Dealing With Self-Limiting Beliefs

The way that we think about ourselves and the world impacts the way that we act.

Our lives are made up of a series of actions and inactions, so it goes to follow that our thoughts have a huge impact on the direction and quality of our lives.

A limiting belief is a thought pattern or state of mind that we are convinced is absolutely true, that restricts us in some way.

Because we believe these stories, we don't question them or challenge them.

We blindly obey the self-imposed limitations these belief systems set.

Limiting beliefs are dangerous because we often use them to excuse ourselves from growth, change or development.

These false narratives come from our past experience, family systems, society, social circles, the media and religion.

Some of the most common self-limiting beliefs are:

• I am not enough
• It's too late
• It's not worth trying
• people can't be trusted
• life is unfair
• Living our lives mindlessly adhering to negative and erroneous beliefs has a ripple effect reaching every area of our lives.

It keeps us in a negative state of mind and stops us from seeking and creating new opportunities and life experiences.

Limiting beliefs make us feel safe because they keep us in our comfort zone, but they really halt our progress and keep us from chasing our dreams and achieving our goals, both personally and professionally.

If we want change we must take a proactive approach to life by identifying, questioning and reframing the thought patterns that hold us back.

We will unpack how to get started dismantling these long held systems in next week’s column.