Raquel Gomes, Founder & CEO — Stafi.
Many business leaders—if they are being honest—will confess that their biggest barriers to success come from within. Limiting beliefs related to who they are and what they can accomplish keeps them stuck at a level that is well below their ultimate potential. In many cases, these beliefs orbit around perceived limitations in the area of finances.
In my career, that type of limiting belief kept me in a position as a sales executive that I knew was not my true calling. I was successful at the job, which meant I had a good salary, good retirement benefits and a lot of job security. However, as I started to dream about becoming an entrepreneur and launching my own company, I was intimidated by the financial risk I would be taking if I left my job. My limiting belief was that I couldn’t afford to leave.
Eventually, I took the leap and launched out on my own. I had doubts that lingered for years, but I pushed forward. The following tips helped me as I struggled to overcome my limiting beliefs.
Learn the truth.
Overcoming limiting beliefs starts with understanding that you have them. If we are lucky, the way we think about money, for example, is programmed into us from childhood. By the time we are adults, we accept our beliefs and behaviors in the area of finances without much thought.
By practicing self-reflection, we can become aware of the thoughts that are driving our financial and business decisions. This leads to self-awareness, which is critical for identifying the beliefs that are holding us back. Journaling or meeting with a business coach can help to accelerate the self-awareness process.
Once our limiting beliefs are revealed, we need to confront them with an alternative. This involves learning new information and developing new skills that will empower you to challenge the beliefs holding you back.
For example, if you believe that taking financial risks is dangerous, educate yourself on risk assessment and risk tolerance. Boosting your financial IQ could help you to evaluate and mitigate risk, making risk more palatable. You can also start by taking small risks, which allow you to increase your comfort level and learn the skills you’ll need to cope, adjust and move on.
Reject the idea that failure is fatal.
Every business leader has heard stories about entrepreneurs who risked it all, achieved their dreams, then lost everything. These are the kinds of stories that spark fear and hold us back because they make us believe that failure is fatal to the aspiring entrepreneur.
The whole truth, however, is that many of those stories have a happy ending. The entrepreneur learns from those mistakes, builds something better and rises again. If we look into the story of Jeff Bezos, we easily learn that failure is neither finite nor fatal.
The fear of failure can definitely contribute to our limiting beliefs in the area of business and finances because it drives us to believe that we have only one shot at success. If we can’t come up with a foolproof business plan, then we won’t move forward.
On my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve seen that failures along the way are invaluable lessons on the path to success. Expect them, learn from them and fail forward.
One way to maximize the value of failure is to seek constructive feedback by sharing your failure with trusted colleagues and asking them for feedback. A mentor or business coach can also provide you with guidance and insights from their own business experiences.
Attending entrepreneurial events and conferences is a great way to connect with people who can provide you with valuable feedback. You may even find workshops on what you can learn from failure. If you are brave, you can share failures on social media and ask people for their thoughts.
Get comfortable with discomfort.
Limiting beliefs don’t disappear overnight. In fact, changing our beliefs is challenging even when we know they are limiting us.
Science tells us that our brains reward us when we stand our ground on the things that we have come to accept as true. As a result, overcoming limiting beliefs will require moving into some uncomfortable spaces. This can mean spending more money than we are comfortable with in order to get the tools we need to succeed or risking more than we are comfortable with on promising opportunities.
Our comfort zone is not our growth zone. Reaching your goals will require taking some risks and feeling some tension. Embracing this reality can help you to build the resilience you need to reach your business goals.
Our limiting beliefs essentially act like business partners who discourage us, sow seeds of doubt and block the way to success and satisfaction. Those are the types of partners we don’t need. It’s not easy to part ways with them, but it is essential for anyone who wants to achieve their full potential.
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