Believe Your Way to Success
You'll Always See Proof of What You Believe
When you have a strong belief, that belief is a magnet for things that match it. The best example of this in our culture came on May 6th, 1954 when Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. Up until then, a common belief was that humans were physically incapable of running a mile in less than four minutes. But since then, the under-4-minute mile has become so commonplace that even gifted high school athletes are achieving it.
What changed? One thing and one thing only. It was no longer considered impossible. People stopped believing it was impossible, and instead, believed it was possible. And so it was.
Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Life
In the above example, one person, Roger Bannister, believed in something he had never seen, and because he believed it, he experienced it.
Everyone else had it backwards. They had to see it first in order to believe it. That’s why they couldn’t run at that speed until Bannister showed them it was possible.
For us, the lesson is clear. We don’t have to limit our dreams to what we currently think is possible. We don’t have to see something first, before we can believe it. We can expand our potential simply by changing our falsely limiting beliefs. [bctt tweet=”Believe it first, and then you’ll see it. Here’s how. http://www.BlissBlog.org” username=”@MaggieShayne”]
What Beliefs Are Limiting Your Success?
Let’s think about things we might believe about our lives, ourselves, and our businesses that might be limiting us. Here are some examples to consider.
It’s almost impossible to make a living in the arts.
Most writers have to work day jobs in order to survive.
I’m not the kind of person who will ever be rich.
There aren’t enough hours in the day to make money at this.
I’m not experienced/knowledgeable enough to run my own business.
Most small businesses fail.
My writing isn’t all that good.
There’s so much competition! I’ll never find enough readers with so many other books out there.
My genre is a niche. I have a very limited number of readers.
It takes thousands in promo to achieve success and I can’t afford it.
If you want to figure out what your own limiting beliefs are, pay attention to the things you type, write or say when you are discussing your business with others. When you catch yourself complaining about the state of the industry or a retailer’s latest policy change or this month’s sales figures, that’s gold for you. Stop yourself right there and write down your own words. They reflect a belief that’s holding you back.
Yes, you might think you’re just indulging in a little venting about Amazon’s newest review policy or whatever. But what you’re really doing is re-enforcing a belief you hold that is holding you back. Write it down, and keep writing those limiting statements down until you have your own list of misguided, career sabotaging false beliefs.
Now the work can really begin.
How to Change Your Limiting Beliefs
So once we know what our limiting beliefs are, our task is to work on changing them. Or rather, doing something far easier; replacing them with new, empowering beliefs.
For example, I was one who often heard myself saying out loud that I was bad with money. “I can barely balance my own checkbook,” I’d say with a laugh, like it was funny. “I’m entirely right brained. Never could handle all that practical, left brain stuff.”
Once I realized how crippling that belief about myself was, I began working to change it. My new habit was to say things like, “I’m going to get good at this. I’m a very intelligent person. There’s nothing I can’t learn.”
By changing my belief that I wasn’t good at money management and therefore business, I removed the blocks that were keeping me from becoming extremely good at those things. And as soon as I started saying I was going to get better at them, I began to get better at them.
Books and courses started falling into my path. I’d be inspired to read articles or listen to podcasts that added to my pool of knowledge. One thing led to another, like a snowball rolling downhill. Soon I was incorporating my business, consulting with high end accountants and lawyers, setting up payroll, writing reports and keeping records.
And suddenly I realized I was good at the very same things I used to joke about being terrible at.
I promise you, it really is just that simple.
Find new, positive statements that are at the same time, believable. Notice I didn’t go from “I’m bad at this” to “I’m a financial genius.” I went with something I could believe, that I could learn any skill I set my mind to learning, and I built it up from there.
Finding the Better Belief
So let’s go back to our list of limiting beliefs and create positive statements to overwrite each of them.
Plenty of people are making a living in the arts. In fact, lots of them are making a fortune.
More writers are leaving their day jobs to write full time every single day. Just in my own immediate peer group, I know of at least a dozen.
Anyone with drive, talent, and belief, can succeed. There is no “type” of successful person. The wealthy come in every shape, size and personality type.
There is no correlation between hours worked and dollars earned. Otherwise there wouldn’t be poor people working three jobs and wealthy people working 20 hours a week.
There is nothing I cannot learn, including business and finance.
Every successful, thriving, lucrative business that exists started out as a small one, just like mine.
My writing is getting better and better. The more I write, the better my skills become. I’m going to become one of the truly great writers by studying and honing my craft.
The cream always rises to the top. Authors are finding their readers every single day. None of today’s superstars began their careers with more than a handful of readers and just look how they’ve grown.
My genre is a niche, but so is Diana Gabaldon’s. So is Andrew Weir’s. So is Deborah Harness’. So is E.L. James’. Great storytelling crosses boundaries.
Hardly any of today’s successful authors spent thousands promoting their very first book. They built up to it slowly, and when they made more, they spent more. I can do the same.
Look at your own limiting beliefs, and think about ways you can overwrite them with empowering ones.
Exercise: Make a list of your most limiting beliefs. Then write a counter list with empowering statements to replace them.
How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice, practice, practice.
That’s the final step. Practice. Say your new belief out loud many times throughout the day. Write it down and stick it to your wall where you’ll see it often. Make an artistic poster of it. Any time the topic comes up among your peers, use the opportunity to say it again. Share it, blog about it, create characters who believe it too.
Most importantly, make a habit of looking for evidence of your new belief. Look for it every day, everywhere you go, in everything you do. When you start looking for writers who were able to quit their day jobs, you’ll start meeting them by the score. When you start looking for evidence that your skills are improving, the praise will come pouring in.
Beliefs are really nothing more than habits of thought. And habits can be changed.
And the new belief, just like the old one it replaced, is a magnet for things that match its vibration. It will prove itself true to you over and over, and each time it does, you’ll believe in it more strongly. Snowball effect. [bctt tweet=”A belief is just a thought you keep on thinking. —Abraham-Hicks” username=”@maggieshayne”]
Rather than arguing for your limitations, (It’s not my fault, it’s the publishers/the business/the competition/Amazon/my genetics’ fault) why not give this a try? Treat it like a science experiment. Pick some condition you’ve been feeling has been holding you back, and try to construct some new, more empowering belief about it. Practice that new belief, say it, write it, text it, post it, and begin looking for evidence that it’s true. See how long it takes you to overcome that obstacle you thought was holding you back.
And then remind yourself that it was never the obstacle at all that was keeping you from success. It was your belief about it that was the problem all along.
Tell me what limiting beliefs you’re working on changing, and how you plan to go about doing it. Let’s have some fun with this.
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