When you overcome a limiting belief, it makes you mentally stronger and builds motivation.
Everyone has beliefs that hold them back.
I suck at writing. I could never lose weight. I tried before and failed. I am too old. I don’t know enough. It is too late for me to try something new.
What if you knew you wouldn’t fail?
What if you were able to talk to yourself a few years in the future?
The future you told the current you that you had succeeded. It hadn’t been easy, and there were many obstacles along the way, but you had persevered and achieved even more than you had originally imagined.
Would it change your behavior today?
For most people, it would change their behavior. Having the knowledge that they would not fail would motivate them to put in the effort and work.
Most people are afraid of failing. They are afraid of putting in a lot of work all for nothing.
We all want assurances and guarantees, but life doesn’t work that way.
How can we overcome limiting beliefs without assurances and guarantees?
David Goggins was living from day to day. He had a job that he didn’t like, was overweight, and was without purpose. By chance, he saw a commercial about the Navy SEALs, and he decided to become a SEAL.
The problem was that he couldn’t swim and was completely out of shape.
Most people would have given in to their limiting beliefs. I can’t swim so there is no way I could ever be a SEAL. David attacked his beliefs and fears head on.
He started training. Took swimming lessons. He had numerous setbacks, including injuries that forced him to be dropped the first two times he tried out for the SEALs.
In the end and on his third and final chance, he persevered and became a SEAL.
That whole journey changed who he was. He started believing in himself and he started believing that he could achieve and go beyond what his mind was telling him.
How can you apply this to your own life?
Like David, the best way to overcome a limiting belief is to attack it straight on. The more you challenge your belief through action, the sooner you will break that belief, and you don’t need to have the mindset of a Navy SEAL.
What is something you want to achieve or improve but your beliefs and doubts have been holding you back?
I think that it is better to attack a strong, limiting belief. If you can face and overcome a big fear, it will have an even greater impact on your mindset. It will give you courage and confidence.
Make a specific plan and attack it.
Some Tips to Help You Succeed
Have clear, specific, actionable steps and rules that you follow.
Instead of saying that you will exercise three times a week, make it more specific. I will go running for 30 minutes, three times a week, no matter what. I will write and publish three articles a week on Mon., Wed., and Fri., no matter what.
Do it long enough and with determination to become competent.
In her book, Grit, psychologist Angela Duckworth says that if you want to develop grit, you need to deliberately practice your goal for a long period of time. Furthermore, Duckworth says you must practice with deliberation. Deliberation means that you intentionally try to improve as you go along.
To really challenge your fears, you should practice it long enough to let you know that you have:
- Overcome the fear.
- Become competent enough to let you know whether it is something you want to really continue doing.
Writing for only 2 months will not really answer A or B. Writing consistently and deliberately for a year should answer both.
Do not care what others think.
Who cares if you get criticized for your actions? Goggins didn’t care that people made fun of him for being an adult man trying to learn to swim. He didn’t care that people thought he was crazy for wanting to be a SEAL. He only cared about attacking his weaknesses and overcoming them.
When you care about what others think, things like perfectionist syndrome creep in and other fears creep in and take over.
The key point for you to remember is that when you attack a fear, you become mentally stronger the more you do it. Do it without caring what others think of you. You are not doing it to impress others. You are doing it for you.
Do not have expectations.
When you expect things to go a certain way, and then they do not, you give up.
What if you expect to write every day for 100 days and have 5000 followers? What happens if you only have 100 followers at the end of 70 days? You will give up.
Do not have expectations. Just focus on a consistent and deliberate action performed repeatedly over a long period of time. If you can do that, not only will you kill the limiting beliefs, but you will also develop a stronger mindset and find motivation.
Validate your feelings and limiting beliefs.
If you have lots of negative feelings or strong limiting beliefs, explore and validate those feelings and beliefs. Are they really true? Have others been able to overcome similar situations? I wrote an article, here, that tells you how to do this in detail. Validating them will help reduce the pressure that holds you back from acting.
Conclusion
The thing that holds us back is ourselves.
We carry a weight of doubts, fears, and limiting beliefs around our necks. They drag us down and hold us back if we let them.
If you pick a big fear or limiting belief and attack it consistently over a period of time, it will become insignificant.
This will lead to a new confidence in yourself. It will spill over into other areas of your life and motivate you. You will start to understand that the beliefs holding you back can be broken.
Start today and start attacking a big belief that is holding you back.
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