Where Do Your Limiting Beliefs Come from?

Our beliefs shape our reality and future. The process is simple: the beliefs deeply rooted in our subconscious mind shape our behaviour and actions, and through them our results in our business and life. The beliefs act as mental filters and influence how we interpret what goes on in our world and our experiences, and through this, our decisions, actions and responses to external impulses and changes in the environment.

Given their influence on our results, including our business results, it is very important to uncover those beliefs that hinder the achievement of our goals. If we know where they come from and how they are formed, it is easier to uncover them, and acknowledge that they are not facts or are not always true and, in many cases, we learnt them from others.

The beliefs are formed by repeatedly being exposed to the same input verbally and/or visually.

• Verbal exposure can happen due to what we repeatedly hear from our environment (family, friends, school, media, workplace) or what we repeatedly say to ourselves aloud or in our mind through inner speech. Besides the influence of the environment, the interpretation and meaning we attribute to our experiences can also have the power to develop beliefs if we reinforce the conclusion through repeated inner speech.
• Visual exposure leads to modelling certain habits, but can also lead to the formation of beliefs (i.e., when children see something often done in the same way, they will not only model the behaviour but also reach the conclusion and form the belief that this is the only way this can be done.)

The influence of the environment starts in early childhood when it is the strongest. We learn from our environment, and our beliefs are formed based on what we repeatedly hear from authority figures around us, such as our parents or caretakers, other important family members at home, teachers, friends, and classmates at school. Social media exposure to repeated ideas also leads to belief formation. We also model our parents and learn their behaviour patterns, which leads to strong programming. Modelling might also generate beliefs such as 'This is the only way this can be done', or 'I must do it as my parents did', negatively influencing our future adaptability and resilience.

Local culture, its values and norms, and religion also contribute to forming our beliefs.

Our education has an important role in developing our belief system, not only through what we learn, but even more through our teachers, colleagues and the norms and rules of the educational system. The norms and rules of our chosen profession influence the formation of our beliefs.

When we start working, the organisational culture and the leaders' values and beliefs can contribute to shaping our beliefs.

Outside work, friends can play an important role in this process.

Another very influential environmental factor is the media, such as television, social media platforms and influencers.

Example: 

When you were a child, did your parents and other grown-up people tell you not to put money in your mouth because money was dirty? Looking back as an adult, it seems a harmless sentence, but if you repeatedly heard this as a child, the 'money is dirty' idea slowly crept into your subconscious mind, leading to limiting beliefs about money and a negative attitude toward money. Because money was something dirty, you didn't want to have much to do with a dirty thing to dirty yourself. As a result, you unconsciously reject money as something abhorrent. If you reject money, you will sabotage yourself in growing your business and earning more money because you don't want to deal with a dirty thing more than necessary. The most dangerous thing about limiting beliefs is that you are unaware of them until you start consciously looking for your internal blocks. 

It doesn't make sense to blame anyone for negatively influencing you in childhood and contributing to forming negative beliefs. Our parents and teachers did their best according to their best knowledge and beliefs. We are not responsible for these beliefs. However, it is our responsibility to recognise the signs of limiting beliefs, release them, and replace them with new, empowering beliefs that support us in achieving our goals.

The other main source of beliefs is the conclusions and generalisations we make consciously or unconsciously about our life experiences and then repeat to ourselves enough to turn them into beliefs. Unfortunately, this process, especially when unconscious, concerns negative events and not positive experiences and will result in limiting beliefs without us being aware that we created new internal blocks through our self-talk. The more powerful the feelings attached to an experience, the easier it is to ingrain the new belief in our subconscious mind.

Example: 

If you had an unsuccessful presentation at work years or maybe decades ago, you concluded that you were not good enough at public speaking. If later, a suggestion you put forward in a meeting was not accepted, or someone criticised your presentation, you had a valid reason to reinforce your previous conclusion. You started repeating how bad you were at public speaking to yourself and others until this idea became firmly ingrained into your subconscious. Because you considered this a trait, you didn't think about learning some public speaking skills and practising. 

Now that you have a business and must share information about your services or products in person or on social media, you dread speaking at a meetup, networking event or conference, making and sharing videos online, or making offers to potential clients.

As adults, we are also responsible for our media diet, the information we let unchecked into our unconscious mind, the words we use repeatedly, the interpretation of our experiences, our repeated thoughts and self-talk. We must consciously work on our self-talk and mindset, and consciously and responsibly choose the information we consume.

Are you ready to start your journey of transformation through discovering, releasing and replacing your limiting beliefs? Book a free 30-minute Clarity Call to find out if beliefs stop you from growing your business and what you can do to change the situation.