Whatever you think about you, you’re right. (Proverbs 23:7, translated)
One of my favorite children’s books of all times is the little engine that could. If you’ve never read it, it’s about a little engine who successfully pushed train cars over the mountain—in spite of the fact that he was smaller than the other engines and had never been over the mountain before.
As he began to chant “I think I can, I think I can,” he started acting on that belief and was able to finish the job.
He never knew what he was capable of until he challenged his doubts and tried.
And you can do the same.
You can challenge every limiting belief that stops you from achieving everything you want to do.
What are Limiting Beliefs?
Believe it or not, your external circumstances are directly related to what’s going on inside of your head.
Everything that you’ve accomplished or not is the direct result of what you believe about yourself.
Your beliefs create the world according to you.
Limiting beliefs are unintentional excuses that stop you from getting the desired results from your efforts.
They have the power to make you try things that will produce unwanted results. They have the power to discourage you from ever trying. They have the power to make you quit.
Limiting beliefs lie deep within our subconscious and most times we’re not aware of how they drive our actions and our decisions.
For example, deep inside, if you believe that “you’ll never find a good man because all the good ones are taken,” then you have probably created experiences to match that belief by:
- dropping your standards and committing to someone who won’t commit to you, OR by
- staying in a toxic relationship because you’re afraid that it’s the best you can do and you don’t want to be alone.
Most of your limiting beliefs came from something that you saw or heard when you were a child, so it’s not necessarily your fault that you got them.
But it is your fault if you choose to hold on to them.
You are keeping YOU from getting everything you want out of life.
The good news is that these beliefs can be changed at any time. It doesn’t matter where you are today, you can change what you believe if you really want to. Whether you’re married, single, old, young, rich or poor.
- The first step in removing a limiting belief is to acknowledge what the belief is and where it came from . As I mentioned before, your limiting beliefs either came from a childhood experience or from words that were spoken to you. And over time, you learned to draw conclusions from them. As a result of the conclusions that were made, your subconscious mind either blocks specific actions or encourages specific actions when opportunities arise.For example, if you conclude that you’ll never lose weight because all the women in your family are plus-sized, your subconscious mind sabotages every diet you go on by setting unrealistic goals. Deep down inside, you know you can’t lose 50 pounds in 2 weeks so you feel relieved when the diet doesn’t work.
- Accept that beliefs are NOT facts. A belief is a changeable conviction that you may have—whether true or not. A fact is a statement that can be proven. For instance, when I was in 5th grade, I believed that my classmate, Loretta, was satan’s daughter. I couldn’t prove it, but she sure was mean to me. I also believed that Santa Claus was a fraud and I proved it by aiming a video camera at the fireplace all night.See the difference
- Visualize the results that you really want. Start with the belief that would be the easiest to change and decide what outcome you want. Close your eyes and picture the success that you want to experience. What’s the weather like? Who is there with you? What are you wearing?The more details you put together, the more it becomes real to you; the more you believe in the possibility that it could happen for you.
- Now you must replace the old belief with a new one that aligns with what you want. Changing your mind is a matter of reversing the negative thoughts. Meditate on the opposite of your limiting belief whenever the negative belief tries to dictate your actions. Then, say it out loud.For instance, if you believe that you can’t save money for a vacation because you’ve always been an impulsive spender, change those thoughts and words to: “I am a saver. I only buy necessities.”
- Lastly, you must remove the actions that align with the old beliefs from your life. Now that you have new beliefs, you need new actions. For so long you have routinely made decisions based on the limiting belief. After changing your beliefs, you must intentionally take action based on the new belief until the new action becomes a habit. For example, if you believe that you are an impulsive spender, you subconsciously use that as an excuse to buy what you want and not track your spending – after all, you have an excuse so why try to do better?Now that you have a new belief, question each purchase to see if it’s a want or a need. If it’s a want, put the amount that you would have spent into a savings account until you reach your goal.
To help you get started changing your beliefs, I’ve created a FREE unLimited-belief-worksheet worksheet for you to use.
Click here and it’s all yours.
