Changing Limiting Beliefs

Here are six recommendations for how to go about changing limiting beliefs that you may be carrying.

1. Uncover the belief. This sounds simple and obvious, but is actually a huge step. Discerning the beliefs puts you 90% further down the track than most people ever get to, and is the first step to changing them.
2. Solidify the belief. Write it down as a short statement in its simplest form, e.g. “I will never lose weight”, “I will always be single”, “I am not good enough to be successful.”
3. Challenge the belief. Ask yourself if it’s 100% true. It may have regularly been true in your experience, but push yourself to find the exceptions when it’s not been true. There’s your proof that it doesn’t always have to be your reality.
4. Feel the belief. How do you feel believing this? Presumably you’re not happy with it, and that’s why you’re interested in changing limiting beliefs. But allow yourself to realise how important this is to you, or how much it has damaged your life up to this point. Once you’ve felt the full magnitude of that, consider how you would feel if you didn’t hold that belief.
5. Switch around the belief. Try swapping around or reversing elements of the belief, e.g. “I will lose weight”, “I am good enough to be successful” or “I am successful enough to be good.” Play with it until you find one that you feel happy with, and that you’d like to embrace going forwards…
6. Embrace the new belief. Train yourself to whisper this new belief to your subconscious every time the old belief rears its head. Choose to believe this new reality, rather than going back to the old limiting belief that you’ve struggled under for years.

Changing limiting beliefs is never easy, but it’s always worthwhile. Which of these steps do you need to implement in order to bring change to your life?

Mark Williamson works as a director of One Rock. He’s an experienced leadership trainer, author of biographies on John Wesley and William Wilberforce, and is also passionate about praying for London. He enjoys good films, good food, and going for long walks with his wife Joanna. You can follow him on Twitter @markonerock.