Overcoming Limiting Beliefs and Anxiety

We all have limiting beliefs; the goal is to recognize them and figure out how to reframe them. 

Overcoming your limiting beliefs

Reshaping your beliefs take time, but it is possible.  If you want something to change, you must do something different. 

Think of this as an experiment.  You are going to name your limiting beliefs and then test out individual solutions until you find the one that works best for you.

As a belief appears as a thought, interrupt your pattern.  When you catch yourself believing a thought that limits you, say STOP.  Seriously.  Out loud, say Stop.  It will cut off your habitual pattern of thought and help you to move out of that lane and into a favorable one. 

Okay, maybe you don’t want to firmly tell yourself out loud to STOP when you’re sitting at your desk in an office full of people.  You may get a few strange glances from your employees.  In situations like this, you can firmly say STOP in your head.  However, when you are alone, in the car, at home, etc. I recommend saying the word out loud.  It is more abrupt and helps break the pattern faster. 

I have used this method to interrupt my negative thought pattern countless times.  I find it helpful for limiting beliefs as well as anxious thoughts. 

Creating a turnaround

The next step is to reframe your limiting beliefs, I call it creating turnarounds. 

You begin with a limiting belief, such as, “I am not worthy of this award.”  You may feel this way because you don’t think you earned it, you don’t think you worked hard enough for it, and someone else did a better job than you so they should be the ones receiving the award. 

Remember, this is just a belief you have, and believing it doesn't make it true. 

Now take your belief and turn it around.  “I am worthy of this award.  I deserve to receive this award.” 

Perfect.  Do this with every limiting belief you can think of.  There is always a turnaround, and it is always equally true.  It all comes down to what you choose to believe.

You may need to remind yourself daily of your turnaround beliefs and that is where the next step comes in.

Reinforcements

We often need reinforcements in order to achieve our goal, it’s no different with reframing your beliefs.  Your reinforcements will be two to three reasons your turnaround is true. 

If you allow your mind to fester in your limiting belief, it will automatically find proof in reinforcements.  You need to counteract this with some of your own, truth within your turnarounds.

Take the previous example, “I am worthy of this award.  I deserve to receive this award.”  Your reinforcements could include: “I am worthy of this award because I made huge strides in my field and improved our bottom line by x%.”  Or, “I deserve to receive this award because I put time and effort into achieving great results.” 

Another way to reinforce your beliefs is to make the effort fun.  We often feel progress has to be difficult in order for it to be deemed successful.  This isn’t true.  In fact, you may find your most creative ideas come when you’re having fun, enjoying the process.  This doesn’t mean you will not meet challenges along the way, but your perspective on those challenges can change.  Instead of seeing an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity.  Instead of seeing a problem, view it as a puzzle to solve. Just give it a try, what’s the worst that can happen?  You have fun?  You laugh?   You enjoy your workday?  If you find that fun doesn’t work for you, you can always go back to the struggle.  But I doubt that is the path you’ll choose. 

Choosing your thoughts

Beliefs are just thoughts you think over and over again.  You can choose a new thought.  You can drop your old, destructive, limiting ones and choose to focus on a better thought.

However, it isn’t enough knowing what to do, you must do the work to change.  You must follow the steps I’ve laid out and continue to reframe or choose new thoughts each day.  This practice takes time.  Like any other habit, you must work on it repeatedly before it becomes natural.  Make it fun.  Turn it into a game.  Do whatever you need to do in order to release the beliefs that are holding you back.  You deserve to feel happy, you deserve to feel confident, you deserve to live the life you want.  Do not allow the deceitful thoughts to take that away from you.  You are in control of your mind, choose a new thought.