We all have limiting beliefs.
“I’ll never be good at guitar.”
“I’m just not the kind of person who goes to the gym.”
“I was more creative when I was a kid.”
Whether we know it or not, we are constantly limiting ourselves.
Not because we aren’t good enough. Not because we aren’t trying. It’s because we let our minds control us before we even start something. Our beliefs are the tiny piece of a large puzzle that can keep us from achieving goals.
That’s what a limiting belief is.
It’s a negative thought, based in fear, that prevents us from reaching our true potential.
To put it simply, if you think you cannot do something you won’t do that thing.
I heard this in a podcast recently, and it really got me thinking. On the “Lifting with Lindsey” podcast, she was talking about how limiting beliefs set you up for failure. Doing things is hard enough, but doing them with a mental hurdle makes them even harder.
If you already struggle to go to the gym, believing that you’ll never be strong will not help you. It’ll probably keep you from going most of the time. Then your beliefs will be reinforced when you go to the gym after a long time and find out you are less strong than you were before. Suddenly, your limiting beliefs become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
That’s the neat thing about beliefs. They sort of are self-fulfilling prophecies.
If you believe you will be amazing at Jiu Jitsu someday, you might find yourself excited to go to class every day. You’ll train often and hard, and every time you achieve something you’ll reinforce your belief in yourself. And, if your belief is strong enough, when you lose, get hurt, or find yourself struggling; you won’t quit. With that kind of mindset and training technique, you probably will be amazing at Jiu Jitsu someday.
If you believe you will never be good at Jiu Jitsu, you probably won’t show up to class consistently. You’ll probably train with less focus. You might have some positive moments where you achieve things, but you’ll also probably be more crushed on days you do bad or when you can’t master a certain skill. With that kind of mindset and training technique, you probably will never be good at Jiu Jitsu.
The simple belief you started with is now a self-fulfilling prophecy on your journey.
How do we apply this information to benefit us?
Think about your limiting beliefs and try to break down how your self-fullinging prophecy is going.
I had two things come to mind when I heard Lindsey ask “What are your limiting beliefs?”
- I will never be as good at guitar as I want to be.
- I don’t have the confidence it takes to make content anymore.
Both of these beliefs have kept me from doing things I love.
When I assumed my progress on the guitar was over, I stopped practicing. I told myself it wasn’t worth the effort, and my prized possession quickly became living room decor. Everytime I thought about playing, I felt afraid of how much worse I had probably gotten, and I wouldn’t even touch it. It got to the point where if someone asked me if I played guitar I’d say “Not really, I’m not very good, but I used to play.”
As a result, I haven’t progressed in years. I play the same way I did when I was 19. I’m 27 now.
How did I challenge this belief?
Well, for me, it was the Jiu Jitsu thing. That wasn’t just an example, that was me realizing that if I’m not careful, Jiu Jitsu could be the new guitar. I was able to challenge my belief in the guitar when I realized I was getting better at something I was bad at simply by practicing.
By that I mean this; I’m not good at Jiu Jitsu or anything. I just started. But I’m in the “honeymoon” phase of learning something, where I believe my options are limitless and I’m making progress day by day. Just like with guitar. Learning scales and chords is easy. Learning anything new is usually relatively easy at the start.
Your belief in something tends to be strong in the beginning. In that honeymoon phase.
Sometimes when I’m training a lot, I’ll ask myself, why are you so determined to be good at this and not guitar?
It’s because it’s easy to have positive feelings and less fear based beliefs in something new. It’s when you get further along in something, like knowing all your guitar chords, but still struggling to learn new riffs, that your limiting beliefs can start to creep up on you.
If I’m not careful, I’ll never be good at guitar or Jiu Jitsu.
Limiting beliefs are something we have to constantly scan our minds for.
You could train hard, or practice a lot, for a few years, and suddenly, when you hit a plateau, you can move from positive to negative fast.
That’s when you start to miss practice sessions, lose focus, and give up.
This was sort of a breakthrough for me to realize, because once I realized my limiting beliefs were the reason I never wanted to practice, I decided I could just flip a switch in my brain and break past my plateau. If I changed my beliefs, I could get back to practicing, focus hard, and continue with my dream of being an amazing guitarist.
Now onto the actual action part – I had put my theory on limiting beliefs to the test and this is how I decided to change my mind on a few things.
I switched my old negative and fear based beliefs to these:
- I will get better at guitar if I practice more.
- I am confident enough to make content.
It’s only been a few weeks, but I’ve been playing guitar an average of 3 days a week now. I was able to achieve a high score (there’s a game that lets you play your real guitar to real songs and it scores you) in two of my favorite practice songs this week! I might not start my band next week, but I’m finally back on my way towards that dream.
And I finally made my first blog post in forever.
Which is exciting, because I’ve had some fun content ideas recently, and I’m excited to do those as well.
The reason I make content is because I hope I can start fun conversations with people and build some kind of community. “Getting psyched” is all about getting excited about stuff and sharing that excitement with others.
I really miss getting psyched with other people, so I’m glad to be back here with you all!
That being said:
What are some limiting beliefs that you are working on right now?
Let me know here, or on my instagram @getdjpsyched
If you want a cool way to remember this lesson in limiting beliefs, I like to use a quote that I found through Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore.
B.O.Y. – means Beware of You. “Be aware of the power you have over your own life. We have the choice to live positively or in our own destruction.”
I have B.O.Y. tattooed on my ankle, which is funny to me because I feel like every few years that tattoo finds its way of being significant to me. I never made it’s connection to limiting beliefs until now.
Stay Psyched,
Dj Psyched
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