In my last post I said that I would get into belief next as the first logical step in beginning a personal development plan of action. Most such plans start with desire and goal setting. Why don’t I?

Desire is certainly a necessary prerequisite of personal improvement program but what good is a strong desire without the belief that the desired outcome can and will be attained?

I wrestled with this “chicken or egg,” question for some time before deciding how to approach the subject here.

Yes, it is essential to have a desire to change in order to create any change but what changes do you propose to make? Without a belief that the desired changes are possible your desire will soon wither away and you’ll be right back where you started!

Assuming then, that you have a basic desire to make your life or some things about your life better, let’s raise our expectations by examining our limiting beliefs.

If you’ve lived in this world for more than a few moments you have developed beliefs about who you are, what you are and what you’re capable of. Many of your beliefs are good and keep you on track. Most of us, however, were raised with negative beliefs - ideas of others that were accepted at the time as true and, unless refuted, continue to set our self-expectations.

Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler calls them ANTS (automatic negative thoughts). Whatever you choose to call them, they are there in everyone’s subconscious mind and they do limit what you’re capable of doing or becoming.

These ANTS are part of the overall program that runs your life - that define your concept of who you are. Whatever you hold in your belief system to be absolutely true about yourself sets your limitations or empowers you to excel.

Your subconscious mind is many times more powerful than your conscious. It governs what you are capable of doing. For example if you hold the belief (subconsciously) that you are unable to grasp mathematics or to be successful in whatever, then it will be impossible to override that subconscious belief and learn mathematics or be successful. The belief must first be changed!

I’ve written a short book entitled Believe It! which goes into much greater detail about beliefs and how to begin to change them. They cannot be magically changed overnight. It takes awareness of the negative belief or feeling, desire to change it and a course of action to follow to replace the negative belief with positive ones.

You can get Believe It! and a mini-course on success basics at no cost by signing up for my newsletter. You will also get my occasional newsletter. I believe the book and mini-course will be of great help to you. Get it here.

Duane

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