Limiting Beliefs

Most of us have beliefs that limit our success. These beliefs may include the idea that we are not capable of achieving our goals despite the fact that information is readily available to do virtually anything we wish. Many of us also choose to believe we are not worthy of love or somehow incapable of handling life's challenges. We limit ourselves financially by believing that it takes money to make money or that money is somehow evil. Recognizing these limiting beliefs is one of the major steps that a person can take to become more successful in every area of their life.

These limiting beliefs arise through our perception of life events starting in early childhood when our parents tell us things like "Money doesn't grow on trees" and makes us think we will never be rich, or when someone calls us stupid and we then believe we are stupid. Our sub-conscious mind starts collecting evidence to reinforce these limiting beliefs (because we haven't given our sub-conscious minds different instructions) and so everything gets compounded.

It is possible to overcome any limiting belief. First you have to identify the belief that is holding you back. You can do this on your own, or with friends, or best of all work with a life coach (www.lifecoacingonline.com). Once you have a long list of beliefs that are limiting your success, take each belief individually and ask how that belief limits you. Then decide what you would prefer to believe instead, a belief that will serve you. Make this belief into an affirmation that states positively how you want to feel, then repeat it several times a day for at least 30 days to imprint it into your sub-conscious mind. Your sub-conscious mind will then start looking for evidence to support this new belief and you will indeed believe it.

An example of this process for the belief that "Everything I do goes wrong" would be firstly to look at how this limits you. Write down "This belief limits me because..... I am afraid to try anything new." Write down what you want to feel instead, for example, "I want to feel that it's good to try new things because I will learn, gain experience and become more confident." Next make this into an affirmation. For example "I can do lots of things right, and I get more confident the more I do". Repeat this until it is ingrained in your subconscious mind.

This process can be made even more effective by firstly making a big cross through your old belief or burning the piece of paper it is written on, and if you are working with a coach they will probably ask you to think of examples in your life where your new belief has already proven true.