A client of mine claimed to be ‘the world’s biggest procrastinator’. Quite a mean feat bearing in mind how common it is and the population scattered around the globe. I love limiting beliefs – they are fascinating. Beliefs drive behaviour and what we do and don’t do so have a huge impact in success, action and change.
Other common limiting beliefs are; ‘self-employment will be difficult’, ‘career change is hard’, ‘marketing is pushy’, ‘all public sector workers are institutionalised’, ‘women are bad drivers’ etc.. Most of the time limiting beliefs are irrational, created on a small shred of evidence, one comment or a snippet in the media. They are really powerful, stopping people from doing what they want or creating bias and inequality.
Limiting beliefs can be about anything; money, relationships, work etc. One client had a belief that ‘money is misery’. They wanted more of it but were stopping themselves because of their limiting belief. Beliefs can usually be spotted by generalisation such as all… or I must/should. What are yours? Have some fun noticing people’s beliefs wherever you are reading this. Read this bulletin on ‘Mind reading’ when we create beliefs about other people:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1103698726463.html