Personal Perspective #5: Remove Limiting Beliefs

Gary Keller curated a list of The 6 Personal Perspectives needed to excel in any area of life. Dive into the meaning & significance of each, and how they can transform your personal & professional pursuits from the inside out.

You could easily spend weeks in a workshop doing exercises focused solely on identifying and shifting your limiting beliefs, step by step, until you begin to operate within new, more enriching beliefs.

At its core, a belief is simply a supposition we hold to be true in any given engagement. Beliefs serve as your mental operating system, guiding how you perceive and interact with the world.

Limiting beliefs, however, often stem from indoctrination - whether from your upbringing, school, religion, or past experiences. These beliefs become the lens through which you see the world, often narrowing your possibilities, rather than expanding them. These ideas become ingrained, forming the framework for how you navigate life.

Imagine a child who takes a math test after a week of poor sleep, a bad diet, and stressful conditions. The child fails the test and, instead of attributing the failure to those external factors, they form the belief that: "I'm bad at math." Over time, this belief might expand to include: "I can't succeed in school." In reality, the failure was circumstantial, but the belief can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

There's a whole lot more to this story than the limiting belief that was formed, but we often don’t focus on that. As humans, we will try something once or twice and when we gain feedback from it, all of a sudden that becomes the totality of experience to be had around it, good or bad.

These limiting beliefs often stem from a too-loud inner critic. While the inner critic can offer valuable feedback, it can also lead to lazy habits and negativity. The problem arises when the critic dominates our thinking, creating an environment of constant self-doubt and inaction. It’s crucial to invite the critic’s perspective for a moment, but not to live in it. Critics point out potential problems, but without balance, they can prevent us from taking action or seeing the good in our efforts.

For instance, if you decide to eat healthier, the critic might point out that socializing with friends could become more difficult if you’re not able to enjoy meals with them. Instead of letting this stop you, consider ways to strike a balance. Could you eat healthy 80% of the time while still enjoying social meals on occasion? The critic's voice is helpful only when it’s part of the conversation, not the sole decision-maker. The problem becomes when the voice of the critic becomes the sole committee and chairman of the board.

One thing that anyone who’s succeeded at a high level will tell you is: Don't listen to the critics too much. Anyone can be a critic, it's easy. It's important to invite the critics in for a moment, but to live there is destructive and creates limiting beliefs.

One of the most dangerous aspects of limiting beliefs is that they kill curiosity. They tell us, “I already know this won’t work.” or “This is impossible for me.” They shut down exploration and remove us from action. Without curiosity, we stop growing and miss out on opportunities for success.

The first step in overcoming limiting beliefs is identifying them. Ask yourself, “Is this belief true for everyone in every circumstance?” Often, you’ll find that the answer is no. Once you've identified a limiting belief, you can begin to unwind it and open yourself up to new possibilities. The deeper the belief, the more it can be intertwined and need interventions of some sort in order to be fully removed.

To help guide this process, I recommend The Inner Game by Timothy Gallwey. Gallwey is a former professional tennis coach who revolutionized the way we think about performance, showing that in every human endeavor, there are two games: the outer & the inner.

The outer game is played on the external arena to overcome external obstacles to reach an external goal. The inner game takes place within the mind of the player and is played against such obstacles as fear, self-doubt, lapses in focus, and limiting beliefs. The inner game is played to overcome the self -imposed obstacles that prevent an individual or team from accessing their full potential.

From Gallwey’s framework, this beautiful matrix of how our outer & inner worlds relate can be uncovered…

When an outer obstacle is met with an inner obstacle, the result is an unsolvable problem.
When an outer obstacle is met by an inner resource, the result is an achievable challenge.
When inner obstacles are met with outer resources, it feels like a lucky break.
And when inner and outer resources combine, that’s when magic happens.

The key takeaway being that the strength of our inner resources determines our ability to overcome outer obstacles. The greater the challenge we face externally, the more we need to cultivate inner resilience and belief in our ability to overcome it.

Beliefs are incredibly powerful because they direct our attention, influence our actions, and even shape our physical experience of the world. If we believe something is impossible, our brain will filter out evidence to the contrary and confirm that belief. Conversely, if we believe we are capable, our brain will help us find solutions and opportunities.

The goal isn’t to adopt an overly optimistic mindset, but to stay open and curious. Test your limiting beliefs by asking: “Is this absolutely true?” As soon as you bring curiosity back into the equation, you start to dissolve those barriers and open up to new possibilities.

By identifying these limiting beliefs, questioning them, and cultivating inner resources, you can unlock your full potential. Life is not about overcoming obstacles through sheer force of will; it’s about nurturing the inner strength to meet challenges with confidence and curiosity.

-Joe

Joe Arroyo is the expert on recruiting, selecting, training, and retaining world-class talent. As CEO of Vision Architect and Convert, him & his team have been "building business by building people” since 2001.

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