Self-limiting beliefs are beliefs you carry about yourself that hold you back in some essential way. They are usually things like: I'm not fast enough, I'm not smart enough, I'm not pretty enough, or I'm not assertive enough. They are beliefs that you have decided mean something fundamental about your personality. You might have gotten them from a teacher, parent, or sibling, but you’ve taken them on as your own and believe them to be true. These beliefs limit what's possible for you. You might not even know you have them, but they are fixed in the neural pathways in your brain. They're always there, even when you're not thinking about them.
Let's say you have an opportunity for a promotion and have a thought that you should apply. You are about to send in your application but the intruding thoughts come in and stop you. They tell you that you won't get the job because you’re not smart enough, qualified enough, or right for the position. Those are self-limiting beliefs, and they are designed to hold you back. Most people that read a job description that says you need 10 years of experience, five years of Master's education, and a perfect GPA won't apply for the job, even if they are qualified. People who have conquered their self-limiting beliefs, however, will apply even if they are not qualified and will figure out how to get their experience once they get the job. A self-limiting belief limits what we make available for ourselves to do. It limits even how far we can see and what we are capable of doing. It limits our ability to set goals. It limits our ability to dream because it's a foregone conclusion, it's hardwired into our thinking that we can't do it. It limits what's possible in life.
The best way to overcome limiting beliefs is to have a new, stronger belief that pulls you forward, like a magnet pulling you towards a goal, a way of living, or an experience of life. Once you have that bigger goal in mind, you can address your self-limiting belief from a place of power and hope for the future. Most of the time, you will find that the belief you held so closely to you looks significantly smaller from a place of higher achievement. From this place, you can have a conversation with your future self and your current self and negotiate a new belief. One that represents all the things that you are, rather than all the things that you are not. Once you have this new belief, keep having those conversations with yourself. The more you repeat them, the more ingrained they will become, and the more your life will reflect all those things that you are being pulled towards.
If you want to take your journey even further, you can join us this September at our Ignite Your Power Retreat. There, we will teach you how to identify your self-limiting beliefs and walk you through the process of acknowledging, accepting, and, finally, overcoming them. Looking intently at all the things holding you back can be a challenge to do by yourself. Being surrounded by coaches and a group of people trying to overcome their own limiting beliefs can provide the structure and support you need to face the darker parts of yourself. You will finish the retreat feeling stronger, more powerful, and ready to leave behind all the things that have been limiting you, and move forward into a limitless future.
Self-limiting beliefs are just that, beliefs. They are not facts, they are not true, and they are not fixed. You get to choose what you are going to believe. You get to choose how the things you believe affect your life. Step into your power and see how small your limiting beliefs become. Are you going to give power to the things holding you back? Or are you going to lean into that which is pulling you forward? The choice is yours.