Do your beliefs about your abilities hold you back from achieving your full potential? Unconscious filters could be preventing you or your business from growing. Read on to find out more about letting go of limiting beliefs.
All information that comes into your mind is filtered down in a number of different ways. The ‘neuro-’ in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), is all about our neurology, which is how we process the information that comes into our minds, and what we do with it.
Many of us believe that there are certain skill sets or roles within our businesses that we’re simply not good at or cannot do. These limiting beliefs can become a significant issue if they prevent you from reaching your goals or being your best.
One very common example is when business owners have decided that they are not good at sales, marketing, or any other key area that is vital to business generation and growth. How many times have you heard a soloist say ‘Oh, I really can’t do sales. It feels uncomfortable/contrived/ unnatural…?’
The incredible thing about such a limiting belief is that it only took an instant to create. Perhaps you had a negative experience with a bad sales call, or a deal fell through unexpectedly and the limiting belief just grew from there.
The good news is that getting rid of it can also be achieved in an instant, using NLP techniques.
“ We tend to create or choose our own abilities and our own limitations, and because we can create or choose them, it also means we can change them – to our benefit. ” All behaviour is unconscious, and therefore all change is unconscious, and with NLP you can consciously make changes at the unconscious level.
One of the things NLP does is change the internal representation (or picture) that you have in your mind of, for example, your selling skills, from a negative to a positive, which will then affect your state, physiology and ultimately behaviour.
That’s just one of many examples of techniques that could be done in a coaching or training environment to help you release your negative belief. For now, you could start with a simple exercise to help gain consciousness of all your limiting beliefs. After all, the first step to getting rid of them is awareness.
Draw a table with five columns. Sit quietly for a moment and centre yourself, and then jot down the following information:
1. In the first column, list all the things you believe you cannot do and that are affecting your business.
2. In the second column, ask yourself, ‘When did I decide that?’ and respond to the question as quickly as possible.
3. In the third column, list out all the things you can do and are successful at in your business.
4. In the fourth column, write down what the differences are. Think of yourself using those particular skills and also note what you see, hear or feel when you think of it.
5. Finally in the fifth column, write out any learnings or insights you have gained from doing this exercise.
Sometimes this simple process is enough to generate deep and lasting shifts in your self-perception. If nothing else, hopefully it has at least made you think differently about your limiting beliefs.
We tend to create or choose our own abilities and our own limitations, and because we can create or choose them, it also means we can change them – to our benefit. We just need to know how.
Letting go of limiting beliefs can literally transform your life. Do you have any breakthroughs you’d like to share?
Deborah Keep