If you want to go beyond limiting thoughts, you need to release yourself from the fear of the new and unfamiliar.
I have heard the sentence, “Stick to what you know best,” so many times, and I believe you have heard it, too. As a child, it seemed like the right idea, but as I grew up, I felt exactly the opposite.
I prefer to use different words, “Don’t let your mind limit your chance of success”. I believe these words and try to live according to them.
In 2001, I quit my secure job in the bank in favor of starting a new website and writing about topics I loved and have been studying for years.
Creating a website was uncharted territory for me, but I did not let my lack of knowledge determine my future. I decided to learn everything I could and gradually gained knowledge and expertise. In the beginning, it was difficult, and no money was coming in, but my wife believed in me and supported my decision.
I constantly envisioned that my website would be a success. Though I barely had any visitors, I did not give in to limiting thoughts and doubts, no matter what the current situation was.
The number of visitors grew gradually, and nowadays, thousands visit my website every day. Looking back, I am glad that I did not give up when it was tough.
Since those days, I have been adding many new articles to my website and have written several books, which became a great success. I am happy that I am doing something that I love and that helps many people in many countries around the globe.
How about you? What are you doing to go beyond limiting thoughts?
- Do you find it difficult to daydream beyond your current reality?
- Do you allow limiting thoughts to determine your present and future?
- Do you find it difficult to imagine yourself financially stable, having a good job, owning a nice house and enjoying a happy life?
Do you sometimes tell yourself:
- I shouldn’t aim too high because I’ll most definitely fail.”
- Why should I think about things I will never have?”
- Wishing for a higher position is unrealistic, so I better limit myself to what I already have.”
Why do such negative thought run in our mind?
Why do we allow limiting thoughts to fill our mind?
Why don’t you break the barrier of limiting thoughts?
Every goal we wish to achieve has at it starting point 50% chance of success and 50% chance of failure. Nevertheless, most people focus on failure and increase it in their mind to 80% and more.
There is no reason to support the habit of negative thinking. However, this habit repeats itself often, since we are afraid of failure and allow limiting thoughts to direct our life.
We do not want to disappoint ourselves and other people. We fear rejection, and we do not want people to criticize and ridicule us in case we fail. These fears prevent us from trying new things.
Fears Are Limiting Thoughts
Most fears are just limiting thoughts that run in our mind and create horrifying mental scenarios about what might happen if we fail, and what people might think about our failure.
The Positive Phase of Fear
Fear is not utterly negative. It has a positive and useful side, protecting us and keeping us safe. It is a big warning sign on our road in life that tells us not to take risks that might endanger our safety. Fear warns us not to risk our savings in a fishy business, it warns us not to walk alone in a dark ally, and it cautions us not to jump into a shallow pond.
Fear keeps us away from dangerous situations that might put our life at risk. However, too much fear leads to a limited thinking and limited life, and can turn into a major obstacle to success.
How can you feel the fear, yet, dare and follow your goals?
What do you need to do if you want success?
What can increase your chances of achieving success?
- Acknowledge your fears, and become aware of your limiting thoughts.
- Stop building horrifying mental scenarios about what might happen if you fail.
- Make room in your mind for a positive and optimistic attitude.
- Think big. Don’t limit your imagination to your current life.
- Visualize in your mind constantly how successful you are in the field of your choice.
Our life’s circumstances might set mental and emotional boundaries, but we can cross them by changing our thoughts and attitude, and by thinking big, no matter what our current circumstances are.
You can continue to limit yourself and your life by accepting your boundaries and sticking to your current reality.
You can also believe that you can improve your life, and step beyond your existing circumstances and boundaries.
Let me clarify this idea with an example.
Imagine yourself watching a certain movie all-day long, day after day. In time, the movie would become boring and uninteresting, but you continue watching it, because the act of watching the same movie has become a habit. You got used to this habit, and therefore, it does not occur to you that you have the option to watch a different movie.
This habit of sticking to the old and familiar, rejecting new ideas and new activities, and believing that you are incapable of dealing with new experiences limits your spirit, holds you back, and prevents you from becoming successful.
This negative habit makes you continue to live the same kind of life, and thinking the same kind of thoughts, within the same circle of possibilities.
For example:
- You carry in your mind the image of your current job, not the image of a better job.
- Your thoughts revolve around your current financial condition, and not on becoming rich.
- You focus on your current circumstances, and not on a richer and happier lifestyle.
This kind of thinking perpetuates the same conditions. You keep attracting similar events, situations and circumstances into your life, and do not make place for anything new or better.
You can stop thinking limiting thoughts, and instead, teach your mind to think bigger and happier thoughts.
How to Go Beyond Limiting Thoughts
Here are a few guidelines for releasing your negative thoughts and adopting positive ones instead:
1. The first and most important step to do is to become aware of the limiting thoughts that run in your mind.
2. Next, replace the limiting and negative thoughts with positive thoughts, which are the opposite of limiting thoughts.
How do you do that? Each time a negative thought enters your mind, immediately replace it with a positive one.
No matter what your current reality is, and no matter what your previous experience is, anticipate success, happiness and good relationships, instead of anticipating failure, rejection and disappointment.
3. If you fail, as it occasionally might happen, think about this failure as a step on the ladder to success, and next time increase your efforts.
4. Repeat affirmations about the goals and things you wish to achieve.
5. Increase your inspiration, uplift your spirits, and gain new perspectives on life, by reading inspiring stories about people who achieved success.
6. You may think in a limited way, putting a mental barrier around you, and you may break the barrier and think bigger and better thoughts. It is all in the mind, a limited life and unlimited life. It all depends on how you think.
Gradually, as you keep being persistent with your new attitude, your mind will stop thinking limiting thoughts and start adopting a new, bigger and constructive way of thinking. Then, new opportunities and new paths to success will present themselves to you, which you will be able notice, embrace and follow.
With a little daily effort on your part, you will learn how to stop limiting thoughts and overcome them.
Believe in yourself! You have within you the inner power to go beyond limiting thinking.
