What you need to know about limiting beliefs that nobody's telling you.
Unbreakable Success, Episode 23:
Click to Subscribe on >> iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Tunein.
Full Transcript:
NOTE: This episode was recorded under the previous title of “Best Life of Your Life”.
“Welcome back to Unbreakable Success. I am sincerely grateful for you being here. I'm glad we get to spend a few minutes together again. Today, we're going to jump into the topic of Limiting Beliefs. Now, that's a phrase that's often tossed around in many different ways. I want to talk about it today because I don't think we spend enough time acknowledging some of the characteristics of a limiting belief. Because if we don't acknowledge some things about them, they may be harder to get rid of. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time describing what a limiting belief is. Obviously in many ways it's self-explanatory. It's a belief that limits the actions you'll take, the quality of life and lifestyle that you'll be able to achieve.
For many people, life often gets throttled by a limiting belief; something they think is true, something they act upon as true and it creates a barrier. I'm going to talk real quick about three characteristics about limiting beliefs that I don't think are talked about enough and I want to make sure that you understand them because when you're aware of these things, it'll be helpful for you as you go through your journey of tackling whatever limiting beliefs you discover along the way. I'm also going to explain three steps to help you hunt down limiting beliefs, so you can take action and get rid of them.
Rare Truth #1
The first thing that we really need to acknowledge about limiting beliefs is that they're often based on actual events, real incidents or events or circumstances that have happened or maybe are happening in the present.
They show up in our lives based on things that, in some ways, are true. The reason it's really important to understand this is because what's likely to happen if you go through life believing something is true and have a story to back up that truth? Then we wind up saying it just is what it is. The problem is that when that happens, many people make the mistake of going through their entire life believing that because an event happened or an event happened repeatedly or an event happened for a long period of time, then that's how life has to be continuously.
In those cases, people wind up overlooking that they get to choose what these events mean. They get to choose what they learn about these events, what they discover, what new information that they discover about these events. Let's face it. If we don't decide what something means, and if we don't decide what new information we choose to learn about a topic, then we're just going to base our decisions based on old information. My point is I want to acknowledge and empathize that for many people, a limiting belief is simply something that, to them at the moment, seems to be true. The reason I made that number one is because of this. We have to understand that our limiting beliefs, my limiting beliefs right now, can be based on something that I believe is true.
By understanding that, I can realize that at some point for me to make the next breakthrough in my life, I'm going to have to challenge myself and I'm going to have to challenge a belief that right now, in some ways, even if it's just subconsciously, I'm going to have to challenge something that I think is true and discover that maybe it's not true. If you're going to break through limiting beliefs, I can tell you this for a fact because I've had to do it over and over and over. You have to keep challenging something that you believe is true. That takes vulnerability and that takes humility. We have to have both if we're going to make the breakthroughs we want.
Number two, and this is partially related to number one…
Rare Truth #2
The number two thing about limiting beliefs that we need to understand is that they usually remain hidden unless we actively are on the hunt for them.
I'll talk about the hunt in a minute and how to go on a hunt for limiting beliefs. They usually stay hidden. We don't wake up in the morning and stretch out and get a glass of water and say, “Well, let's see how I'm going to get around my limiting beliefs today.” It doesn't happen. We have to make it a habit of hunting for limiting beliefs. The reality is that even finding them isn't enough. We have to interrupt them. Again, we'll talk about that in a second. I want to acknowledge the number two characteristic about limiting beliefs that we understand is that they're very subtle and they're very hidden and we have to practice the are of finding them, which leads me to number three.
Rare Truth #3
The number three characteristic about limiting beliefs is that limiting beliefs often have layers.
In other words, when we discover a limiting belief, there's often another one underneath that one that we need to chip away and chip through. I'll give you an example. If someone has a belief their entire life that they are a failure, that they can't do anything right, they'll never be successful, they're never going to achieve anything because they didn't come from the right family, live in the right area, have enough money growing up, any of those things. Let's say something really great happens. This person, in some, way, shape, or form, they realize that calling themselves a failure and believing they'll never be successful is a limiting belief.
Let's say they defeat that belief. They realize in their mind, their body, their soul that they can be successful. They go on this journey and all of a sudden they start making progress. They start making a little more money, then more money, and then more money. Then the next thing you know, they are a wealthy and, in many ways, successful person. They have the house they want, the cars they want, the lifestyle they want. They get to travel anywhere they want. Because they suffered so much in their earlier years, and because they've been able to obtain so much very quickly, they don't realize that they've defined their success as money. Then all of a sudden a new limiting belief has grown, because what happens to a person who defines success as money alone? They become super successful obtaining that money, but all the while their relationships are horrible, and their health and their fitness levels are horrible. Mentally, they're just struggling because, yes, they're wildly financially abundant, but they wake up every day sad, and they don't know why.
