Don’t let limiting beliefs damage your leadership

Being a leader is a complex role which often involves overcoming barriers in order to succeed. These barriers may be external and sometimes out of our control but, in my experience, one of the greatest obstacles to success can be found within ourselves. By letting limiting beliefs take control of our inner narrative, we put very real and damaging constraints on our potential. How do I know this? Because I do it too.

Despite spending many years working on overcoming my own limiting beliefs, I still catch myself succumbing to them occasionally. So the first thing to accept is that this is an ongoing process rather than an overnight sensation. Let me give you an example.

I’ve never been a fan of going to the gym, mainly because I didn’t want to look like an idiot trying to work the machines or lifting weights in the wrong way. As a result, when I started on my weight training and fitness journey with @Tom Dyer over five years ago, I decided to invest in some equipment I could use in my garage and save myself both time and money going to the gym.  To be honest I have never looked back.

But now that I am travelling a lot for work, I sometimes find myself needing to use a hotel gym or, as one day this week, a local one down the road from the hotel. This really made me nervous! Although I am now a lot more confident with gym machines and know how to lift weights correctly, my limiting beliefs convinced me that people would be looking at me and – even worse – laughing. But when my desire to work out forced me over the threshold, what I noticed was how everyone was focused on themselves, their own technique, their own achievements, and no-one had the slightest interest in what I was doing.  In fact, hardly anyone even looked at another person.

We can get so wrapped up in our own story, a made-up narrative with no hard evidence to support it, and we allow this bullshit story to stop us progressing. These limiting beliefs can prevent us doing things that are good for us, that will help us learn and grow, even things that will make us happy. We really do put the biggest barriers in our own way!

There can be many causes of limiting beliefs (this is a good article if you’d like a deeper understanding of the root of the problem), but for me the first step is self-awareness. Once we recognise our tendencies, become aware of the triggers and have a plan to deal with them when they arise, we can truly unleash our potential.

If you want to learn more about how limiting beliefs can damage your leadership, and more importantly, STOP them from restricting your potential, please get in touch.

For physical growth and fitness improvement, I urge you to contact Tom!