The Best Way to Overcome Limiting Beliefs

In this post, I’m diving into one of my favourite topics—beliefs! And the best way to overcome limiting beliefs.

Why is it worth understanding about limiting beliefs?

Like it or not, your life is run by your beliefs.

And those beliefs hold us back from fully experiencing life and making significant leaps in our businesses and careers, relationships and life in general.

High Performance And The Invisible Chains of Belief

Over the past 12 years, I’ve had the privilege of working closely with hundreds of high performers. Yet the journey to achieve their business and career goals has often felt like an uphill struggle, one which has left them feeling burned out and disillusioned with life.

These high performers are not new to the world of self-development or mental health. Yet despite reading self-help books, maintaining healthy habits, and ensuring proper rest they felt they were doing battle with themselves and decided to bring me on board as their personal development coach and therapist.

Having had front-row seats into the minds of hundreds of individuals, one thing I know to be true is that the only game we are ever playing is the one with ourselves. When our work, relationships and careers feel a struggle, we look to the outside world for answers.  We read books or join Facebook forums looking for answers.

The truth is, that the answers we seek lie in the internal world.

 Limiting Beliefs as Operating Software

Limiting beliefs function like software in our minds, influencing our thoughts, actions, and emotional responses. For instance, I worked with a Chief Executive in New York who struggled with delegation due to an underlying belief that she couldn’t trust others.

While this belief initially served to protect her, it became a hindrance as her responsibilities grew. By identifying and transforming this belief, she learned to trust her team, easing her workload and improving her mental health and wellbeing.

The Imposter Syndrome Shadow

High performers can grapple with imposter syndrome, a belief that they are frauds and will eventually be found out. I recently spoke to the Co-Founder of a Unicorn Company.  A man who has achieved phenomenal success, growing a business that's valued at over $1 billion and over 900 employees. Yet Imposter Syndrome still sits on his shoulders. Proof that no matter what you achieve, if you don't change the inner landscape of your mind, nothing changes.

Unrealistic Expectations and Self-Worth

Both business leaders and entrepreneurs often set unrealistically high expectations for themselves, driven by an underlying belief that they are not enough as they are. This can lead to a relentless pursuit of external success as a means of proving their worth – something I resonate with as part of my own journey. If not addressed, these limiting beliefs can govern their actions and decisions, leading to burnout and dissatisfaction.

The Best Way to Overcome Limiting Beliefs

OK so you've got this far and are now thinking, come on what's the best way to overcome limiting beliefs?

Put simply, get yourself a coach! If you're not aware of something, you can't change it!  And given we're operating from the level of the unconscious mind around 96% of the time - there's a LOT we're not aware of.

This is why working with a coach is a game-changer. My mind loves to play hide and seek with my limiting beliefs (which is why I see a coach every month), but when it comes to my own clients - I can spot their limiting beliefs a mile off!

Spotting limiting beliefs and patterns of behaviour that have been ruling the lives of my clients is one of my favourite things to do. It's amazing how we can't see something that's staring us in the face.

When you see for yourself how a limiting belief, which has usually formed part of your identity, has been ruling the roost - it's so blindingly obvious. And when you see what's been holding you back, the inner landscape of your mind starts to transform taking you to new heights.

If you haven't started working with a coach yet, one action you can take right now is to start journaling.

• Journaling: Daily journaling helps you recognise habitual patterns of thought and the stories and beliefs created as a result of your inner landscape. Start to question why you believe what you believe! What would happen if that belief were to disappear or you simply stopped believing it was true? The more you invite self-reflection, the greater your levels of self-awareness.  Journaling is a high-performance habit and is encouraged by the world's leading coach on high performance - Brendon Burchard.  If you're not sure what to write journaling prompts can guide your reflections and provide deeper insights into your beliefs.

Once you have a greater awareness of those stories, limiting beliefs and thought patterns, it's time to elevate your consciousness!

Put simply, consciousness is the formless energy that's aware of everything.

In the book, The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer, Michael talks about how the question of who the voice in his head was, and what was observing it him led him on his journey of spiritual awakening.  he realised that all that noise in his head in the form of thinking was being created by his mind - but it wasn't who he was.

Meditation has long been known as a way of raising our levels of consciousness, but I believe there is also another way.  And that is by doing the 'inner work'.

When clients begin working with me, they are generally so tangled up in their thought patterns that the idea of meditating every day sends them into a tailspin. 

Working with clients, I take them by the hand and lead them on a journey to understand the power of thought and creation.  When they start to understand this the need for techniques such as EFT Tapping or NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) can fall away because we have seen the truth. The truth of what's creating our experience.

• Working with Coaches: Personal development coaches and therapists can help raise your levels of self-awareness and consciousness. They provide an external perspective, helping you see beyond your current limitations.

Tip Tip: Looking for real transformation? One of my favourite coaches is Michael Neil, author of the book, The Inside Out Revolution. Michael and I are both what's referred to as 'Three Principles Coaches' and I recommend checking out his podcast.

Conclusion

Given that we are living our lives based on our beliefs, it stands to reason that transforming your beliefs is going to pay you multiple dividends! Especially if those beliefs are compromising your career, relationships, financial status, health, wealth, business success - the list goes on!  If we don't lift the lid on our limiting beliefs and re-wire them, that's the definition of insanity as Einstein put it - doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result!

You can be a Unicorn company founder or a business leader whose achieved incredible success but, as I've explored here, still be haunted by limiting beliefs - when you don't need to be! You have a choice!