Guess what? That's an example of how limiting beliefs have layers because you can defeat a limiting belief about your ability to become successful, but that could trigger a limiting belief that success is only about money. The reality is, being successful is partly about having money. Yeah, if we're going to call ourselves successful, then we should be able to take care of ourselves and our family and be financially abundant so we can enjoy many things that this life has to offer. Being successful is also about having the ability to have great relationships and having the ability to be mentally at peace and having the ability to serve other people and learn new things and make progress and do something that is meaningful, that truly gives us satisfaction. Success has so many different layers to it than just money. If we don't acknowledge that, then that's when things can get ornery.
We see it happen over and over all the time. I don't have to preach to you guys about it, but I want you to understand that solving or exposing one limiting belief may lead to another. That's what's so exciting about this life is we get to continuously make progress. Anytime we face another challenge, we get to overcome it. We get to figure things out. We get to be strategic about it. That's just something that I want you to understand. When it comes to limiting beliefs, you're going to find layers of them. We need to realize that so we can always be looking for the next layer of them. I hope that makes sense and I hope that's simple enough. Those are just three quick characteristics about limiting beliefs that I wanted to share with you guys. We could certainly go on and on and on, and down the rabbit hole of what limiting beliefs are and how to find them and how they affect our lives.
That's something we could certainly do maybe at another time, but I wanted to hit you with those three things that we really need to understand about limiting beliefs is number one, they often are based on actual events. We have to acknowledge and understand that so we don't use that as an excuse to not get rid of our limiting beliefs. Number two, we've got to understand that limiting beliefs are often going to remain hidden until we look for them. Again, because they show up oftentimes as something that's true. Number three, they often have layers. When we uncover one limiting belief, even when we address it, we need to be on the look out for the next thing that we may be believing that may be blocking us from even greater success and fulfillment and happiness.
Here's three ways to hunt down your limiting beliefs…
Number one, we need to be listening for language. We have to hear the words we're saying. Anytime we hear ourselves explaining why we can't do something, why we can't have something. When we hear words like, “Oh, I can't because,” or, “I would but,” or, “I should but,” or, “I'd like to but,” or, “You don't understand,” or, “I was born this way,” or, “This is just who I am,” or, “That's not where I'm from.” We got to be able to hear those words and ask ourselves, “Is what I'm saying right here useful, and is it empowering me?”
Because if we're not using language that's useful and we're not using language that's empowering up, whatever the topic is that we're talking about, there's likely a limiting belief going on. If we're making excuses about something that we want but can't have, that's a big sign, a big obvious flag that we have a limiting belief there. Whether it's about money, our physical health, our relationships, our marriage, boyfriend or girlfriend, our kids, our careers. We've got to listen for language that is not empowering. Wherever we hear ourselves talking in a way that's not powerful and it's not speaking of what we're able to do or something that we can figure out, then we need to plant a flag there and say, “Hey, I need to check this out because there's something here that I'm believing and I'm probably thinking is true, but I'm limiting myself. I need to get to the root of this story and I need to change that narrative.”
Number two, I'm going to acknowledge that number one sometimes is not that easy initially, for some people. If you're not used to listening to what you're actually saying, number one can seem tricky because we don't always hear the narrative that's going on in our head if we've never done it before. Number two might make things a little bit easier. The number two way to hunt down a limiting belief is to look for patterns of main. Meaning, simply, what's going on in your life that you're not happy about? Period. I know that sounds ridiculously simple, but it's true. If you want to find a limiting belief, look for something that's going on in your life, repeatedly, that you're unhappy about. Something that you're interacting with that's not working out the way you want it to be.
Then, once you find that pain point, whether it's about your marriage or your career or your fitness, just talk about it. How would you explain it? Act as if someone is there or actually have a conversation with somebody that you trust. Have a conversation and listen to what you're saying.
Then number three is really, really simple. Once you start finding these beliefs, or at least finding the topics of where your limiting beliefs might be, address them by finding new information about those topics and taking new action.
I want to give you a few resources from my library of podcasts to help you deal with limiting beliefs…
Number one, in episode 13 I did an episode about “Do things happen for a reason?”
The reason I bring that episode up is because a lot times our limiting beliefs come from real events, real things that happen. When we're able to decide that the meaning is behind an event, it changes everything. Please, episode 13. If you go to aaronkeithhawkins.com, just click on my Podcasts tab. Episode 13. Yeah, I can talk today. Do Things Happen For a Reason will be a huge help in addressing some of your limiting beliefs.
