How to overcome your limiting beliefs in 5 simple steps

WORDS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Our limiting beliefs can be one of the biggest mental blockers to us going after what we really want and desire.

Whilst we can dream, visualise and see our desires or ideal future life, one thing that many of us have successfully mastered is that inner voice which responds to those incredible dream scenarios… that voice telling you ‘I’m not good enough…’, ‘I don’t have enough time’, or ‘people like me never get things like this…’

Simply put, a limiting belief is a state of your mind, or something you perceive to be real, but that also limits your life or impacts your current situation.

These beliefs operate from our subconscious minds, which is why sometimes, they can feel like they’re hard-wired into who we are and how we operate.
They can stem from;

• Our childhood – when our little brains are so super impressionable and things can get hardwired pretty quickly. Maybe you were told you weren’t smart enough for a certain profession, which has later transformed itself to be ‘I’m not good enough’… or perhaps your parents lovingly jested you, which has later manifested itself into body confidence issues?
• Past trauma – did losing someone cause you to fear more? Did a bad breakup result in trust issues?
• Past experiences – Did you lose your job and it affected your overall confidence? Did you experience losing money and it caused a belief that you would never have enough?

I’m sure you can relate to having a limiting belief or two… and if you’re one of those people who’ve successfully mastered your limiting beliefs, know that you can also successfully master breaking them too.  Wooo!

Why should you take action on breaking your limiting beliefs?
Well, for starters, limiting beliefs have the power to;

• Focus on the negative
• Hold you back from taking positive action steps
• Help to create bigger limiting beliefs and weigh down on your mental health
• Blindside you from positive and door opening opportunities
• Influence others and weigh them down too!

So how do you break the loop? Let’s explore 5 simple steps to breaking and replacing your limiting beliefs for a more positive mindset.

Step 1 – Spend a little time listening to your own narrative

Most of the time, our limiting beliefs are invisible to us. They control our thoughts and behaviours from behind the scenes and we just learn to accept them as who we are.

So try listening to yourself and observe some of the stories you are telling yourself (and others) on a regular basis – and identify what you’d like to think or feel differently in these areas too.

Keep a brief log of what comes up on a daily basis for 2 weeks and you might be surprised to learn what stories you currently have playing on a loop. 

Step 2 – Question everything – Adopt a questioning mindset and start to pick apart your own narrative.

Do you really ‘have no time’, or are you just filling up your time with procrastination and other things that aren’t serving you?
Are you really unsuccessful or are you just afraid of really jumping in and trying?

By questioning your own narrative, you start to ‘unpick the stitching’ a little, the thoughts have way less power when you start to challenge them.

I recently noticed myself repeatedly responding to “how are you feeling” with “umm stressed” – and what started as an honest response to how I was feeling in that very moment, quickly became a default response I echoed over and over again. Re-affirmed with the fact that yes, it’s been a stressful year and yes, I have a 1 year old – that can be pretty stressful at times too… yet, when I really questioned this, I quickly realised that this year has in fact been filled with so many happiness moments, things to celebrate, fun times and lots of laughter too. By questioning this narrative which was starting to sound like a broken record, it didn’t take long to create a gigantic list of not so stressful things that had and were happening in my life – and most of all, that I’d rather live in this positive energy than make my ‘stress-bubble’ an even bigger one!

Step 3 – Reframe, Retrain, Rewire – Start to reframe everything, retraining your brain to think differently, rewiring your brain with a different narrative.

Your brain listens to what you decide to feed it with on a daily basis. So if you start to drown it with positive reframes, it will eventually start to listen and rewire.
Simply flip your negative beliefs into positive ones…

I don’t have enough money, becomes – I have an unlimited supply of abundance, money comes easily and frequently to me
I’m never going to be able to achieve that, becomes – I am successful in all of my endeavours, I achieve everything I want to
I don’t have the time, becomes – I have an infinite supply of time and energy

Step 4 – Step into the energy – Having a reframe is great, but positively reinforcing it is even better!

Write down your positive reframes and stick them everywhere as mindset prompts to shift into your new reframe.

Visual person? Get some images which align with your reframe and pop them up somewhere you can visually refer to them daily.
Auditory person? Try recording your new positive reframes and listening to them daily!

Step 5 – Have fun with it – you’re redesigning your thoughts after-all

Think of it as Pinterest for your mindset. You get to choose what you think and the redesign should be a fun process. Be patient and forgiving with yourself, it doesn’t matter if you slip up or feel like you’ve gone backwards – just smile, accept the challenge and carry on!

And remember, just like starting a fitness program, one or two sessions aren’t going to result in a Kardashian butt, or Hemsworth abs – your mindset requires consistent practise for lasting change… except you can do this hard work sitting down!