Those limiting beliefs and the stories you tell yourself.
‘Because some guy said I couldn’t…’
Who says you couldn’t? What do they know?
How do you view your limitations? Do you use them as excuses or do you view them as things you’re working to overcome? Do you feel them and move forward anyway, like in feeling the fear yet still going despite it? If we always talk about our limitations owning us, limiting us, holding us back and we don’t do anything about it, then we get to keep them. They own us. Is that really what we want? To be held back by our own minds and limiting beliefs for the rest of our lives? Or, do we want to challenge these beliefs, push them away, and move forward with action and growth in the areas we desire?
Think about a time where you challenged a belief you once had about yourself. Maybe no one in your extended family went to college and you were the first one in your family to graduate. Maybe you once thought that you couldn’t write. Yet one day you started a blog and committed yourself to keep at it. Now, you publish three times a week to your blog, enjoying building a solid audience. One of my favorites, maybe your limiting belief is that you were terrified to be on camera. You hate the way you look in 4k or in HD and worse, the way you sound. (How can I sound like that!?) Yet you still got in front of the camera. You still created value. You still shot videos that solved peoples’ problems and published them. This allowed you to build a following with regular video publishing despite your earlier limiting belief of feeling awkward and weird on camera. You overcame that and emerged victorious.
While you may not realize it, you have a better track record than you think when it comes to your limiting beliefs and overcoming them to do what you really want to do. In fact, some of the people in our lives can be the greatest motivators to us executing on these so-called limits. If someone says you can’t do something, how does that make you feel? If you’re really competitive, it probably pisses you off. Well, it should. Who the hell are they to say what you can and can’t do? What does that person know about your potential, your capability? Not nearly as much as you do. They have no clue. So, when someone says that to you, that you can’t do something with no real basis to state it, that motivates you to go out and prove them wrong. We see this motivation over and over again. "Because some guy said I couldn’t…” That ignites a fire within us. I know it moves me to action. There is something about showing up naysayers that makes us go. It’s almost a primal feeling. We will do anything to prove them wrong. Whether it be thoughtless teachers, parents, or contemporaries, these ill sayers toward our abilities need to be proven wrong. It’s a deep motivation. We need to prove that they are full of it: B.S.
One of the extraordinary points about overcoming our own limitations is that we’re shaping a new identity. Limitations, whether we admit it or not, are a part of our sense of self. How we view our own capabilities forges our identity. What do we feel we are capable of? What are we growing into? What are our growth goals? Where do we see ourselves in 6 months? In one year? Many of us set goals that are too easy, ones that we can easily attain without stretching much. Setting the bar too low is a mistake. We need to set the bar—and our expectations of ourselves—high. We’re revving up to execute at that level. And when we set goals & expectations high, we’re blowing away any dumb, preconceived notions of our limitations. And when we share our goals with our friends and they see how high we’re aiming, they can’t help but be impressed. They’ll want to set their goals high in turn, too. Then, you can hold each other accountable and cheer each other on toward what you want. By aiming high, achieving those goals, even perhaps not achieving those goals but still performing well, you mold and shape a new identity for yourself. You see yourself differently. What could be more exciting than that? You are building a better you. You’ve shattered your previous limitations and others’ preconceived notions through action.
When it comes to limiting beliefs, it is up to us to decide how we’re going to deal with them. What stories about ourselves we tell others will we choose to believe? Will they be stories about triumph over adversity, about overcoming obstacles you didn’t think you could before? Or, will they be stories about self-sabotage, about being held back by limiting beliefs, about being adrift in distraction? The choice is yours. Which story will you tell others?
***
How do you view your limitations? Do you use them as excuses or do you view them as things you’re working to overcome? Do you feel them and move forward anyway, like in feeling the fear yet still going despite it? If we always talk about our limitations owning us, limiting us, holding us back and we don’t do anything about it, then we get to keep them. They own us. Is that really what we want? To be held back by our own minds and limiting beliefs for the rest of our lives? Or, do we want to challenge these beliefs, push them away, and move forward with action and growth in the areas we desire?
Think about a time where you challenged a belief you once had about yourself. Maybe no one in your extended family went to college and you were the first one in your family to graduate. Maybe you once thought that you couldn’t write. Yet one day you started a blog and committed yourself to keep at it. Now, you publish three times a week to your blog, enjoying building a solid audience. One of my favorites, maybe your limiting belief is that you were terrified to be on camera. You hate the way you look in HD and worse, the way you sound. (How can I sound like that!?) Yet you still got in front of the camera. You still created value. You still shot videos that solved peoples’ problems and published them. This allowed you to build a following with regular video publishing despite your earlier limiting belief of feeling awkward and weird on camera. You overcame that and emerged victorious.
While you may not realize it, you have a better track record than you think when it comes to your limiting beliefs and overcoming them to do what you really want to do. In fact, some of the people in our lives can be the greatest motivators to us executing on these so-called limits. If someone says you can’t do something, how does that make you feel? If you’re really competitive, it probably pisses you off. Well, it should. Who the hell are they to say what you can and can’t do? What does that person know about your potential, your capability? Not nearly as much as you do. They have no clue. So, when someone says that to you, that you can’t do something with no real basis to state it, that motivates you to go out and prove them wrong.
We see this motivation over and over again.
“Because some guy said I couldn’t…”
That ignites a fire within us. I know it moves me to action.
There is something about showing up naysayers that makes us go. It’s almost a primal feeling. We will do anything to prove them wrong. Whether it be thoughtless teachers, parents, or contemporaries, these ill sayers toward our abilities need to be proven wrong. It’s a deep motivation. We need to prove that they are full of it: B.S.
One of the extraordinary points about overcoming our own limitations is that we’re shaping a new identity. Limitations, whether we admit it or not, are a part of our sense of self. How we view our own capabilities forges our identity. What do we feel we are capable of? What are we growing into? What are our growth goals? Where do we see ourselves in 6 months? In one year?
Build a Better You.
Many of us set goals that are too easy, ones that we can easily attain without stretching much. Setting the bar too low is a mistake. We need to set the bar — and our expectations of ourselves — high. We’re revving up to execute at that level. And when we set goals & expectations high, we’re blowing away any dumb, preconceived notions of our limitations. And when we share our goals with our friends and they see how high we’re aiming, they can’t help but be impressed. They’ll want to set their goals high in turn, too. Then, you can hold each other accountable and cheer each other on toward what you want. By aiming high, achieving those goals, even perhaps not achieving those goals but still performing well, you mold and shape a new identity for yourself. You see yourself differently. What could be more exciting than that? You are building a better you. You’ve shattered your previous limitations and others’ preconceived notions through action.
When it comes to limiting beliefs, it is up to us to decide how we’re going to deal with them. What stories about ourselves we tell others will we choose to believe? Will they be stories about triumph over adversity, about overcoming obstacles you didn’t think you could before? Or, will they be stories about self-sabotage, about being held back by limiting beliefs, about being adrift in distraction? The choice is yours. Which story will you tell others?
***