Number two, episode 19 is about “The Rare Art of Un-learning.”
Like I said earlier in this episode, many times our limiting beliefs show up as something that's true. It's not always easy to unlearn something that we've “learned.” Yes, I'm using quotation marks around that word learned. It can be really difficult to unlearn something that we've been believing is true, but episode 19, it's about the rare art of unlearning. That'll be really helpful for you.
Finally, number three, episode 21 is about “How to make hard decisions with confidence.”
When you find your limiting beliefs, you're going to have to make some tough decisions, some new decisions, and sometimes that can be a challenge. I want to be able to support you with episode 21: How to Make Hard Decisions with Confidence. I think that'll seriously help you deal with some of these limiting beliefs.
I appreciate you listening today. I hope those helped. Please, if you have any questions, because this could've been a several hour session, but I just wanted to get this information out there to you and get you thinking and help you start uncovering some of the beliefs that may be holding you back from whatever it is that your most important thing that you'd like to improve in your life right now. I think understanding that some of the beliefs that you have that may be holding you back, they may be coming from something that's true. It just has to be reframed. Sometimes it's going to be a little bit difficult to uncover what some of your limiting beliefs are, but it's definitely doable when you understand the process and understanding that they're layered. Just because you find one limiting belief, there's often going to be another one underneath that one, which can be fun. It's part of the game.
When you make life a game and turn it into somethings that's play, that's when life can get a lot more fun. When we stop complaining about all the things that are wrong and instead start honoring and being thankful for the opportunity that we have to figure things out and to grab resources that can help us figure things out, that's when life really gets amazing. That's when life gets routinely a lot more fun, and that's when we start living the best life of your life. Thank you again so much for listening today.
If you have any questions about this episode, please reach out to me at aaron@aaronkeithhawkins.com or just go to aaronkeithhawkins.com and hit me on the Contact Me tab and ask me anything.
I will respond. I will answer your questions. I'm sincerely grateful for any opportunity that I have to help you out. Take me up on that reach out to me and I look forward to talking to you soon. Until then, be loyal to yourself. Be loyal to each other. Keep on creating the best life of your life. Thanks so much for listening and I can't wait to talk to you soon.
What you need to know about limiting beliefs that nobody's telling you.
Unbreakable Success, Episode 23:
Click to Subscribe on >> iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Tunein.
Full Transcript:
NOTE: This episode was recorded under the previous title of “Best Life of Your Life”.
“Welcome back to Unbreakable Success. I am sincerely grateful for you being here. I'm glad we get to spend a few minutes together again. Today, we're going to jump into the topic of Limiting Beliefs. Now, that's a phrase that's often tossed around in many different ways. I want to talk about it today because I don't think we spend enough time acknowledging some of the characteristics of a limiting belief. Because if we don't acknowledge some things about them, they may be harder to get rid of. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time describing what a limiting belief is. Obviously in many ways it's self-explanatory. It's a belief that limits the actions you'll take, the quality of life and lifestyle that you'll be able to achieve.
For many people, life often gets throttled by a limiting belief; something they think is true, something they act upon as true and it creates a barrier. I'm going to talk real quick about three characteristics about limiting beliefs that I don't think are talked about enough and I want to make sure that you understand them because when you're aware of these things, it'll be helpful for you as you go through your journey of tackling whatever limiting beliefs you discover along the way. I'm also going to explain three steps to help you hunt down limiting beliefs, so you can take action and get rid of them.
Rare Truth #1
The first thing that we really need to acknowledge about limiting beliefs is that they're often based on actual events, real incidents or events or circumstances that have happened or maybe are happening in the present.
They show up in our lives based on things that, in some ways, are true. The reason it's really important to understand this is because what's likely to happen if you go through life believing something is true and have a story to back up that truth? Then we wind up saying it just is what it is. The problem is that when that happens, many people make the mistake of going through their entire life believing that because an event happened or an event happened repeatedly or an event happened for a long period of time, then that's how life has to be continuously.
In those cases, people wind up overlooking that they get to choose what these events mean. They get to choose what they learn about these events, what they discover, what new information that they discover about these events. Let's face it. If we don't decide what something means, and if we don't decide what new information we choose to learn about a topic, then we're just going to base our decisions based on old information. My point is I want to acknowledge and empathize that for many people, a limiting belief is simply something that, to them at the moment, seems to be true. The reason I made that number one is because of this. We have to understand that our limiting beliefs, my limiting beliefs right now, can be based on something that I believe is true.
