June 4, 2021– What’s holding you back as an author? Did you know that sometimes we are unaware of the thoughts that have been programmed into our subconscious? I know it can be a bit difficult to understand, but today we’ll explore limiting beliefs, what they are, where they come from, and how you can break free of them.
What are limiting beliefs? They are thoughts that are not true that hold us back and shrink our views of the world and who we are considerably. They hold us back professionally and disrupt our personal development. Limiting beliefs can sound like, “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll never reach my goals,” “I can’t afford it,” or “I don’t deserve it.”
Where do limiting beliefs come from? A lot of the things that are pre-programmed into our subconscious take place during childhood and around our experiences during development and onward into our teen and young adult years. For example, perhaps you heard your parents say to you at a young age, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “Starving artist,” “That’s not a real job,” “How do you plan on making money?” I had one author discuss their limiting beliefs with me, and she said that her parents used to tell her that she couldn’t make a living from her art as a writer, so she had better find a real job because life is expensive. That belief stuck with her 40 years later, and it hindered her growth professionally, and she suffered greatly for many years with self-esteem issues and procrastination. We must remember that most parents try to do the best they can, but sometimes they say things that have been programmed into their subconscious at a young age by their families. My dad is an entrepreneur, so naturally, I saw him achieve a level of success that was not at a desk or in a factory, and this showed me what is possible (working for yourself and making an income, being your own boss, taking responsibility for everything that goes on in your company etc.) and that I can achieve even bigger things. We must look at limiting beliefs as a blueprint. If we don’t change the blueprint, there’s a ceiling on what we can achieve because our minds, efforts, and actions will not be in sync to do anything more than what we believe.
How can you break free of limiting beliefs? When someone tells you that you can’t do something, or that you’re never going to make it, or that you should stop writing and get a real job, they are showing you THEIR limitations. To break free of limiting beliefs, we need to ask ourselves for evidence constantly. “You can’t earn a living by writing.” Is that true? What evidence is there to support that belief? There are plenty of authors who have earned a living and made buckets of money with their books. Continually ask yourself if things are true and what proof you have to support that. Remember that what is true for other people doesn’t have to be true for you! Our brains have a way of making things up and skewing the facts to support our limiting beliefs.
I want you to write down some of your own limiting beliefs that you have as an author and closely examine them. Why do you have them? What do you need to do to break them?
Remember that everything begins and ends in the mind, and what you believe has no choice but to become your reality, so make it a good one. If you want to believe in something, believe in yourself and that you have the ability to do anything you set your mind to and take action toward.