Ignore Your Limiting Beliefs
Do you want to manage for what is holding you back?
Or do you want to manage what is pulling you forward?
What I’m seeing now, among friends and people I encounter in my work, is that many are holding on to what is holding them back.
They are sitting with ideas and not acting on them.
Rather than focusing forward, they are looking back at why they are stuck.
I also see many people shuffling with their ideas. They take a step forward and then retreat.
I’m a big fan of baby steps, but I’m a fan of baby steps moving in a clear direction, not shuffling back and forth or moving in circles.
WE NOW HAVE MORE TIME THAN EVER TO TRY OUT NEW IDEAS BUT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE PARALYZED BY FEAR.
There is a temptation to attribute this inaction as originating from a limiting belief.
The idea being, we don’t take action because we are stuck in a pattern that served us during childhood, as a protective mechanism, and now holds us back.
I agree that limiting beliefs do exist and can influence the actions we are willing to take. I’m a filmmaker and limiting beliefs are the foundation for a character arc.
In a novel or a screenplay, the main character usually has a belief that colors the way they see the world. The story is written around this belief and the character’s journey takes them on a series of challenges that either opens them up to a new way of seeing and being or closes them down.
The character’s mission and the actions they take when bumping up against countering beliefs push the story forward and make for interesting drama.
Just like a Hollywood character, we get to the other side of our limiting beliefs through the actions we take and the lessons we learn as we move towards our goal.
And the characters in a film, we usually can’t even see our own beliefs.
Instead, we experience them.
We rarely succeed in changing a limiting belief by ‘thinking’ our way differently.
Instead, we change my doing.
BY DOING WE..
learn about ourselves
gain more confidence
discover new tools
meet new people
learn to trust ourselves
learn to trust others
RIGHT NOW, THE WORLD NEEDS OUR CREATIVE ENERGIES MORE THAN EVER.
We are facing a climate crisis, civil unrest, social unrest, loss of housing for many, loss of income, an inability for many to pay for food, and many of us have also been experiencing a loss of hope.
Those of us who have a home, who have resources, and have ideas for how we want to live differently, we may be tired but we are in a position to put our ideas out in the world and put our services into action.
It doesn’t mean we’ll succeed on the first try.
It doesn’t even mean we’ll succeed on the tenth or fiftieth try.
But all those benefits of doing – gaining confidence, learning to trust ourselves and others, obtaining new insights, etc, they matter.
Along the way, you naturally will run into your limiting belief.
AND IN THE COURSE OF DOING, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO COME UP AGAINST THIS LIMITING BELIEF AND “DO” BEYOND IT.
I decided to share a new way of storytelling, one based on connection rather than fear.
But I experienced fear.
So I did things like…
Write but then not publish
Hide behind ‘professional’ sounding language
Create a course and then not offer it
Avoid talking about my work
But then I did work to clarify my direction and create my vision statement.
WE NEED A VISION BIGGER THAN OURSELVES.
My commitment to a vision of helping others share their voice overruled my own avoidance tactics.
I decided I had to DO forward, no matter what the mistakes or the initial results.
It was only once I shared my beta course and heard from students that they learned and felt heard and inspired, that I realized I had been living with a limiting belief that ‘no one cares what I have to say.’
When I heard people caring, I realized I had been living in this fog, and I finally felt I had something of value to say.
My vision was ahead of my own ability to execute this vision.
But in doing anyway, I moved beyond my limiting belief.
And I created a body of work that has the power to help others do the same!
KEYS STEPS OF DOING FOWARD
have a vision of what you want to accomplish
start doing forward
adjust along the way
If you want help with doing forward, check out my course, 15 Strategies to Get Into Action.