Fearful thoughts and Limiting beliefs

“Once upon a time…” “A long, long time ago...” These are how some of the greatest stories start. Stories that inspire and teach, touch our emotions, grab our attention and help us to understand humanity. Stories have brought us together for thousands of years. There is no doubt that storytelling is powerful – that words are powerful.

We tell ourselves stories all the time within our own minds. These stories are also incredibly powerful, however most of these are not the inspiring, thought provoking or connecting type of stories because we tend to tell ourselves stories about what we can’t do, what we’re not good at and how difficult things are in the world around us.

Some scientists believe we have around 50,000 thoughts per day, 70% of which are negative and here’s the shocking statistic – 95% of our thoughts are repeated daily and yes, 70% of those are negative!

The stories that we tell ourselves become the narrative to our life and form our beliefs. If the quality of our life and work relies on the quality of our thoughts and beliefs, then we are setting ourselves a real challenge. They influence how we react to the world around us, how we think about who we are and what we stand for, how we behave in relation to others, how we make decisions, deal with stress and so much more. These beliefs then hold us back from what we can achieve and what we’re capable of doing as they form barriers to open mindedness and restrict our growth. When we view these stories as absolute truth, we seek out evidence to support this and prevent ourselves from the growth and development we are all capable of.

On our current experiential leadership course, we have seen some really inspiring examples of people becoming aware of their own limiting beliefs and then working hard to overcome them and really thrive in their role as leader. If you haven’t already, have a read of Joanne’s post earlier this month which shares some of her fear and limiting beliefs.

This impact is always tangible in the coaching work we do. I always feel incredibly privileged to work 1:1 with people in a coaching relationship when they are open to delving into what it is holding them back. Imagine having focussed time with someone by your side to support you in the process of exploring the challenges in your role and to work with you to uncover strategies to overcome these, uncover your strengths and learn to step out of your comfort zone to become the best version of yourself. Someone by your side to help you to rewrite the stories.

Our beliefs can be so ingrained that we no longer see them as stories that we can rewrite but rather as the absolute truth. We therefore often don’t even know what our limiting beliefs are. Therefore, its invaluable to have someone by your side who can gently challenge and support you to see them and overcome them. These beliefs usually start with “I can’t…”, “I don’t…”I’m not…” and can sound like:

• I’m not very good at…
• I’m too old…
• My team won’t…
• I can’t speak in front of lots of people
• I will make a mess of…
• I don’t have the skills to do the job well
• There isn’t enough time in the day
• If I say this, it won’t come out right ..

If we tell ourselves that we are not good at something or that the circumstances are against us, then we are unlikely to try to get better at it and find creative solutions. Changing our perception and rewriting these stories can be crucial to our success and our happiness in both work and life.

Let us help you to change the stories in your head into the inspiring, freeing, and positive ones that will help you to thrive. Get in touch to discuss our coaching options

Let your story become, “once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I had beliefs that held me back, however with some coaching from Pro-Development, I rewrote my story and now there is no stopping me!”

We can’t wait to support you.