and not truly a fact.
3. Next, determine the emotions that are the root cause of your limiting beliefs. Ask yourself why you feel the way you feel. What is the emotion coming to the surface and why?
4: Then, determine how these limiting beliefs are affecting your life. That means being honest with yourself about the impact the belief is having on your life. Meaning, if your limiting belief is that you don’t have enough experience for a job, then keep asking yourself what qualifications you don’t have until you run out of answers. Next, look over all of your answers and ask yourself if these beliefs are true. In other words, keep asking until you run out of responses.
5: Imagine what life would be like if you overcome these limiting beliefs. Meaning, ask yourself what you have missed out on because of these beliefs and imagine what like would be like if you let go of these beliefs.
6: Finally, replace your limiting beliefs with empowering beliefs. Do this by asking yourself what positive beliefs that serve you can replace the limiting beliefs that are hurting you. Then, find evidence that supports these new empowering beliefs.
Now you know what limiting beliefs are, the impact they have on your life and the steps you can take to overcome them. But, if you want to go deeper, I have a FREE worksheet to help you called How To Identify and Overcome Limiting beliefs. All you need to do is click here to get your FREE worksheet.
Self-awareness
If you’ve been following me this month, you already know that all of my topics have been about self-awareness.
If you’re ready to develop your self-awareness, but you have yet to get started, then go below this post and download the FREE guide, How To Develop Self-awareness. This guide will help you to improve your self-awareness and become a better leader.
Thank you for joining me at Leadership Life Support. If you have any questions or feedback please leave a comment below. Your feedback is exciting to read AND helps me provide the information you need.
