Eliminate Limiting Beliefs

Are you ready to stop your internal critic?

Are you ready to break free from those limiting beliefs that have held you back from financial success? You have the passion, the vision, and the goals—but often, they are not enough. We may know what we should do, but for whatever reason, we don’t do it. We usually talk ourselves out of it. This section will help you stop being your own greatest barrier from success and help you align your thoughts and actions for maximum achievement.  

In the last section, you designed the life of your dreams by identifying your vision and destination. You know exactly what you want to own, accomplish, and be. Some of you may be excited and ready to get started making that vision a reality through good financial health and financial independence. Others may be hesitant or unconvinced. 

Is something holding you back?   

Intellectually, I think we know that we can achieve our goals and feel financially secure, but emotionally, we may not believe it’s possible. We think “If I clarify my goals, save more and invest wisely, I could ‘theoretically’ live the life of my dreams. If I got a good handle on my finances, protected my assets, and minimized my financial and personal risks, I could be more optimistic and confident about the future.” In our hearts, we know it is true, but it seems like financial success is for everyone else.  

This next section will help you get out of your way. No matter how passionate you are about achieving the life you designed, you won’t maximize your finances and fully align yourselves with your goals until you take a look within. Start by reviewing the most commonly held beliefs that undermine financial success and then take concrete steps to eliminate your limiting beliefs. We will review the common financial mental traps we set for ourselves, and discover ways to overcome those biases.  

Before moving forward, take a moment to recognize the wonderful opportunity that lies before us. We live at a time and in a country where we are free to choose the life we want to live. Billions of others before us did not have the exceptional freedom that we take for granted to chart our own destinies.    

How do we seize this opportunity every day?  

Unfortunately, as Henry David Thoreau wrote, we live lives of quiet desperation. We know there is more, but do not seek it. We create a perfect vision for our lives, but we don’t go after it. We get stuck in life. We wake in the morning, drive to work, put in our hours, and come home. We live for weekends, holidays, and our annual two-week vacation.  

We race from one fire to the next—rushing by the smoldering ones to put out those that have already erupted into flames. We focus on the here and now, putting more thought and energy into planning our next vacation than in escaping the daily rut of our lives.

We seek change but continue to plod along doing the same things and wondering why nothing changes. Sometimes what we need to change—is ourselves. This section will help you identify and overcome those beliefs that are holding you back. Those beliefs that have prevented you from achieving and living the life you’ve wanted.  

Have you ever noticed how adult elephants are secured?  

You would expect that such a large, strong animal would require several large, thick chains to prevent it from walking away. Instead, these 13,000 pound behemoths are secured by a thin rope tied around their foot. With very little effort, the elephant could easily break the rope and roam free, yet it doesn’t.  

How could such a large animal be rendered powerless with just a small rope? 

The answer lies in the elephant’s early conditioning. Circus owners knew that it would have been nearly impossible to secure an adult elephant, but found that if they began restraining the baby elephant—when it was not yet strong enough to break free—it would learn, after repeated failures, that it could never break free.  

So a baby elephant is secured with a chain. At first, the young elephant struggles and struggles. Each unsuccessful attempt makes it more defiant to overcome. However, its defiance gradually lessens until its desire for freedom becomes lost forever. At this point, owners are free to replace the chain with small rope. With its foot still “secured,” the adult elephant doesn’t bother to try to break free.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “If I was an elephant, I would look down at that puny rope and snap it with a twitch of my leg. It can’t keep me from doing what I want!” Perfect! That’s the kind of attitude I want you to have. It may sound silly, but you need to become the elephant. Look down at your massive gray leg, see the little rope for what it is, and break free from your limiting beliefs.

The proceeding blog post is an excerpt from The Six-Day Financial Makeover: Transform Your Financial Life in Less Than a Week!, available now on Amazon.