How limiting beliefs are delaying your best life
Image by Sidharth Pillai
Read time: 10 mins
It is very common to find ourselves being pulled into limiting beliefs, even in endeavours and projects we want to achieve desperately. Don't worry! You are not alone, and this can be attributed to several factors. Let’s understand the 3 prominent ones and ways to resolve them.
1. What if this doesn’t work?
One reason is the fear of failure. When we embark on a new project or pursue a goal, there is always a risk of not succeeding. This fear can instead lead us to not taking the 1st step and we end up not pursuing the goal itself. Also, often after taking few initial steps, when we stumble upon an obstacle/delay, we may feel the tendency to distract ourselves and fall into the trap of instant gratification. Suddenly you are eclipsed by the feeling of remorse mixed with thoughts like I’m not good enough or the likes of I’m too old / young for this.
How to overcome this:
The reality is success on most occasions is not linear instead is like a valley which makes accomplishing a goal the cumulative effect of ups and downs. It is important to know that progress is your fuel and not perfection. Hence, make your plans with the reasonable margin for errors, delays, and bottlenecks. Know that you are here for the long haul. Define setbacks/failures as one of many steps to your accomplishment. Another important aspect is to REMEMBER YOUR WHY. Reminding yourself of the reasons why you wanted to pursue the project in the first place will help you embrace the challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning and will always drive you forward with determination and resilience.
Image by Sidharth Pillai
2. Do I have it in me to complete this?
When you look at your end goal it may seem like an arduous task or mammoth of a goal. You may start to think there are lots of steps in it and this is going to be time consuming. I will have to make significant life changes. You may even want to indulge in the paradoxical comfort of past unsuccessful attempts when you had set out for starting a new venture/project. You tend to conclude I am not made for this and hence this is not for me. There you have it. You’ve already crumbled your plan and slam-dunked it into the abyss of the trash can.
Image by Rafif Prawira
How to overcome this:
Don’t look at the end goal in your plan right now and feel the long distance from your starting point. Just take the 1st step that is visible to you. Simply ask yourself: “What is the most important next step I can take right now? It could simply be a phone call or an email, buying that book, registering for that course, meeting a community of like-minded people and so on. Trust the progress perfection of the process. To overcome the doubts and complete the project, it is important to break down the vision into smaller manageable steps. Create a clear plan with specific timelines and milestones to track progress. But progress lies in the doing not in the planning. As human beings we often have the tendency of concluding our plans just in our mind. When the smaller and measurable steps are actioned, your planning will get refined along the way.
Image by Kyaw Tun
"Seek and you shall find, for in the seeking is the discovery of the self."
Remember, “only the doors you knock, will be opened to you” and when you have taken the first step, you get the energy and clarity for the next step and thereby start to experience the tangibility of your vision.
3. Lastly (most popular): What will ‘they’ think?
Believe it or not, in the history of mankind “What will they think” has killed more people than the plague. Family, friends, colleagues, strangers, friends of strangers, the list goes on. Despite having your best interests in mind, on many occasions, they unintentionally project their own setbacks onto your ideas, give references of others’ unsuccessful endeavours and even frivolous rebukes like “why do you need to go after all of that when you are doing good for yourself now”?
Image by Ganesh Krishnan R
