33. |
Identify Your Beliefs |
Beliefs are one of my favorite subjects. If there is one thing that keeps most people from having everything they want in their lives, it is what they believe about themselves, their abilities, and the world they live in. Everything you do and everything you have accomplished or ever will accomplish is governed by your beliefs.
A belief, quite simply, is something you have told yourself over and over throughout your life. Beliefs start at a young age. If we try something for the first time and we fail, we label ourselves a failure. For example, if at the age of ten or twelve, I attempted to play basketball but because of my age and size was not yet very good at it, I may have created a belief in my mind that I will never be able to play basketball. This may not have been true, because beliefs rarely are.
A more common example is the person who once tried starting her own business but was not successful. She created a belief that she was not meant to be in business, and therefore she never tried it again. This is really sad when you consider that almost every successful businessperson has experienced many failures. The difference is in the way they view the experience and the beliefs they create from them. One person may see a business failure as a sign that he cannot be a successful business owner, while another will only view it as a temporary setback and turn it into a learning experience.
One of my favorite belief stories comes from what happened to me several years ago when I started a publication for small-business owners. I felt there was a need for a local publication that would provide small-business owners with information to help them in their businesses, and I decided to go for it. Quite honestly, I did not have a lot of knowledge about or experience in publishing a magazine, but I knew enough to get started and I trusted my instincts. I had placed an ad in our local newspaper for a salesperson to help with selling the advertising, and I interviewed several people.
The day after the first issue was published, one of the people I had interviewed called me. He was an advertising salesperson for a weekly newspaper and, while he wished me well, he had decided not to change jobs. We had spoken in early June and it was now the first week of September. The premier issue was out in time for Labor Day, as I had promised the advertisers. The man asked, “How did you do it?” I replied, “How did I do what?” He said, “How did you publish this magazine so quickly? It was only two months ago, and you were just getting started.” I thought for a moment and told the man the truth: I had no idea how long it was supposed to take to publish a magazine. I had no beliefs about the time needed. He told me that it takes at least six months to bring out a new publication. But this was not a fact. It was merely his belief.
Because of my inexperience I had no such belief. I published the magazine within two months. Don’t let someone else’s beliefs stand in the way of your success.
Let’s take a closer look at how our beliefs determine our results. Most people would agree that we human beings have unlimited potential. Why, then, do we not see this borne out in our accomplishments? This is where beliefs come into play. The result you produce is determined by the actions you take. The problem is, most of us have a limiting belief in our ability to accomplish a particular task. We tap into only a small portion of our potential, take limited action, and produce a poor result.
An example of this principle is the secretary who tries learning the company’s new computer system but then gives up, because he believes he cannot successfully learn new technology. Or the salesperson who makes a weak attempt at making sales calls before deciding that the profession is not for her and moving on to yet another job. In reality, her limiting belief in her ability to succeed in sales is what caused her to take such weak action in the first place. If you interview top salespeople in any organization, you’ll find that they all learned to overcome any beliefs that may have been standing in the way of their success.
Fortunately, the opposite is also true. If you develop a belief that you can do whatever you set your mind to, you will tap into your limitless potential, take effective action, and produce greater results. My favorite examples of this principle are the countless stories of people who’ve overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to accomplish their dreams.
One such person is Sara Blakely, founder of the hugely successful women’s accessory brand Spanx. Her father instilled in her a belief that failure was simply part of the process of success, not something to be feared. This strongly held empowering belief enabled Blakely to make her mark on the hosiery industry and become the youngest female billionaire in US history.
If you want to identify your limiting beliefs, pay attention to what you say about your ability in a particular area. For example, if you are having trouble making sales, you’ll likely hear yourself say something like, “I can’t make more sales because…” Whatever comes after the word because is usually your limiting belief.
You’ll hear people say things like, “I can’t get ahead in my company because I’m not good at managing people.” This, of course is not true; it’s simply a belief. Good managers are not born good. They learn how to manage people.
You owe it to yourself to identify and correct the beliefs that are standing in the way of your success. One way to do this is to simply question the belief. Ask yourself if your belief is really true or something you were told by someone else. Chances are it’s not true. Once you’ve questioned the belief, you’ve begun to weaken its hold over you.
There are many other ways to undo limiting beliefs, from creating affirmations that counter the belief to using techniques such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or some other type of therapy designed to change behavioral patterns.
Once you’ve started to break down your limiting beliefs, you’ll want to begin creating new, empowering ones to take their place. One technique I particularly like I learned from Michael Losier, author of the book Law of Attraction. As a way to help your subconscious accept a new affirmation, he suggests beginning with the words “I’m in the process of …,” followed by your new affirmation. For example, if you wish to become a better salesperson you might say, “I’m in the process of becoming the top salesperson in the company.”
• Make a list of three or four beliefs that are preventing you from becoming the person you want to be.
• Next, create an affirmation that contradicts each of these beliefs and is more in alignment with who you want to be.
As you question your limiting beliefs and replace them with more empowering ones, they will begin to break down and, after a while, will no longer be standing in the way of your ideal life.