Have you ever wanted to achieve something in your life (meet someone special, get a job, earn more income, lose 20 pounds, be happier, etc…) so bad that you can taste it…but still you can’t seem to go from dream or plan to achievement?
No matter who you are, you have experienced this in your life. Even people that have achieved substantial success in their life have hit ceilings where no matter what they do they can’t seem to get to the next level.
Why is that?
For some people it’s having a plan.
For other people, the motivation and belief is the issue.
But what happens if you have a clear vision, a plan, huge motivation and even belief...but still can’t reach the summit?
The challenge then is most often limiting thoughts or limiting beliefs.
“I am more than able to do this job, but my boss hates me”
“I could easily lose 20-lbs, but not while I’m under stress or traveling”
Limiting beliefs are the “ya but…” that your mind uses to sabotage progress toward your goals.
The result is that limiting beliefs means we won’t go “all-in” and put our full attention, focus, effort and energy on accomplishing our goals which means we are limited by those beliefs UNLESS we can recognize and then counter them.
Sometimes those limiting beliefs are against our own abilities and sometimes they blame others for standing in our way…either way, they are holding us back from achieving success in life.
When we recognize these limiting thoughts we can better deal with them, remove them from being obstacles to progress.
So, I thought I would throw out 10 of the most common limiting thoughts that we let get in our way in the hope that you become enlightened to one or more of them and can put them behind you causing a breakthrough in your life.
Did we miss one, leave a comment and let’s add to the list so that we can all be the best we can be by removing limiting thoughts from our lives.
Top 10 Limiting Beliefs
1. I don’t have the time. This one permeates every aspect of our lives from being a better parent to paying attention to our own health and relationships.
2. He or she doesn’t like me. This is a popular one because it shifts the blame for not making progress onto someone else when there are always options to deal with or operate around people who do stand in our way.
3. I don’t want to look stupid or be embarrassed. One of the core human needs is to be liked and fit in with some part of society, unfortunately this produces a huge fear of taking risks and become paralyzing limiting beliefs
4. I can’t…(you fill in the blanks). This one is a catch-all category brought on by a lack of self confidence. So often we do not have the faith in ourselves to handle situations, recover or learn as we go so we cover this with limiting beliefs about our own ability and hold ourselves back in life
5. I don’t deserve it. Being the victim is one of the most destructive limiting beliefs we can have, not only is it completely limiting but it also is insidiously designed to bring us attention in the form of pity or concern – in other words we learn to get certain things in life by being the victim instead of having the confidence to purposefully go out and get what we want
6. I’m just not lucky. Having a limiting belief around being dealt a raw hand in life is another limiting belief that prevents us from working toward making our own luck, putting ourselves in a position where things will happen that get us closer to our goals
7. I’m not attractive or magnetic enough. I hear this one ALL THE TIME from people who are insecure in their relationships and friendships…they feel they repel people instead of attracting them based on a limiting belief that there is something wrong with them that other people don’t like . The truth is that the limiting belief is what stands in the way, change that belief and you will have more friends and meaningful relationships than you ever believed possible.
8. I am lucky…that’s all I need. The opposite of the limiting belief around NOT being lucky are those people who believe that they can continue to operate as they do today and that somehow, some way something will just drop from the sky and hand them all of their goals accomplished…sorry, it doesn’t work that way.
9. I’m satisfied with where I am...reaching goals in life is a constant, evolutionary journey not a one-time event. Yet so many people we work with have achieved a level of success in their life (perhaps paid off their bills and married the person of their dreams), but then because they live with the belief that they can stop setting goals, stop dreaming, they end up miserable within a few years because they live with the limiting belief that they are good where they are.
10. I am…(you fill in the blanks). Beliefs are firmly embedded, sure-thing, 100% certain thoughts about you and the environment around you. We all grow up defining who we are, how we relate to other people and society including how people look at us. Any definition that you have about yourself that you can start with “I am…” is by definition a limiting belief. Having the courage to recognize these personal definitions and then challenge those constantly is the way to break out of a rut and change your life, especially if you are unhappy or miserable today.
Breaking through limiting beliefs takes conscious realization (of those limiting beliefs), challenging those beliefs and creating NEW certain beliefs in your life that take you to the next level toward your goals.
Have you found a limiting belief that applies to you? Leave us a comment and let us know so you can move beyond and experience incredible and profound change from today forward.
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