Today, I want to challenge you a bit. This is going to take some work on your part. Don't close the blog just yet, remember we're in this together, so you are not alone. I'm going to walk through this with you, but I want you to start looking at various things in your life in a different way.
What is the first thought that pops in your mind when you think of limits? You may want to write that down. I asked my son, who is 10, that very question. He said he immediately thinks of a stop sign. I asked him a clarifying question, to ensure understanding, and said so when you hear limits you think STOP! He agreed that is what he thinks. Now, can we go a bit deeper on the word you wrote down? Do you find that word causes a particular behavior? Now, with the understanding that when I say limits that means stop to my son, that explains some of the behaviors exhibited that when he feels restricted he can't be all that he desires to be. So are you limited by your thoughts? Are you limited by your thought pattern? How can you find ways to remove the limits?
As a coach my job is to help people remove the limited belief systems in their life that is causing them to live a life that is not at the level of success they desire. The reality is our childhood, parents responses, and past experiences create limits in our minds. Our minds are such a powerful tool. A great proverb says, "As a man thinks so is he." (Proverbs23:7) When we think with limits, we limit ourselves in ways that we may not even realize. How many limitations have you put on yourself, without realizing? In my Business Essentials program I share a personal story, that I will here as well showing limited beliefs and how they can impact your life in a negative way.
I am by nature someone that can sell anything that I believe in. When I believe in something I can sell to everyone, however I never moved into sales in my career. I have been approached various times by executives asking me why I won't consider a career in sales. I often asked myself the same question but exploring the opportunity scared me, and I knew that I couldn't do it. How did I know that when I haven't even tried? That doesn't make any sense, until I started unpacking my belief system. Here's how I did that. I thought about sales, then I went backwards in my mind, thinking about all the comments and thoughts around sales. Everything was normal, and positive, until I got to one particular discussion. I was probably about 11years old, when I asked my Dad why he didn't do sales. See one of his best friends worked in sales and I saw the financial difference between the two jobs. His answer to me was simple, "because sales people are liars." I never questioned that but it established a limitation in my mind. So why didn't I want to do sales, because at 11 years old, I was told that the character of sales equals lying which is wrong. Crazy thought, huh, because in that moment, my dad's comment caused a limited belief to be created that would hinder me from doing something that I would be great at. In all honesty, he may not even believed that. If he did, why would he be best friends with someone like that?
Once I realized this limited believe was stopping me, I had to address it and eliminate it. To reframe a limited belief, you have to take that negative thought and change it into a positive one. I had to realize that all the positive comments, should overshadow the thought placed by that one comment. I also had to realize that all of my friends that work in sales are honest people with integrity, so the statement wasn't even factual. In doing this work, I realized that if I wanted to pursue sales, it wasn't a "bad" thing, it was a way of creating wealth. It was a way to build my business. So there were guaranteed results from sales. This allowed me to crush the roadblock I had in this area.
Here are the practical steps to ensure you are removing the limits from your mind.
Determine if you have a limited belief
Acknowledge it
Reframe the negative thought into a positive thought
Continue to identify the negative thought and immediately change it with reframing
What is the first thing that pops into your mind when I say no limits? Maybe words like abundance, freedom, or carefree come to mind. When you think about your life, or business which makes you feel better; when I say "limits" or "no limits"? You have complete control over the limits that have been set in your life. If you are looking to move forward in your life, and feel limited then you need to be able to find those limited beliefs, and do the work so that you can live in abundance or freedom. If you find yourself, unable to identify those limited beliefs, maybe you need to consider hiring a coach. In hiring a business, or personal coach they can help you find your blind spots and help you learn how to reframe for success. There are no limits to what you can accomplish. Sonya Parker says it like this, "stop limiting your potential. Realize that there's an unlimited amount of things that can do with your life.
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