“Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives” Anthony Robbins
Anthony Robbins in his quote describes the power and influence that beliefs have on our lives. Our beliefs control how we live our lives and if we choose to live our lives acting on our self limiting beliefs then we are accepting a life that is going nowhere and the future is grim. We all desire a life that is flourishing, full of happiness, love and joy, no one wants a miserable life where we languish in mediocrity. People who lead successful and joyful lives have achieved this by choosing beliefs that support and empower them on their life journey.
So what are Beliefs?
Beliefs are the thoughts in our head that influence our behavior, attitude and actions. The beliefs that affect our lives are either Empowering Beliefs which enable us to lead flourishing lives or Self Limiting Beliefs that stop us from achieving our goals and where we live a life where we languish and flounder.
The Power of Choice is a wonderful gift that we all have and it is this gift that enables us to make choices about what we want to believe and what we don’t want to believe. Those who lead successful lives have chosen to believe in the thoughts that empower them and of course those who live in mediocrity have chosen to believe in the thoughts that disempower them. Beliefs are only thoughts and they are not real so with the power of choice we can change our thoughts anytime we want. The first step to changing how we think and feel is, to decide what the consequences are, if choose to act on our beliefs. Don’t worry about if your beliefs are right or wrong just determine what the results will be if you act on them. This does take some practice but how long it takes depends on you! You just need to decide what Empowering Beliefs you need that will support you toward a life of success.
“You are the person who has to decide. Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside; you are the person who makes up your mind. Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind. Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar. Or just be contented to stay where you are” Edgar A. Guest
To help you figure out what the beliefs will be that empower you toward success here are 10 Empowering Beliefs that Successful People believe to be true for them.
1. I am not afraid, only excited for what is ahead.
“It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable”. – Maya Angelou
2. I am responsible for the life I create.
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility” – Eleanor Roosevelt
3. Failure means nothing to me – I look for outcomes and if the outcomes are not what I expect, then I assess what I need to do to change those outcomes.
“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.” Oprah Winfrey
4. I embrace challenges because I will always find a way to overcome.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
5. My vulnerability gives me strength and fuels my belief in me.
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy,accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” ― Brené Brown
6. The past was who I was, the present is who I am and the future is who I may become.
“You can’t stop the future, You can’t rewind the past, The only way to learn the secret, …is to press play.” ―Jay Asher
7. The words I use to express who I am, are aligned to my beliefs and values and actions.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, our actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” -Mahatma Gandhi
8. I am on a continuous journey of learning, which I never want to end.
“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.” – Brian Tracy
9. I accept that sometimes I can stuff up, make mistakes and that I am not perfect however I never stop trying to be the best person I can be.
“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.” – Steve Maraboli,
10. I always dream big and I strive for that which is out of my reach – the impossible is worth striving for.
“One can’t believe impossible things. I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. ”When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll
YOUR CHALLENGE
My Challenge to You: For the next 10 days choose one Empowering Belief to say 3 times a day. A good thing to do is to say the Empowering Belief while you look at yourself in the mirror. Each day try to behave and act in a way that supports the Empowering Belief you have chosen. Then wait, you will start to feel different and you will begin to transform. Once you want to commit to believing the impossible, daring to be different and living your life as an empowered individual you will have no option but to experience a life full of success and fulfillment. Why would you not do it?
“All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs. So how do we change? The most effective way is to get your brain to associate massive pain to the old belief. You must feel deep in your gut that not only has this belief cost you pain in the past, but it’s costing you in the present and, ultimately,
can only bring you pain in the future. Then you must associate tremendous pleasure to the idea of adopting a new, empowering belief.”
If you believe you can do a thing, or if you believe you cannot, you’re usually right. – Henry Ford
When ideas are repeated over and over again they eventually become beliefs, or convictions, and they affect our decisions, behavior and perception of the world. Any idea that we accept as true will tend to become true for us, because we will act in a manner consistent with it. Your beliefs cause you to view, rationalize and interpret situations, people and especially yourself in accordance with those beliefs. This is because it is a natural function of the mind to remain congruent with what it has previously accepted as true. Basically, you do not necessarily believe what you see, but rather you see what you have already decided to believe. Your beliefs become your reality.
Types of Beliefs
The beliefs that affect our lives are either empowering or limiting. Limiting beliefs hold us back from our goals or detract from our enjoyment of life, while empowering beliefs cause us to reach for our goals and enjoy a greater quality of life. To make sure that your beliefs are empowering, you should ask yourself – for every new idea you come across, and for every strong conviction you already have – whether or not it is useful. Does it give you more power, flexibility and choice, or does it take away? Do not judge your beliefs on whether they are accurate or not according to your perception, but focus on the consequences of believing in them. Beliefs have little to do with reality and you can change them any time you want. You can choose to replace limiting beliefs with beliefs that empower you, beliefs that are consistent with the life that you wish to enjoy.
