How to Overcome Limited Beliefs
How might your thoughts be holding you back?
A recent coaching session brought to mind one of the most powerful and paradigm shifting ideas I have yet to come across:
‘We never see the world as it is, we only see it as we are’
We can generate great value by showing each other who we are being and how we are thinking at any given moment, seeing that potentially uncomfortable vision, and then working to move from where we are now to where we want to be.
What we think is external is often internal. Whenever we allow our fingers to point outwards regarding why something can’t be done and why peak performance cannot be achieved we are doing ourselves a disservice by falling into victim mode.
To create our greatest success we must be the ones who have the courage to take that finger and turn it inwards, allowing ourselves to take full responsibility for the beliefs that are creating our reality. ‘How am I thinking about this issue?’ ‘What does continuing to have that belief cost me on a daily basis?’ ‘How old is the evidence for that belief?’
I truly believe that the only thing we actually have direct control over at any given point is our own internal state and the words and actions which come from that. As Stephen Covey would say, everything else is in our sphere of concern, not our sphere of influence.
Anything outside of yourself can never make you angry or negative; things are simply happening in a certain way. You allow yourself to become angry and negative based on what is going on. You are in control; you have ‘response-ability’ for that.
Having the maturity to step back and see how we are choosing to interpret a situation is the essence of critical thinking. ‘How can I be dealing with this in a more effective way?’, ‘How am I allowing myself to be disempowered in this situation?’ ‘What do I gain from continuing to hold onto this belief?’
Constantly updating what we think is true and having the courage to drop things that aren’t working any more is challenging but produces true growth.
By transforming ourselves in this way on a moment to moment basis, we empower ourselves to stop projecting past limitations into the wide-open future.
