If you’ve been suffering from self-limiting beliefs about yourself, then I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. In fact, you are far from alone. In fact, there are millions of people out there who have the same limiting beliefs as you. They hold themselves back by telling themselves (and sometimes others) that they cannot do something because they “don’t have the right skills, the right training, the right expertise…” You get the idea. They are convinced that they are not good enough and therefore must stay away from themselves (self-limiting).
Here’s a little experiment. For a week, write down everything you believe in your subconscious mind (and also believe is false about yourself). Then, for a week, think about everything in your journal that goes against your self-limiting beliefs about yourself (including things in your journal you think are true about yourself). You will probably find some self-limiting beliefs that go on in your mind that you’ve been suppressing.
Here’s the deal: Your subconscious mind (which is where all your self-limiting beliefs are formed) can be completely reshaped by using your own new beliefs. This new belief could be to take on a new hobby, change jobs, or start working out more. When you are doing anything new that contradicts your self-limiting beliefs about yourself, change them. If you are harboring a belief that says you cannot have this particular new belief, then learn how to acquire it. Believe that you are worthless, or a failure, or less than, or something else that you are trying to shift into your mind.
After you have changed your self-limiting beliefs, you must apply these new beliefs to your life. The key here is that you do not worry about sounding cocky, or trying to impress people by changing your beliefs. You just want to feel like yourself again. This may sound difficult in the beginning, but it gets easier with practice.
Applying your new beliefs doesn’t end at feeling like yourself again though. To really complete the transformation, you must really live the new belief as if it were true. For instance, if you had a self-limiting belief that you were not good enough, living it out would be as if you had won the lottery. You would feel like you are a failure because you cannot do what everyone else can. You would spend your time around other people as if they do not matter.
The way to complete this transformation is to keep us motivated along the way. Once we have changed our self-limiting beliefs, if we don’t keep ourselves motivated we will soon slip back into believing what we used to believe. If we want to change something about ourselves, such as how we feel, we must make an investment in ourselves and see that it is worth it. If not, we will not stick with the decision no matter how hard it is to stay motivated.
Changing a self-limiting belief is quite simple. It begins with identifying an emotion we associate with that belief. For example, if you believe that you are not smart enough to start your own business, begin to feel that way. Once you identify the emotion behind your limiting beliefs, begin to eliminate that emotion until you are left with your original emotion. For example, if you used to believe that you are not smart enough to start your own business, start to identify the emotion of doubt.
When you find yourself doubting something about yourself, change your beliefs to the truth. Start to feel positive about it. That’s the first step to changing your self-limiting beliefs. It will take time, but you have to make that investment in yourself or you will not succeed. You can either expect to fail or succeed based on how you think.