Your beliefs are POWERFUL: they dictate your life. What you believe is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Some beliefs serve you brilliantly. You see them reflected in the areas of your life that get good results. You expect a strong marriage; you expect to be fit or to have excellent relationships with your children – you make it happen. You have to: anything else is unacceptable based on what you believe AND because you say to yourself (perhaps subconsciously): “This is the type of person I am.” On a deeper level, it is part of your identity.
But for areas where the results are not pleasing, you don't make it happen. What you really want is better results in a certain area – correct? Your limiting beliefs are getting in the way. How you see yourself is getting in the way. Your identity is not serving you.
I cannot, in good conscience, suggest that changing beliefs is easy. Yes, it is possible to change a belief quickly, but it is rarely easy. In the referral-asking world, the belief many people need is to move from: “My job is to sell products and services” to “My vocation is to help you do purely what's in your best interests from the bottom of my heart.” Plenty of people can make that shift over time. It can take months and years sometimes. And some people just cannot ever rid themselves of the “fear of looking like a salesperson” belief.
The GOOD NEWS is that changing beliefs is a winnable long-term game when you know how.
FIRST: Identify your beliefs in the life areas where you don't like the results
If business is mediocre, if your health leaves a lot to be desired, if there is ambivalence at home with loved ones – as they say in the US: “Look under the hood (bonnet).” Look at what thoughts are going through your head because these are then reflected in your consistent actions (versus your occasional attempts). Write them down.
The easiest place to start is with your current results. As you think about your health, key relationships, business success this year and finances etc, write them out as follows:
e.g., If your health is mediocre, your current belief is:
I am the type of person who deserves and expects to have mediocre health.
How's that for a rather painful reality check as to what you're really thinking? List them all out.
Here's my Chemo Soup Recipe for what to do to change your limiting beliefs:
1. Fact check your limiting beliefs
How much of your negative self-talk is 100% reality? Our emotions wreak havoc on our brains. Do you have a scarcity mindset? You're probably making a lot more money than you were five or ten years ago. You're probably making a lot more money than a huge percentage of the world's population if it weren't for your lucky gene pool (you could have been born in Burundi, the Ukraine, or Yemen). CHIP AWAY at the false foundation.
2. Write the beliefs you want
e.g., I am the type of person who deserves and expects to be fit, energized, and strong.
I am the type of person who deserves and expects to have a business at x revenue.
3. Catch your fear-based inner critic jabbering in your head. All Day!
You can't stop your human brain from having doubts and fears. It's the first thing that will happen after you write down your new beliefs. The highest achievers learn how to filter out these unhelpful thoughts better than everyone else. It might help you to have a catchphrase such as “Cancel! Cancel!” to pattern interrupt unhelpful thoughts. Another strategy that can help is to find a picture of you at your worst to represent your inner critic. Give it a comical name. Mine is DoorMatt: “Be quiet DoorMatt! Not interested.”
4. Listen to your Inner Hero for a new IDENTITY
What type of person do you want to be? Write out your new story. Find a picture of you at your BEST! This is the true you.
5. Understand your brain as a garden so you can pull the weeds faster and plant more dreams and goals into your subconscious
I have an entire habit in my book The 5 Habits to Mine Your Own Gold called Pull the Weeds Fast. Most of what you do is dictated not by your conscious thoughts and goals but by your subconscious mind. Pull the weeds and then plant the flowers by having a Vision board and visualizing with FEEEEEELING what you want first thing in the morning and right before bed. The key here is consistency – and emotion.
6. Be Grateful ‘as If'
Convincing your brain is part of changing your beliefs about what's possible. Feeling gratitude ‘as if' what you want is already happening can be part of your visualizing process. It sounds crazy, but the subconscious can't tell the difference between real and imagined thoughts.
7. Get into Action and Stay in Action
You have to PROVE to your brain that you are becoming the type of person you want to be by taking action towards your dreams and goals. One great mindset to spur the action is: Make Your Purpose Greater Than Your Fear.
8. Gradually Increase Your Trajectory Out of Your Comfort Zone 4% At a Time
You also know you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expect new results. As you take more action to prove to your brain that you are living into your new beliefs, you will likely need to gradually increase the difficulty or scale of what you're doing. This could be targeting slightly bigger prospects, doing small public speaking gigs, and/or taking on greater physical challenges. It all adds up over time.
9. Keep Catching Your Inner Critic Jabbering in Your Head All Day!!!
There is never a point in life when your ego stops trying to scare you, so this point has to be revisited more than you'd like.
And one of the least shared SECRETS TO SUCCESS? You can believe anything you want. People already do – now pick the ones you want. It won't be easy but persist and know it to be true. And be part of a bigger community that is doing this now! My new app community is here to provide a bigger support team to where you want to go: https://community.bearisingstar.com
To beliefs that take you where you want to go!
Matt
