4 Steps to Quickly Turn Around Your Limiting Beliefs

Not too long ago, I was reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey and had a rather uncomfortable, yet game-changing thought pop into my head.

“What if’s not because I haven’t struggled that I’m not crushing it yet, but because I THINK I need to struggle first in order to crush it?”

See, for longer than I’d like to admit, I had these limiting beliefs that in order to become a self-made success (whatever the hell that means), I needed to first struggle and endure some challenging times before I was allowed to sit at the table.

Perhaps this is partly due to the inspiring stories we hear about the big players in the game and how they overcame incredible adversity to get where they are today.

But just as it’s unhealthy to compare your current level of success to that of others, it’s equally harmful to compare your level of struggle to that of others.

Let that one sink in a little…

In other words, just because a lot of other entrepreneurs have gone through hard times in the past, doesn’t mean you have to in order to achieve what you see as your definition of success.

This is an example of what we call limiting beliefs.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s not the thing itself that’s the problem, but your thoughts about the thing.

See, an event (be it a person, place, or something that happened) can never be good or bad in and of itself. It’s just an event. The struggle comes when you take that event and attach a story or meaning around it.

It reminds me of the great Stoic quote which says (and I paraphrase): “I have suffered many misfortunes in my life, most of which never happened.”

Anyway, I was getting some support on this during a coaching session recently and my coach suggested I go through Byron Katie’s 4-step framework known as The Work.

I decided to share it with you here so that you may benefit from it, too. Write down the limiting beliefs you’re struggling with and then answer these 4 questions.

4 Questions to Turn Around Your Limiting Beliefs

Question 1: Is it true?

Question 2: Can you know for certain that it is absolutely true? Or are there perhaps other ways of looking at it or other alternatives that might be possible?

Question 3: How do you feel or respond when you consider the belief to be true? How do you treat both the event and yourself?

Question 4: Who would you be without these limiting beliefs? Put yourself back in the situation, but this time without the belief. How would your experience change? How would you feel this time?

Once you’ve answered the 4 questions, practice turning each one of your limiting beliefs around by finding at least three examples of how each one is true in your life.

Remember, it’s never the thing itself, but your thoughts about the thing that are keeping you stuck.