When I work with clients on moving past their fears, my first step is always asking them the question, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” What horrible things could happen if you changed your thinking and took action or had hard conversations?
Most of the time, the worst thing that could happen isn’t worse than staying stuck in one place. Usually, the worst thing that could happen is that you experience a temporary negative feeling. And, if we’re being honest, you don’t feel so great right now, so wouldn’t you rather make a plan and take action and see what happens?
What is a limiting belief?
Before you start working with a coach or asking yourself what could be possible if you took messy action, it can be easy to listen to the voice in your head that tells you that it would be easier to just stay where you are.
I like to call this voice the Frenemy. She’s wired to give you all the worst-case scenarios, and the more you listen to her, the less likely you are to consider the best-case scenarios. When you start believing your Frenemy, here’s what your self-talk sounds like:
- I can’t
- I’m not…
- It won’t…
- I don’t…
Whether you say it out loud or you keep your thoughts to yourself, any sentence that begins with one of these phrases is really a limiting belief.
Limiting beliefs are assumptions about the wider world, about other people, or maybe, hardest of all, about ourselves. You think about doing something, and then you think about why you can’t or shouldn’t.
- “I want to pitch my idea to the client, but he will think I’m too pushy.”
- “I want to try changing up my team roles, but it probably won’t work out because people will get upset.”
Examples of limiting beliefs
Here’s a quick list of some of the common limiting beliefs I hear from entrepreneurial women all the time.
- I’m not good enough.
- I don’t want to appear ungrateful.
- I don’t have enough experience.
- There are already enough people doing what I want to do.
- I won’t be able to make it work.
- I’m not qualified.
- I can’t make a change.
- I don’t have anything to offer.
- Nobody will buy my products or service.
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Are limiting beliefs holding you back?
Listening to or, even worse, believing the limiting beliefs your Frenemy is whispering in your ear can keep you from getting what you really want — success, new challenges, or achievements.
And, limiting beliefs have a domino effect on other thoughts. You have a limiting belief, and the next thought that follows is even more limiting. The diminishing nature of the initial limiting belief seeps into each new thought, creating a snowball that gets bigger and bigger while you get smaller and smaller.
“I’m not good at sales” starts rolling down the hill and suddenly becomes “I’m not good at talking to people,” which then turns into “I am not good at what I do.” That first limiting belief creates a slippery slope.
How to overcome limiting beliefs
It’s important to remember that limiting beliefs aren’t facts.
A belief, by its very definition, is the acceptance that a statement is true. That acceptance part is critical. You’re accepting statements as true when you really have no idea if they’re true for YOU. In order for something to be true, you would have to be able to prove it in a court of law. Consider that when you accept a truth.
Limiting beliefs steal confidence and zap motivation. So why allow them to live inside your head and shape your reality?
If you find yourself holding back from thinking big in your life and business and you’re hesitating to take game-changing action, it’s time to start transforming your limiting beliefs into liberating truths.
If you are a successful entrepreneur but have even an inkling that there is another level of success and you are meant for more, my book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and into the Extraordinary, is for you.
In it, I’m giving you permission to want more, be more, and achieve more, and I’ll give you the tools to bring it into your reality in a way that works for your life.
Don’t wait! Order your copy today and start taking steps to create focus, flow, and freedom in your life and business so you can tap into the next level of success.
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