Dealing with negative beliefs is something everyone struggles with at some point or another. And for some of us, it’s a regular struggle. Negative beliefs keep us from growing because before we even try something, we’ve already talked ourselves out of it. Believing that we can’t is what keeps us from moving forward and reaching our potential.
The good news is that you can change your beliefs.
Your beliefs are your choice. What you feed your mind is what your mind is going to believe. So, what do we do? We feed it positive thoughts. (Sounds cheesy, but this genuinely helps.)
Insecurity is one of the biggest obstacles many of us face. It makes us feel as though we are not good enough for what we want to do or not qualified to even go for it. Truth is, we can go for anything we want. We can’t fail at something we haven’t tried.
John Maxwell said:
When you believe you’re not good or talented enough, that’s an obstacle to growth. After all, why pursue any goal if you don’t think you’re capable of reaching it? Insecure people may recognize chances to advance and grow, but they don’t believe in their ability to seize those opportunities.
We can either live with having tried something that didn’t work out or live with the regret of having never tried it at all—left wondering, "what if?"
What if we went for it?
What if it worked out?
What would life look like now?
All questions we'd like to have answers to, right?
So how do we overcome these limiting beliefs that keep us from growing?
- Identify your beliefs and write them down. Knowing what they are is the first step to overcoming them.
- Take responsibility for them. Remember that we have control over our actions and beliefs. We can change both with one decision. We cannot always control our circumstances but we can control how we respond.
- Embrace uncertainty. As a whole, we all want to know what is going to happen. We want guarantees or to know the outcomes in advance. We must let go of that control or we will continue to be stuck. Leaning on certainty keeps us in a comfortable spot. And growth doesn’t happen in comfortable spaces.
- Change your self-talk. How are you really talking to yourself? Being
aware of what you’re saying to yourself and turning it into more
positive talk will change your perspective and help you take action.
What beliefs are you choosing today?
Opening photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
by Inda Deleon
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