| You believe, you will…will you?
The impact of beliefs on personal and business success “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” When we were children, we used to dream about being astronauts. We wanted to be a president. A world famous actress. A doctor saving hundreds of lives. A millionaire. A happy husband or wife. As children we believed that everything was possible. Then we grew up. Some of those children grew into successful adults achieving all, or at least some of their childhood dreams. The rest of them moved on admitting that those were just dreams too big to make them reality. What has happened to the child believing that not even sky was a limit? The major difference between go-getters and go- no-getters is their own belief system – a collection of beliefs about themselves and their own capabilities to achieve what they want. FORMATION OF BELIEFS As children we had a very little or no reference at all to what was presented to us. We used to be like a human sized sponge, absorbing thousands of bits of information every day, often without any analysis. We had tendency to immediately accept what our seniors told us as being true. Sociologist Morris Massey describes this period (0 – 7 years of age) as the Imprint Period, when our core values and beliefs are formed. For example, if one young boy used to see their parents arguing about money and listen to common phrases such as: “Money is the root of evil”, or “We need to work very hard for money”, he may easily accept this as being absolute true, forming his own belief system, and reference for his own future. He would unconsciously ranked money as away from value – something to avoid in order to avoid pain – and created the whole set of beliefs around this value-money- to support this. If this now a child and later man doesn’t recognise his adopted beliefs and values (and majority of adults don’t), it is an example of recipe for living the life always lacking money and being broke. This is why we often hear that we are programmed for future success or failure as children. Beliefs are not truth. They are merely our own perception of truth. Beliefs are those things we accepted as absolute truth, hence adjusting our behaviour to fit our own belief system. Our own belief system is a powerful determinant of the quality of our life. When Roger Banister announced in early 1950’s that he would run the one mile in less than 4 minutes, the whole medical and sport society thought he was going mad. For years the whole world knew that it was impossible for human being to run one mile in less than 4 minutes, until Roger proved it wrong, in 1954. Within one year, 37 runners broke this record, as a result of changing one single belief. This common story is just one of thousands, demonstrating that there is no other more powerful force in human behaviour than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. “Beliefs are not true. They are constructs around which we organize our behaviour. They are our self fulfilling prophecies” -Sue Knight You have adopted beliefs about yourself and your own capabilities as a result of your own evaluation of certain experiences. These beliefs can be either empowering or self limiting. For example, if you accepted belief that you will never succeed in your life, as a result of your parents telling you: “You will never succeed in your life” (and having no ability to argue or dispute this statement), it would be an example of your limiting belief. Each time the person with such a belief attempts to succeed in something, the little internal program ‘You will never succeed in your life ‘subtly affects their behaviour in such a way that success eludes them. BELIEF CHANGE Changing even one single limiting belief about yourself can significantly increase your options for your future. Sarah, one of our previous students, wrote: “During my NLP Practitioner course, I realized that throughout my whole life I believed about myself that I am not good enough. I let go of that belief during that week. That single change caused me to change as a person. I suddenly knew that I am more than good enough and a whole new world opened in front of me. It was like somebody had plugged me in! I am still in disbelief, how much my life has changed because of this.” By simple examination of your beliefs you can recognise those beliefs that hold you back and prevent you from higher levels of success and fulfilment. You can start doing so by simply asking yourself: What do I believe about myself? What am I good at? What am I not good at? What beliefs I hold are not useful in relation to my goal? What do I believe about myself in relation to money, success, relationships? Do I deserve it? Once you elicit those limiting beliefs about yourself, you can challenge and reframe them:
For example, if you believed that you were not good enough (“I’m not good enough is a very common limiting belief), your new rational and supportive belief would be “I am good enough”. To reinforce this new belief, look actively for evidence to support your new belief. “I am good enough because…” – more evidence you have, more open will your nervous system be to accept this new belief. Writing down your new beliefs and success journal are few examples of tools assisting you to adopt belief system fully supporting levels of success you desire. As children we used to believe that not even a sky was a limit. As adults we have the power to actually go far beyond the sky, only if we believe that we truly can… Experience NLP for yourself! Come and join us for the next one day Introduction to NLP, where the change begins...
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