I recently wrote a post about what someone has to believe about life to live in horrible living conditions. Since writing this post, I’ve thought a great deal about beliefs. This may sound odd to many, but when you coach others you can quickly see their belief systems and how these beliefs control their lives.
Over the years, I’ve coached investors on acquiring income property. I’ve also coached real estate professionals on how to increase their sales and create more income in their businesses. And I’ve coached hundreds of people on how to lose body fat during my years of gym ownership. In every coaching student, I’ve quickly spotted their limiting beliefs. This is crazy to me because it is often challenging to see the limiting beliefs operating in our own lives.
We can easily see someone else’s limiting beliefs, but we cannot see our own.
Our limiting beliefs (we all have them) control our lives.
The more you study and think about belief systems, the more amazed you’ll become. One person believes something is hard while another believes it’s easy. They’re both right and get exactly what they believe.
Yesterday, I drove by a guy who looked like he was in his mid 40s. He was in an electric wheelchair driving down the sidewalk. He was significantly overweight. I immediately started thinking about what he must believe about health and weight loss. I’ll bet you can quickly guess what he must believe, couldn’t you?
“I can’t lose weight.”
“I’m stuck with these medical problems for the rest of my life.”
“Eating healthy isn’t worth it.”
“Losing weight is too hard.”
“I can’t exercise.”
“Life sucks.”
“I’m trapped in this body.”
These beliefs bring this person’s obesity. Because he has these beliefs he won’t search out a solution for his problem. His beliefs create a self imposed prison.
Probably the best real life example of this is found in this picture I saw on Twitter:
These two men are apparently the same age. They look completely different, don’t they? They obviously have two different belief systems.
What does the man on the left have to believe to be in such great shape?
“I can have a six pack.”
“I can improve any health condition I have through exercise and diet.”
“Eating healthy IS worth it and makes life better.”
“Losing weight is easy.”
“I love to exercise.”
“My health is my most important asset.”
See the differences between the two men?
Question: If these two men were to magically change bodies where the lean man’s beliefs would now be in the fat guy’s body and the fat guy’s beliefs would now be in the lean guy’s body, what would they look like in 6 months? Would the lean guy be overweight? Would the fat guy be lean?
Our beliefs are so incredibly important, because they literally dictate everything in our lives including our financial situation, our relationships, our work situation, our health, how much we weigh, where we live, and the cars we drive. The problem is we don’t consciously choose our beliefs. We pick them up over the years without realizing it through the people we spend time with, through what we read, through what we watch and listen to, and through our own experiences. Everything flowing to us has the ability to become a new belief about what we can and cannot do in our lives.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to be strategic on the beliefs we choose to accept?
If you could pick your beliefs (and you most certainly can), which beliefs would you choose for your life? Here are a few I listed for myself:
1. Limiting beliefs are easy to change.
2. I always have enough time for everything I want to do.
3. Opportunity knocks every single day. (It actually knocks several times a day)
4. Money is easy and fun to create. (Think, solve problems, acquire assets)
5. Exercise makes me feel amazing. (It actually does!)
6. I can do anything I want in life.
7. Sugar is poison and will make me sick.
8. I can easily make $20,000 a month working 1 to 2 hours a day.
Yes, I’ve become Stuart Smalley!
All kidding aside, this is actually very important for us to consider. If we can choose to believe anything we want, why not choose to believe things that make our lives better?
Here’s an EASY 30-day plan you can follow to improve your beliefs:
1. Make a list of beliefs you want to adopt for your life. Go a little crazy with your new beliefs. This is your life and you can believe whatever you want! What do you have to lose?
2. List each belief on an index card. Review your new beliefs several times a day for the next 30 days. I review mine each morning, during the day, and at night.
3. For any belief you listed where you feel any resistance, go into overdrive mode and bombard yourself with everything you can find that reinforces the new belief. As an example, let’s assume you want to adopt a new belief that shedding fat is easy, but feel resistance very single time you read your index card for this belief. Bombard yourself with books, podcasts, videos, websites, and people who illustrate how easy it is to shed body fat.
Read: Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It by Gary Taubes
Listen: Mark Sisson Podcast with Joe Rogan
Watch: How to Intermittent Fast with Dr. Fung
Investigate: Dr. Ted Naiman and his Twitter feed
By bombarding yourself with information supporting your new belief, you’ll overcome any hesitation you have regarding the new belief. In essence, you’re selling yourself the new belief by proving it with overwhelming evidence. You’re brainwashing programming yourself with beliefs that make your life better.
Notice I haven’t mentioned goals in this post. The reason why is because your beliefs are far more important than your goals. Someone can set a fat loss goal, but won’t achieve it UNTIL their belief system aligns with the goal.
As an example:
Goal: Achieve 12% body fat
Belief: Losing body fat is hard
This person won’t achieve their goal. To achieve their goal, they’ll need this:
Goal: Achieve 12% body fat
Belief: Shedding body fat is easy and fun
The belief leads to action. The action leads to results.
So what do you think…. will this 30-day experiment work?
(This a trick question designed to expose a limiting belief.)
2 replies to "The Beliefs of Two Men – Plus A 30-Day System for Improving Your Limiting Beliefs"
I read your emails and posts every time I get one (going back to pre-crash) and really enjoy your messages. For some reason, this post prompted me to respond for the first time. I’ve been a RE Broker since 1985 and must have some limiting beliefs as I’ve struggled for many years financially and emotionally. This post gave me an Aha moment. It’s time to work on my beliefs and figure out who I am and where I’m going. Good post. I also enjoyed reading about Slomo today. Thanks!
Dale,
Thanks for being such a long-term subscriber! Congrats on seeing your limiting beliefs. This is the first step to big changes in your life. The cool part is now that you see these limiting beliefs you can let them go because they’re not true. You are NOT limited by these beliefs. You CAN easily design new beliefs that allow you to accomplish whatever you want in life. Enjoy the ride, it’s going to be fun!
Rob