Six Steps To Get Rid of Your Limiting Beliefs

6 Steps to Get Rid of Your Limiting Beliefs

1. WRITE OUT YOUR NEGATIVE BELIEFS

Write out the negative belief you have, verbalise it, and accept it’s a fear of yours. Just saying it out loud will help you realise what’s holding you back. You may feel as though you’re feeling stuck (which might be like every other day) and ask yourself “what’s stopping me?”

You may question your negative beliefs even asking yourself the following:

? If I change the focus of my business I’m starting from scratch and I’ll be behind my peers.

? I can’t meet the right guy at this point in my life, I need to be more established.

? If I share too much personal info on my blog and social media I will come across as unprofessional and people will judge me.

2. DETERMINE WHAT INSTILLED THESE BELIEFS

You may be influenced by many things, but mainly people. News, media, friends, colleagues, and family all heavily influence what we believe to be true. Sometimes your deepest fears are from traumatic encounters, childhood memories and other peoples fears projected onto us. The next step to get rid of your limiting beliefs is to find out the source of them.

Personally speaking I’ve known a lot of people to change career paths or start a new business and abandon their old one. I have down this on many occasions having to start from zero, when made me think that I was behind in what I intended to achieve in my career.

I didn’t feel like I had my life together, and I have a strong belief that you attract what you are, not what you want. Social media plays a big part in what we are as people. Everyone posts their best moments and leaves out the reality that life isn’t always perfect.

3. DETERMINE YOUR NEW POSITIVE BELIEF

What new belief do you want to believe!? Yes, you get to decide. I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck with those negative thinking patterns. So instead change your beliefs to be more positive!

For example, change the focus of your business I’m starting from scratch and I’ll be behind my peers, to ‘There is no such thing as being behind, everyone has their own timeline. And the sooner I pursue the path that I feel most aligned with, the better. I’m not starting from scratch, I’m refining my vision as I learn more about myself.

I can’t meet the right guy at this point in my life, I need to be more established.’

If you have problems finding a partner then you may want to consider changing your thought process to one of:

‘My right partner won’t judge where I’m at in my journey, they will love and appreciate who I am as a person. Neither of us have to be established when we meet, we just need the same life goals and values and together we can build a successful life.’

Or, ‘I would rather be authentically myself than present a perfect image. My experiences in life may help someone, which is reason enough to share. People will judge you no matter what you do so you may as well do what you truly want to do in life.’

Now, doesn’t that sound better to have these new positive beliefs and when you have this mindset you will feel so happier and more hopeful, and the fear starts to slip away.

4. LOOK FOR EVIDENCE

It may take time for these new beliefs to sink in. A way to speed it up is to look for evidence they are true. What can work is finding role models that fit these new beliefs you want to adapt. If you have found people that have pivoted their business and completely started over but they are happy now that they are on the right course this will help you change your mindset considerably.

These people will prove to you that your NEW beliefs are indeed true. If they can do it, so can you! Find people who have overcome their fears and limiting beliefs so that you can look up to as role models!

5. THINK OF THE WORST CASE & HOW YOU WILL OVERCOME IT

This may sound counter-productive, but when you finally come to terms with what the absolute worst case scenario is, you will realise that you will be okay if that happens (even if it is unlikely).

Worst case #1. I change directions in my business, I completely fail. What does “fail” even mean?? I create a product or offer a new service that no one buys…? Okay so worst case is I go in a completely new direction and my audience shrinks, no one cares what I’m doing, and I make zero money.

Well I know I can always get a job, heck I have a part time one now. I know I have useful skills and experience that I can earn money, I won’t be broke & living on the street. And if I change my business to be more in line with what I want and no one is interested... well I decided to start a business that I was passionate about, I never did it to please other people! Only to help those who connected with what I was doing. So I’ll be okay, if anything I will learn from the experience.

Worst case #2: I don’t meet a partner now or ever… I feel saying I won’t meet someone ever is a little extreme. But maybe it takes a while and I’m single until I’m in my thirties. Okay that would kinda suck, but I know that I’m surrounded by people that love me. Life is very wonderful now and if it takes a while for me to meet the right person so be it! I’ll have fun and enjoy life in the meantime. I’m single now and have never been happier so that is proof enough that I’ll be more than okay.

Worst case #3: I guess the worst case would be if I share too much personal info and people judge me they could leave hateful comments or just stop following altogether.

If I’m being authentically me and not hurting anyone but I actually have good intentions, I can’t help how people interpret what I say and do. There will always be people judging you, if it’s not online it’s in real life. Being true to yourself encourages other to do the same! I know this because it was from watching other people be raw and real on social media that gave me the courage to do the same. I'll keep doing my thing for the few that appreciate it and block the haters if I have to!

I think about the worst case scenarios to help me realize I'LL BE OKAY even if it happens. Most of the time the worst possible outcome isn't actually that bad..

6. RECITE AFFIRMATIONS

I talked briefly about affirmations in my self care blog post. I’m including this as a crucial step because affirmations rewire how your brain thinks! Some may see it as stating a lie, but I see it as stating what you know can be true.

When you say a statement over and over again it sends a very clear signal to your Reticular Activating System (part of your brain that filters the information we are exposed to everyday) that this is important to you.

Here is an excerpt that explains how affirmations work:

"The other way affirmations work is that they create a dynamic tension in our beings. If what I am saying is at a higher vibration that what I perceive the truth to be, the dynamic tension is uncomfortable. For instance, if I am saying “I am joyfully and healthfully at my ideal weight” when in actuality I am 10, 20, 30+ pounds above my ideal weight, a painful incongruence is felt between what I perceive the truth to be and what I am saying. Since this is uncomfortable, we want to rid ourselves of the tension. There are only two ways to do that: one is to stop saying the affirmation; the other is to raise the bar on reality by making the affirmation and reality match."

Here are a few general affirmations that I love:

· Everything always works out for me

· Happiness is my natural state of being

· I am a creator

· Money flows to me easily

· I am surrounded by love

I could honestly get more specific, and I encourage you to write out your own affirmations custom to your life goals.

Now that you’ve done all these steps you might have to revisit them now and again. Sometimes I return to negative thinking patterns, but it helps to write all these steps out to reread in that case. Then eventually these new ways of thinking become habitual!

I hope you found this post helpful and I encourage you to share this process with people close to you to help them improve their beliefs. Lastly when you see people around you achieving and living in accordance with your new belief, applaud them because even if you aren’t quite there yet, it’s reaffirming what you want is possible!

Terence Liburd

Therapist