By understanding that, I can realize that at some point for me to make the next breakthrough in my life, I'm going to have to challenge myself and I'm going to have to challenge a belief that right now, in some ways, even if it's just subconsciously, I'm going to have to challenge something that I think is true and discover that maybe it's not true. If you're going to break through limiting beliefs, I can tell you this for a fact because I've had to do it over and over and over. You have to keep challenging something that you believe is true. That takes vulnerability and that takes humility. We have to have both if we're going to make the breakthroughs we want.
Number two, and this is partially related to number one…
Rare Truth #2
The number two thing about limiting beliefs that we need to understand is that they usually remain hidden unless we actively are on the hunt for them.
I'll talk about the hunt in a minute and how to go on a hunt for limiting beliefs. They usually stay hidden. We don't wake up in the morning and stretch out and get a glass of water and say, “Well, let's see how I'm going to get around my limiting beliefs today.” It doesn't happen. We have to make it a habit of hunting for limiting beliefs. The reality is that even finding them isn't enough. We have to interrupt them. Again, we'll talk about that in a second. I want to acknowledge the number two characteristic about limiting beliefs that we understand is that they're very subtle and they're very hidden and we have to practice the are of finding them, which leads me to number three.
Rare Truth #3
The number three characteristic about limiting beliefs is that limiting beliefs often have layers.
In other words, when we discover a limiting belief, there's often another one underneath that one that we need to chip away and chip through. I'll give you an example. If someone has a belief their entire life that they are a failure, that they can't do anything right, they'll never be successful, they're never going to achieve anything because they didn't come from the right family, live in the right area, have enough money growing up, any of those things. Let's say something really great happens. This person, in some, way, shape, or form, they realize that calling themselves a failure and believing they'll never be successful is a limiting belief.
Let's say they defeat that belief. They realize in their mind, their body, their soul that they can be successful. They go on this journey and all of a sudden they start making progress. They start making a little more money, then more money, and then more money. Then the next thing you know, they are a wealthy and, in many ways, successful person. They have the house they want, the cars they want, the lifestyle they want. They get to travel anywhere they want. Because they suffered so much in their earlier years, and because they've been able to obtain so much very quickly, they don't realize that they've defined their success as money. Then all of a sudden a new limiting belief has grown, because what happens to a person who defines success as money alone? They become super successful obtaining that money, but all the while their relationships are horrible, and their health and their fitness levels are horrible. Mentally, they're just struggling because, yes, they're wildly financially abundant, but they wake up every day sad, and they don't know why.
Guess what? That's an example of how limiting beliefs have layers because you can defeat a limiting belief about your ability to become successful, but that could trigger a limiting belief that success is only about money. The reality is, being successful is partly about having money. Yeah, if we're going to call ourselves successful, then we should be able to take care of ourselves and our family and be financially abundant so we can enjoy many things that this life has to offer. Being successful is also about having the ability to have great relationships and having the ability to be mentally at peace and having the ability to serve other people and learn new things and make progress and do something that is meaningful, that truly gives us satisfaction. Success has so many different layers to it than just money. If we don't acknowledge that, then that's when things can get ornery.
We see it happen over and over all the time. I don't have to preach to you guys about it, but I want you to understand that solving or exposing one limiting belief may lead to another. That's what's so exciting about this life is we get to continuously make progress. Anytime we face another challenge, we get to overcome it. We get to figure things out. We get to be strategic about it. That's just something that I want you to understand. When it comes to limiting beliefs, you're going to find layers of them. We need to realize that so we can always be looking for the next layer of them. I hope that makes sense and I hope that's simple enough. Those are just three quick characteristics about limiting beliefs that I wanted to share with you guys. We could certainly go on and on and on, and down the rabbit hole of what limiting beliefs are and how to find them and how they affect our lives.
That's something we could certainly do maybe at another time, but I wanted to hit you with those three things that we really need to understand about limiting beliefs is number one, they often are based on actual events. We have to acknowledge and understand that so we don't use that as an excuse to not get rid of our limiting beliefs. Number two, we've got to understand that limiting beliefs are often going to remain hidden until we look for them. Again, because they show up oftentimes as something that's true. Number three, they often have layers. When we uncover one limiting belief, even when we address it, we need to be on the look out for the next thing that we may be believing that may be blocking us from even greater success and fulfillment and happiness.
