YOUR LIMITING BELIEF IS LIMITING YOU

Most of us dream about being successful but we don’t want to step into uncharted territory. Most of us want to get fit, but we don’t think we are capable of being disciplined enough about our diet and exercise. Most of us want to throw caution to the wind, quit our job and follow our passion but we don’t have enough faith in ourselves. We all want to walk on water, but we don’t have the courage to step out of the boat.

Our beliefs define who we are. and the same can be said about our limiting beliefs. If we think we can, we are right. If we think, we can’t, we are right too. so which one would we rather believe?

Limiting beliefs are beliefs that limit our full potential. They are formed either during early childhood, due to social conditioning, bad experiences, lack of self-esteem and or a combination of several factors.

Our limiting beliefs can have a crippling effect on our lives. when we look at the journey of the most successful people in the world, we learn that aside from perseverance and persistence, their success is largely attributed due to the fact that they never stopped believing in themselves and their dreams.

Take Jim Carrey for example. When he was 14 years old, his father lost his job, and his family hit rough times. At 15, he performed his comedy routine onstage for the first time which didn’t go well. Totally undeterred, the next year, at 16, he quit school to focus on comedy full time. He moved to LA shortly after, where he would park on Mulholland Drive every night and visualize his success. One night, he wrote himself a check for $10,000,000 for “acting services rendered,” which he dated for thanksgiving 1995. Just before that date, he hit his payday with Dumb and Dumber.

Another success story is Oprah Winfrey. Growing up, Oprah was repeatedly sexually abused and molested by her cousin, an uncle, and a family friend. She became pregnant and gave birth to a child at age 14, who passed away just two weeks later. But Oprah persevered, finished high school as an honor student, earned a full scholarship to college and worked her way up through the ranks of television hosting the Oprah Winfrey show and is now an international superstar and creator of her OWN network.

There are a countless number of success stories and one thing they all have in common is that they never stopped believing in the possibilities.

How do we break our limiting beliefs?

Be aware of your thoughts and words: Our thoughts and beliefs define us. we may not be able to control the thoughts that enter our mind, but we can control what we allow ourselves to “think” once such thoughts enter our minds. We can either continue walking down that path or focus on the “can” rather than the “can’t”. Our thoughts define us. Our words define us. So we need to take control of what we allow ourselves to think.

Question your belief system: Once we have identified these thoughts, we need to ask ourselves why we believe what we do? Is it a fact or a belief? What are such beliefs based on? Is it real or is based on fear or flawed rationale?

Commit to Change: Change doesn’t happen overnight. We need to take baby steps. We need to identify one area of our life and do our best to change our “internal wiring” by defying our limiting beliefs. Success is not achieved without fear of failure. Success is achieved despite such fears and failures. Every time we fail, we need to pick ourselves up and try again.

My own personal journey is nothing short of a miracle. When I was 12, I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up in a conservative Indian family, born and raised in Indonesia, I was told early on in life that it wasn’t a possibility for girls in my generation to have a career. I was expected to be married by the age of 17 as that is what society expected out of me. After defying norms, illnesses, racism, and countless other battles, I qualified as a solicitor in the UK and an attorney in New York. I have been privileged enough to work globally for some of the Fortune 500 companies and I am still nowhere close to giving up on pursuing my goals and aspirations.

I don’t believe in the word ‘impossible’. When I am told something is “impossible”, my favorite response is “I will show you how”. If we set our mind to something and we are willing to put in the time, effort and dedication, nothing is impossible.

I will end with one of my favorite quotes by someone whose life is nothing less than inspiring. The great Mohammad Ali himself who said:

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”