One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome is having limiting beliefs. These are simply preconceived notions about life that often come from your personal experiences. Limiting beliefs are usually formed over time and are generally not based on solid logic or evidence. As a result, they feel very real and can affect you in different ways. You must, therefore, work very hard at challenging these beliefs and developing new ones which are based on sound reasoning and evidence.
How do you know if a limiting belief is holding you back? Many people will try to deny these beliefs or downplay their importance. Unfortunately, most people simply don’t know how to access their own self-awareness and this is where most of the problem is. You must be willing to look at your own behavior and decide for yourself if limiting beliefs are inhibiting you from reaching your goals.
Self-awareness does not mean that you look at your thoughts 100 times a day. It simply means that you monitor your thoughts and determine what they lead you to. For example, are you using self-limiting beliefs when it comes to your job? If you’re honest, then you’ll realize that you tend to focus on things that make you unhappy in the beginning such as the pay, the job, and the office environment. You focus on these things rather than the potential joy and benefit you may receive later on.
This is the reason that many people who suffer from anxiety and depression also suffer from unhealthy self-limiting beliefs. Our thoughts often start with our childhood and continue through our adult life. What this means is that most of our limiting beliefs developed during childhood have a large influence on our neurological pathways. These neurological pathways affect our self-image and our behavioral patterns.
The second part of this question is that your beliefs can be changed. Your beliefs are learned, and the way that you view the world can change over time. The limiting beliefs that you’ve held since childhood can be unlearned. However, if you’re using the same limiting beliefs that you grew up with, then these beliefs will most likely be hard to unlearn because you’ve believed them so long.
There are two ways to resolve this: one is to work to change your limiting beliefs through therapy or self-help, and the other is to overcome your neurological pathways. The former is easier said than done because initially you must be willing to face your past and convince yourself that these beliefs are incorrect. However, once you reach a point where you’re willing to face your past beliefs, then you’re well on your way to unlearned self-limiting beliefs.
The third step forward is to develop new limiting beliefs. To do this, you need to identify your own personal negative beliefs, and then challenge those beliefs from a cognitive perspective. Once you have identified your negative thoughts, and you have challenged them in this way, then you must challenge those thoughts in a logical manner, proving that your belief is wrong.
The fourth step forward is to implement the new beliefs you have developed. The best way to do this is to keep a journal of your progress, writing down what you were doing before you started to challenge your current beliefs, and then later journaling about how you used your new beliefs to challenge your previous limiting beliefs. Once you have written down your progress in this way, then you can compare your progress to your goals. You can also use this journal to make any necessary adjustments as you go along. This will help you achieve your goals much faster, and you’ll find it much easier to stick to them as you go along.