Empowering Beliefs
There are many empowering beliefs worth having that can enhance your quality of life. You can find them by considering what you would have to believe in order to be, have or do what you want in life. Here is a list of empowering beliefs that contains some useful generalizations or assumptions. They may not always be “true”, but by convincing yourself that they are and acting as if you believe them, you will begin to see the world from a more resourceful perspective.
There is no failure, only feedback. We learn from every experience and every response is only information that tells you whether you are being effective or not.
There are no problems, only challenges. Every obstacle is actually a stepping stone towards success to help you learn and grow.
There is no fear, only excitement. Let your fears motivate you to overcome them instead of holding you back.
If what I am doing is not working I will try something else. Be flexible and do not resist change. For something new to happen you have to try something different.
No matter what happens, I can handle it. Become confident that you can deal with anything that may happen in your life.
My past does not equal my future. At any point in time you can change any part of your life.
I am destined for success. Become absolutely convinced that you are a success in the making.
Everyone is secretly helping me to succeed. The concept of pronoia – assume the best of intentions of everyone around you.
Anyone can do anything and anything is possible. If one person in the world can do it anybody can by figuring out how they are doing it.
I am free to choose my own destiny. Accept that you are in control of your own life, decisions and actions.
Limiting Beliefs
We all possess some beliefs that do not ultimately support us. These negative beliefs exist whenever we incorrectly believe ourselves to be limited in any way. Most of the limitations we have are not based in reality at all, but exist only in our own minds. Irrespective of whether the limiting beliefs are real or not, they can become true for us. For example, people who are convinced they cannot succeed in an area – such as weight loss, relationships or finances – will not take any action to go beyond the limits they have set for themselves. Even if someone or something got them to try, they would still expect to fail, subconsciously sabotaging their efforts. They would also filter out references that run contrary to their conviction, while looking for and amplifying references to support it.
Do you have limiting beliefs about life, yourself, people, health, happiness, relationships, money or education that stop you from achieving the level of success you want? What are the limiting beliefs that come up in your self-talk whenever you think of something that you could be, have or do? Write them all down. The simple fact that you are having trouble making progress in an area often means that you have limiting beliefs there. Below is a list of some example limiting beliefs. As you can see, they mostly consist of either excuses or limiting, generalized statements.
Negative self-image beliefs – “I am too shy, old, young, weak, unlucky or incapable”.
Limiting rules – “If only that happened, then I would be happy” or “I must have this to be able to feel successful”.
Self-pity beliefs – “I do not deserve wealth, happiness or success”, “I am not good enough as I am”, “Other people are better than me”, “I do not like myself” or “I have to prove myself by becoming successful”.
Self-defeating beliefs – “I cannot succeed so there is no point in trying” or “It takes money to make money”.
Scarcity beliefs – “I do not have enough money, time or education”.
Inflexible beliefs – “That will not work for me”, “That is impossible”, “I tried that once and it did not work” or “I am right and you are wrong”.
Unsupportive metaphors, labels or perceptions – “Life is a pain, a struggle or hopeless”, “Money is bad, scarce or evil” or “People are mean, dishonest or selfish”.
Changing Beliefs
The first step to changing limiting beliefs is to become aware of them. In addition to those you have already found, you will also begin to notice new ones whenever they show up in your life, as a result of learning that they exist. You may, for example, catch yourself arguing for your limitations or holding yourself back because of past failures. We can often remove weak beliefs by simply making the choice to do so as soon as we realize that they are limiting. However, stronger convictions may take a bit more convincing to get rid of permanently.
A belief is nothing but an idea or opinion built up of reference experiences, so the way to change a limiting belief is to undermine those references by using contradicting references. The contradicting references in turn then build up a new empowering belief that replaces your limiting belief. A limiting belief such as “I always fail” could for example be transformed into “there is no failure”. Take your list of limiting beliefs and rewrite them, one at a time, into empowering beliefs that support you.
When you encounter a strong limiting belief you can transform it by reflecting repeatedly on experiences that support your new empowering belief and that dismiss your limiting belief. We all have enough references to backup just about any belief, and we can even use other people’s success experiences, movies or even our own imagination as references to support our new beliefs. The more emotional and extreme the references are, the stronger our new empowering belief will become.
Expectations
An important way in which beliefs impact our lives is through our expectations, or our beliefs about the future. Whatever we expect of ourselves becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy, because we will always act to fulfill those expectations. If you confidently expect to be successful, wealthy, liked and happy, you will prepare for those results and will seldom be disappointed. The people around us are also strongly affected by our expectations of them and respond accordingly, whether it is about their behavior or how it is you want to be treated. The great thing about expectations is that you can expect whatever you want. You should therefore make it a habit to continually expect the very best of yourself and from life, and you will have one of the keys to success.
Summary
1. Whatever we believe shapes our reality, because we always act in accordance with our beliefs.
2. Develop a belief system that supports you in getting what you want.
3. Challenge beliefs that do not support you and replace them with empowering beliefs.
4. Confidently expect good things to happen to you.
