Overcoming Limiting Beliefs: How to Unleash Your Full Potential
Mindset is a powerful force for anyone. It can move you towards your goals. It can carry you over a finish line on a big project. Or it can become a roadblock to success. Mindset, unfortunately, does work both ways. Limiting beliefs are those blockers. Thinking we cannot do something because of what we’ve been told, or previous results. “I could never do that,” is probably something you have at least thought about at some point in your life. And I am not talking about actual physical limitations. If you’re 5 foot 6 inches tall, you’re likely not going to be a starting center for any NBA team. I’m talking about the reasonable goals you can set for yourself at any given point.
"The only limits that exist are the ones you place on yourself." — Unknown
In Mindset in Action: Key Strategies for Any Leader to Take, I spoke about soundtracks that we play in our head. Jon Acuff coined this and wrote a book about it. I highly recommend this read. I shared that book with my team when I finished reading it, I thought it was that important. These are basically old tapes we play to ourselves that get in the way of moving forward. Limiting beliefs can show up at anytime in anyone. So how do we address them when we find ourselves faced with the inner voice saying, “no way, you can’t do that”?
Throughout the entire series on mindset, I covered the need to look beyond the immediate circumstances and how you can control what you control. Mindset, habits, and routines all work together to help leaders remain positive and find next steps that allow you to work through the inevitable hurdles you will encounter.
"The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it." — Jordan Belfort
Common Characteristics
Negative: Limiting beliefs often have a negative tone and can be self-critical or pessimistic.
Lack Flexibility: They are rigid; resisting change or challenging perspectives.
Unconsciousness: People may not even be aware they hold these beliefs or how profoundly they influence their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Easy to Continue or Rationalize: Limiting beliefs reinforce themselves by influencing actions and decisions that align with the belief, thus maintaining the belief's validity in the individual's mind.
"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." — Henry Ford
Ask Yourself…
I first heard this from Michael Hyatt as a way to overcome limiting beliefs, and I reference it often, ask yourself, “what would it take in order for this (desired outcome) to be true?” Then work towards this. I know an example he has used before is related to taking extended time off. He was explaining to someone that he takes an annual sabbatical of four weeks off during the summer. Most people would probably respond the same way as the person he was speaking to, “no way I could take four weeks off in a row.” Maybe that is accurate right now, but it doesn’t mean it has to be the case always. Ask, “what would it take for that to be true?” It may be planning a year or two in advance for coverage in your work or income. If income is a limitation, could you save up to take that time off? The point is, while something may not be possible now, you can find steps to work toward making it happen. You may find out it ends up being easier than you thought.
Look for previous wins
We have all had successes in our past. Lean on those to think about what led up to those accomplishments. What could be recreated right now to get you on that track? Were there steps or actions you took that helped you build momentum? I do this often. It is a cross between positive reflection, gratitude, and journaling to channel your thoughts back to what has served as motivation in the past.
Overcoming limiting beliefs can be done. It takes practice, patience, and grit. You need to give yourself some space to become comfortable challenging your current conditions, which can be very difficult. You are already successful in what you do, why change? But ask yourself, am I as successful as I could be? And how long will it last? As everyone around you continues to change, your past experiences, actions, or beliefs must evolve as well. Take on the task of pushing through your comfort zone. Take partners who can help provide open and honest feedback up front, as well as, along the way. You may just find out that changing your limiting belief that it can be too hard to change really isn’t as difficult as you believe.
What will you do to push through your limiting beliefs?
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