When we are kids there is no such thing as a limiting belief. Everything is possible. There’s a fat guy that brings us presents once a year. There are superheroes that fly around with capes fighting crime. And becoming a professional wrestler is a legitimate career option. But then something curious happens.
The world begins to tell us otherwise. Somewhere along the way we begin to see the boxes shaping that society would like us to fit in. The fat man in the red suit is long gone. Superheroes are now for kids. And wearing a suit and tie is suddenly a better option than the wrestling outfit. These boxes are so drilled into our culture that most of the time we forget to even ask if they’re real boxes or not. Are they there? Or are they made up by someone else? These boxes are limiting beliefs, and they don’t have to be our reality just because they are someone else’s. Here's the ones we all battle with the most.
I am not smart enough.
Yes you are. You’ve just had someone or something lead you to believe otherwise. Sure, we all have some sort of genetic level of intelligence that has been gifted to us. But that represents a very small margin of our overall intelligence. Being “smart” is a product of learning, studying, and practicing a small handful of things, and becoming the best you can be at them. When you become really good at just a few things, you become incredibly valuable to a person or a company that needs those talents. You don’t have to be a genius. You just have to be the smartest guy or girl in the room at something.
I’m too inexperienced.
So is everyone else. Some of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world are in their 20s and 30s. They were young and ambitious enough to not care if they had experience or not. The only way you gain experience is to jump in with both feet, and being inexperienced is a blessing. You get to approach problems with a naive eye, which can lead to solutions that more experienced people wouldn’t have thought of. Own your inexperience, and know that creativity and hard work will make up for what you lack in years.
It’s too late for me.
Some of the most popular authors in history never wrote a novel until they were in their 60s or older. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs never tasted success until they failed well into their 40s or later. The only time it’s too late for you is when you’re six feet under. If you’re not there yet, it’s not too late. Start now.
I can’t be happy until...
We can’t be happy until you stop thinking like this, and just choose to be happy. If we allow our happiness to depend on an object or a person, we are letting something outside of our control dictate our happiness. We can take that control back. We will wake up happy every single day when we wake up grateful for what we do have, instead of wanting something more. It is a choice. Choose happiness.
This is who I am.
This is who you are...this very second. This is who I am this very second. Who you are and who I am a minute, a day, a year from now has yet to be decided. We are evolving beings, constantly being shaped by our experiences, our knowledge (see point #1), the people around us, and our approach to growth. Who I am today is very different from who I was a year ago, and dramatically different from who I was 10 years ago. Much like happiness, we can choose to allow our life and experiences to wash over us, leaving us much the same. Or we can choose to allow them to shape us, to drive us into the next and better version of ourselves.
I’m too busy.
No excuse in the world has been used more than “I’m too busy” and it’s the biggest scapegoat ever invented. When we are honest with ourselves, we realize we are not too busy. We just haven’t made our ambitions a priority in our schedule.
The boxes we are nudged into were invented by someone else. The people in this world that find enormous success, incredible happiness, and love the lives they live recognize that these boxes are not real. The boxes are limiting beliefs, but they are only limiting if we believe they are there. That can change today.
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