What’s Holding You Back?
July 11th, 2017 Insights
In Part I of this summer’s five-part series, we discussed Self-Fate and how we cannot change our future unless the control of the past is removed. We need to learn to make conscious choices, choices that are made in the present moment, without all the emotional “baggage” we carry around. Moving forward, for the next four newsletters I’d like you to think of this emotional baggage as being packed in four kinds of suitcases – the “Big 4” energy blocks that we carry around with us that dictates how we see the world and likely holds us back from reaching our potential.
In this issue of Keys To Success Insights, we’ll take a look at the first of the four suitcases that contain limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are those beliefs/thoughts that hold us back from success. If you do not believe something is possible, you’re not likely to attempt it. Even if you do attempt it, you won’t devote much energy to achieving that goal.
Limiting beliefs are general beliefs about the world, your environment and situation, and the people around you that stand in your way. More often than not, you accept a limiting belief as true because you’ve learned it from someone else, or from an “authority,” such as the media, a book, or a movie. You assume that it’s “just the way it is.”
Here’s a classic example of a limiting belief: Up until 1954, it was commonly held that running a mile in under four minutes was impossible. Moreover, physiologists believed it was extremely dangerous even to attempt it. Yet on May 6 of that year, Roger Bannister crossed the finish line in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds, thereby disproving the myth forever.
It’s remarkable that Bannister accomplished his feat. It required that he completely ignore the prevailing, limiting belief and construct an entirely different belief system for himself. What others saw as a limitation, he perceived as an opportunity. And once he disproved the presumed limits of the human body, less than two months later, another runner, John Landy, broke Bannister’s record with a mile dash of 3 minutes and 57.9 seconds. What’s more, within just a few years, dozens of runners were leaving the four-minute mark in the dust.
Commonly shared limiting beliefs I often hear from clients holding them back are:
-Women cannot have thriving careers and be “good” mothers.
-It’s a man’s world, women will always be second in line.
-Happiness is reserved only for the lucky.
-Women are too sensitive/emotional to be “really” successful.
-Success is about making money.
There are several ways to challenge limiting beliefs…you can explore the effect the belief has had on your life, look for proof of its truth (or lack of proof), or modify the belief or aspects of the belief to better serve you. Simply examining the belief with questions like “How true do I believe that is?” and the rhetorical “Where did I get that idea?” can also work remarkably well. Once you overcome limiting beliefs, they can no longer hold you back.
This week think about examining the contents of your limiting beliefs suitcase. Unpack it, and see how much lighter you feel. Later this month, we’ll move onto the second suitcase and continue with the next of the Big 4 energy blocks, the assumptions we make.
Wishing You Always The Best Of Success
-Holly-