Here's three ways to hunt down your limiting beliefs…
Number one, we need to be listening for language. We have to hear the words we're saying. Anytime we hear ourselves explaining why we can't do something, why we can't have something. When we hear words like, “Oh, I can't because,” or, “I would but,” or, “I should but,” or, “I'd like to but,” or, “You don't understand,” or, “I was born this way,” or, “This is just who I am,” or, “That's not where I'm from.” We got to be able to hear those words and ask ourselves, “Is what I'm saying right here useful, and is it empowering me?”
Because if we're not using language that's useful and we're not using language that's empowering up, whatever the topic is that we're talking about, there's likely a limiting belief going on. If we're making excuses about something that we want but can't have, that's a big sign, a big obvious flag that we have a limiting belief there. Whether it's about money, our physical health, our relationships, our marriage, boyfriend or girlfriend, our kids, our careers. We've got to listen for language that is not empowering. Wherever we hear ourselves talking in a way that's not powerful and it's not speaking of what we're able to do or something that we can figure out, then we need to plant a flag there and say, “Hey, I need to check this out because there's something here that I'm believing and I'm probably thinking is true, but I'm limiting myself. I need to get to the root of this story and I need to change that narrative.”
Number two, I'm going to acknowledge that number one sometimes is not that easy initially, for some people. If you're not used to listening to what you're actually saying, number one can seem tricky because we don't always hear the narrative that's going on in our head if we've never done it before. Number two might make things a little bit easier. The number two way to hunt down a limiting belief is to look for patterns of main. Meaning, simply, what's going on in your life that you're not happy about? Period. I know that sounds ridiculously simple, but it's true. If you want to find a limiting belief, look for something that's going on in your life, repeatedly, that you're unhappy about. Something that you're interacting with that's not working out the way you want it to be.
Then, once you find that pain point, whether it's about your marriage or your career or your fitness, just talk about it. How would you explain it? Act as if someone is there or actually have a conversation with somebody that you trust. Have a conversation and listen to what you're saying.
Then number three is really, really simple. Once you start finding these beliefs, or at least finding the topics of where your limiting beliefs might be, address them by finding new information about those topics and taking new action.
I want to give you a few resources from my library of podcasts to help you deal with limiting beliefs…
Number one, in episode 13 I did an episode about “Do things happen for a reason?”
The reason I bring that episode up is because a lot times our limiting beliefs come from real events, real things that happen. When we're able to decide that the meaning is behind an event, it changes everything. Please, episode 13. If you go to aaronkeithhawkins.com, just click on my Podcasts tab. Episode 13. Yeah, I can talk today. Do Things Happen For a Reason will be a huge help in addressing some of your limiting beliefs.
Number two, episode 19 is about “The Rare Art of Un-learning.”
Like I said earlier in this episode, many times our limiting beliefs show up as something that's true. It's not always easy to unlearn something that we've “learned.” Yes, I'm using quotation marks around that word learned. It can be really difficult to unlearn something that we've been believing is true, but episode 19, it's about the rare art of unlearning. That'll be really helpful for you.
Finally, number three, episode 21 is about “How to make hard decisions with confidence.”
When you find your limiting beliefs, you're going to have to make some tough decisions, some new decisions, and sometimes that can be a challenge. I want to be able to support you with episode 21: How to Make Hard Decisions with Confidence. I think that'll seriously help you deal with some of these limiting beliefs.
I appreciate you listening today. I hope those helped. Please, if you have any questions, because this could've been a several hour session, but I just wanted to get this information out there to you and get you thinking and help you start uncovering some of the beliefs that may be holding you back from whatever it is that your most important thing that you'd like to improve in your life right now. I think understanding that some of the beliefs that you have that may be holding you back, they may be coming from something that's true. It just has to be reframed. Sometimes it's going to be a little bit difficult to uncover what some of your limiting beliefs are, but it's definitely doable when you understand the process and understanding that they're layered. Just because you find one limiting belief, there's often going to be another one underneath that one, which can be fun. It's part of the game.
When you make life a game and turn it into somethings that's play, that's when life can get a lot more fun. When we stop complaining about all the things that are wrong and instead start honoring and being thankful for the opportunity that we have to figure things out and to grab resources that can help us figure things out, that's when life really gets amazing. That's when life gets routinely a lot more fun, and that's when we start living the best life of your life. Thank you again so much for listening today.
If you have any questions about this episode, please reach out to me at aaron@aaronkeithhawkins.com or just go to aaronkeithhawkins.com and hit me on the Contact Me tab and ask me anything.
I will respond. I will answer your questions. I'm sincerely grateful for any opportunity that I have to help you out. Take me up on that reach out to me and I look forward to talking to you soon. Until then, be loyal to yourself. Be loyal to each other. Keep on creating the best life of your life. Thanks so much for listening and I can't wait to talk to you soon.