How To Shift Those Limiting Beliefs

Written by: Natalie Kerr, Executive Contributor

Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.

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Limiting beliefs stop us from stepping out of our comfort zone. They hold us back from becoming the best possible version of ourselves and what we believe to be the absolute truth. They are our model of the world and limit the way we live.

Limiting beliefs usually show up in many ways, such as:

• You aren’t good enough.

• You aren't smart enough.

• Scared to get visible.

• Not lovable.

• Unworthy of love/success/money/happiness

• I don’t have enough time/money/experience… insert all the not-enoughness;

• I am going to fail

• People will think I am (insert those beliefs)

• My family never had any money, so I won’t either;

• Everything I do is a struggle;

• Nothing good ever happens to me.

• Procrastination;

• Self Sabotage

• You don’t believe in yourself.

So, where does a limiting belief come from?

Throughout our life we go through three phases.

From birth to about 7 years old, this is called the Imprinting period. This is the time when we absorb all the events in our life from everything around us.

The 2nd stage is the Modelling Period between the ages of 8 to 13 years of age. This is where we imitate our parents and other people we admire.

The 3rd stage is the Socialisation period. This is when we leave the family and start our own lives. During this period, our social values and belief systems are formed.

A lot of our beliefs are picked up from our parents, social media, our teachers, what we watch on TV, and so we model these beliefs.

For example, I had the belief that making money was really hard. I thought I had to hustle and work all the hours to make my business a success because I was told as a child that you had to work really hard in school and in your job to get good money. This wasn’t said negatively; it was just what their parents had told my parents. I saw my parents struggling to make money and my family working really hard to get money, so I associated making money with hard work.

Limiting beliefs are not empowering, and so this is what we call a fixed mindset. This means that your mind sees these limiting beliefs as the truth and acts upon that belief, meaning it becomes much more real.

We have limiting beliefs that are subconscious and also conscious. The conscious ones say things like I am not good enough, I am ugly, fat, thick. The subconscious ones are deep. These are the ones that will have come from childhood, such as the example given above about making money is hard.

So how do you start to shift those limiting beliefs?

The good news is that we can rewire our brains so that those limiting beliefs become positive beliefs.

Step 1 - The first thing to do is for the next 24 hours, keep a journal with you at all times and start to note down all the limiting beliefs that you have in those 24 hours. This is so important as you will start recognizing what thoughts you have, what caused these thoughts and how many you have throughout the day, and if there is any pattern.

Step 2 - Under those beliefs, write how they are holding you back in your life or business;

Step 3 - Then start to think about the subconscious beliefs. What were you told as a child, or what events have taken place that has made you have these limiting beliefs? Write these down.

Step 4 - Now rewrite all those limiting beliefs into positive sentences. For example, I am not worthy of success, rewrite this to say, I AM worthy of success.

Step 5 - Turn these positive sentences into affirmations, which you will pin up where you will see them every day.

This is just the beginning of shifting those limiting beliefs, and it doesn't happen overnight. But once you start to realize that your thoughts are limiting beliefs and that it is just your mind trying to keep you safe, it will help you push yourself forward to create that life you desire.

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Natalie Kerr, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine

Natalie Kerr is a Master NLP Practitioner and Business Coach. She started her mindset journey when she was paralyzed with limiting beliefs, anxiety and lack of self-worth due to a number of traumatic experiences throughout her life. This was having a huge impact on her showing up in her business which meant she wasn't getting the results she really wanted for her business in the same way she was getting results for her clients.

She trained as a Master NLP Practitioner after working with so many other entrepreneurs who all came up with the same blocks which was stopping them from building a business of their dreams with true passion and purpose. She works with their inner child, heals trauma and helps them become the best possible version of themselves.

Natalie is also a mother of three and believes that having the right mindset is key to a successful business and a happy family life.