What are limiting beliefs
This can be a somewhat abstract concept to grasp, but when you see them laid out before you, it becomes much easier to understand.
The Person Who Can’t Start Their Own Busines
Let’s say that you have a business idea. You’re going to provide coaching for small businesses and help them get up and started. You’ll charge a relatively low flat fee, but then the company will pay you a slightly larger fee a year later as long as their earnings have passed a certain threshold. Nice idea!
Your model involves selling directly to the customer, and the way you plan to do this is by looking for them on Instagram. You will find people who post about a business plan, then you’ll private message them and simply start chatting.
If you spot an opportunity to sell, you’ll pounce. That’s the “soft sell” approach, and it means you can build a relationship and demonstrate your value before you charge.
Here’s the problem though: you’re too scared to contact anyone! Every day you put off messaging your clients out of the blue, and you can’t quite put your finger on why.
Chances are it comes down to some limiting beliefs:
You don’t believe anyone would pay for your business idea
You are worried that if you fail, you’ll lose something that has been keeping you motivated
You are a “shy person” and don’t like to disturb people
Three limiting beliefs, holding you back from capitalizing on your dreams – perhaps even getting rich!
The Person Who Won’t Leave Their Current Job/Relationship Let’s try another situation. Let’s say you’re in a job or a relationship that makes you unhappy. It really doesn’t matter which, but you know it won’t provide you fulfillment.
But you STAY THERE anyway! Why? Because you feel it’s the “best you’re going to get.” You think that if you terminate the relationship, you’ll end up loveless. Likewise, you’ll find yourself on the street if you quit your current job.
A lack of esteem means that you don’t think you can get “better.” You effectively think you aren’t “worth” more than that. And this then leads you to make some terrible mistakes.
Some people will even stay in abusive relationships because they
don’t feel that they will find anything better! Some even feel that
they deserve the abuse they receive.
The Author Who Throws Away His Novel
Did you know that when first wrote Carrie, he threw
it in the trash? It was his wife who retrieved it for
him and told him he was being crazy!
Turns out, that we often can’t recognize our own
good work – or we’re too scared to believe in it!
Now compare this to someone like J.K. Rowling who
persistently kept sending out her manuscript for Harry Potter
despite it being rejected over and over! Imagine if Rowling had
King’s lack of self-belief!
The Person Who Won’t Approach a Group of Friends
The sad truth of it is that for some people, limiting beliefs are so
powerful that they won’t even go and speak to their own friends.
They believe that they’ll stutter, or that their friends don’t want
them there! They think they have nothing to contribute to the
conversation.
The Person Who Keeps Smoking
Not all limiting beliefs can seem like negative things on the face of
it. For example, how about your sense of “self.” We all have a
sense of who we are, but most of us don’t think of this as a
limiting belief!
Of course, who you think you are is not always limiting… but it
can be!
The perfect example of this is what happens when you get stuck
in “type thinking.” This is when you think that you are a certain
“type” of person, or that you have a certain set of traits… and then
you let that dictate who you are going forward.
For example, you might have a reputation for being the
class clown. As a result, you always cause a ruckus in the office
and draw attention to yourself. Eventually, this starts to hurt your
career, but you feel as though you can’t change that about
yourself – as it’s something you’re known for and an integral part
of your personality!
Likewise, you might not want to stop smoking because you have
“always smoked.” You might not want to improve your diet
because you love being known as the guy who eats everything.
You might not approach clients because you think of yourself as
shy.
As you can see then, limiting beliefs really can be extremely
problematic and hurt every aspect of your life – and we’ve still
only touched on a few. For this reason, it’s time to start doing
something about them.
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