When you set your goals for this year, did you first consider what a breakthrough year might look like for you?  

Did you consider how your beliefs shape your thinking?  

Did you make a commitment to upgrade your beliefs? 

Knowing how to identify and shed limiting beliefs is important in building a profitable business. The biggest barriers we face in creating the business we want are the ones living inside our heads. It is vital to recognize the following three things about beliefs:

1.  What you believe shapes your reality.  

We tend to experience whatever we expect. Our expectations shape what we believe is possible, our perceptions and our actions. That means they also shape our results--our reality.  Oftentimes we don't achieve our goals because we don't believe that we can. Research shows the percentage of people in their 20s who achieve their New Year’s goals is far greater than those over 50.  According to polls, 8 out of 10 millennials set resolutions; however 7 out of 10 adults over 65 say setting resolutions is “a waste of time” because the greater the number of setbacks they have experienced in life, the less likely they are to believe they can prevail.

Most of us have been there. Disappointment turns to frustration, anger, sadness, and depression. And it twists itself into cynicism. It is difficult to have your hopes dashed if you never get them up in the first place. But cynicism like that not only poisons our souls but also sabotages our results. What we believe is possible for us has a direct impact on the reality we experience. 

What type of adjustments can you make to your thinking to change your idea of what is possible? I know this sounds simple but changing your thinking is like flipping a switch in that it creates a new sense of possibility. You can want to enter the shoemaking business in Anywhere.in.the.World but notice that no one wears shoes there. You can conclude that there is no market.  Or you can think, "Yay, no one wears shoes here so this is a huge opportunity for me". History has a multitude of stories illustrating how a change in thinking resulted in a massive change in the outcome. 

2. Some beliefs will hold you back. 

One of my clients, let's call her Nellie, griped about just about everything. Everyone was stupid but her, she always felt put upon and persecuted. Honestly, she drained me.  Nellie explifies scarcity thinking.

Now compare Nellie to another client who we'll call Sally.  Sally is a very generous person, has a smile for everyone and often a hug also. I feel energized being with her. She is always investing in her success and it comes back to her in thousands of ways. Sally exemplifies abundance thinking. The distinction is important because each goal you create has obstacles. A scarcity thinker will approach problems assuming defeat. In their mind, their abilities are set in stone and there is little they can to do to improve. An abundance thinker does not quit when they hit an obstacle--they just seek new approaches to them. They feel confident that they can figure things out if they just went at it from a different direction.
 
What is your mindset and how do you know if you’re dropping into the trap of limiting beliefs? Four dead giveaways are:

• Black-and-White Thinking:  You assume you’ve failed if you don’t achieve perfection; reality is oftentimes a sliding scale rather than a toggle switch. 
• Personalizing:  You blame yourself for random negative occurrences. 
• Catastrophizing: With little evidence, you assume the worst.
• Universalizing: You have one bad experience and assume that it’s true across the board.

Take the assumptions you hold about the world (e.g.,“I can’t start a business right now because the market is bad", “I know management is cheating us so I don’t trust them”, etc.). These may well be very deep-seated beliefs and even be based on experience; however, they are rarely the entire truth, even when they seem very accurate. Or consider the beliefs about yourself ("I never finish what I start”, I have always been terrible with money my entire life", etc). These types of beliefs will block any progress you want to make in business and life. 

3.  You are able to upgrade your beliefs.

Following is a simple process to help you upgrade your beliefs:

a.  Recognize the limiting beliefs about yourself, the world, and others and call them out.

b.  Record the belief. It might be something such as “I’m terrible with technology.”  It could be anything because each of us have our own challenges. 

c.  Review the belief by evaluating whether it is empowering. Be as objective as possible. Is it helping you to accomplish the outcomes you want, or is it preventing you from doing so?  Evaluate honestly because this is the key to freedom.

d.  Either reframe or reject the belief. If a limiting belief is false, simply reject it. Replace your dark, limiting beliefs with its opposite, liberating truth. Some limiting beliefs are very convincing because they have a bit of truth in them, but they’re not the whole truth. If a limiting belief has an element of truth, no need to settle for it. For example, if you think you will never understand tech, fine. Is that really necessary? You could accept that it is and stall out. Or you could reframe it and say something such as, “I’m not tech savvy; however, I can always collaborate with someone who is or outsource the tech.”

e.  Revise your belief. Reorient your thinking around a new truth that feels liberating. For example, rather than thinking that you are too old to be considered for a position, you might say, “I have more experience than other applicants.” 

f.  Reorient yourself to a new belief. Begin to live from the perspective of your new truth. It's fine if you don't totally buy into it at first. Keep telling yourself the truth and eventually you’ll get more comfortable with it. Whenever the old belief crops up, reject/reframe it and restate the liberating truth. 

Share below a limiting belief and how you plan to upgrade it to a truth that is liberating to you.