If you want your firm to expand quickly and successfully, you must put in the effort yourself. Personal and professional development both necessitate the following:
* Introspection
The capacity to adapt (I didn’t mean “willingness,” by the way; I don’t care if you had to be dragged kicking and screaming into these alterations. Making them is the most crucial part.
The difference between success and failure lies in taking stock of your beliefs and letting go of the ones holding you back.
So, I’d like to know, “How do your personal values support (or not) the success of your company?”
A little introductory explanation of beliefs is perhaps in order. The word “belief” comes from the Latin word “credere,” which means “to trust,” and refers to a belief in something that cannot be proven with absolute certainty. That is to say; our beliefs are nothing more than our subjective evaluations and assessments of the world and the people in it. Or, as I like to put it, “beliefs” are just views that pass themselves off as facts.
Our beliefs are only ” true ” when we give them that status. That gets lost in our minds most of the time. We live in our own little worlds and rarely stop questioning them, even when they may hold us back. Sometimes it’s unsettling to acknowledge that what we’ve taken for granted is just that: our reality.
Running a mile in less than four minutes was thought to be physically impossible for humans before May 6, 1954. It had never happened before. Within nine years of Roger Bannister’s achievement, approximately two hundred others had accomplished the impossible by achieving at the same time.
The subconscious is the mastermind behind our thinking, predominantly shaped by our upbringing before the age of six. The director of the University of Illinois’s Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology, Emmanuel Donchin, speculated that “as much as 99 percent of cognitive activity may be non-conscious.”
As adults, most of our time is spent mindlessly reacting to events rather than actively shaping our world. And to top it all off, we often react based on data collected and assessed by our kindergarten selves. Maybe not the best conductor of an adult’s life.
Now we return to our initial question: how do your values affect your professional achievements?
Beliefs can be both a strength and a weakness; everyone has both. Those that put constraints on our actions are of particular interest. Ideas like
To achieve success, one must put forth a great deal of effort.
People like me don’t need money.
* I have to give up my independence if I want to be successful.
* I don’t deserve to be successful.
* Getting ahead in life is impossible, and life itself is a battle.
To be successful, you must be flawless.
Do any of these ring a bell?
I’m not suggesting that you have no basis for believing what you’ve said. I’m arguing that your thoughts have a great deal of influence over your experience of the world rather than the other way around.
The experiences you’re encountering that seem to back up your limiting ideas are actually just reflections of those beliefs, not the reasons you came to hold them in the first place.
The realization that beliefs are opinions adds to this. Opinions, no matter how firmly held they may be. Thoughts and beliefs can shift. Those ideas that are holding you back in life or business can be abandoned.
Like the autopilot on a boat or plane, the subconscious mind operates without our conscious awareness. Once everything is in place, you can stop worrying about it. But if it’s been wrongly configured, you won’t get where you were hoping to go. You can grab the wheel and turn it in the appropriate direction by hand, but as soon as you let go, it will revert to its original position.
There are two ways to make a U-turn:
Overriding the autopilot system requires either 1. constant effort and vigilance OR 2.
2. Make immediate changes to the autopilot’s parameters.
Our convictions are no different. So, let’s look at the optimal configurations for your project. After that, you may kick back and take it easy, secure in the knowledge that you’re progressing.
To begin, you must recognize your false notions. Sometimes it’s hard to do an excellent job of this because we tend to see our own beliefs as “true” rather than as they are. We don’t consider the possibility that this limiting belief is false since we think it represents “the truth.” (Obviously, I can’t outshine my sibling. I’m the youngest!
If you’re working alone, attempt this practice; however, working with a competent coach or another partner can be helpful because they don’t have our scotomas. Give yourself time to focus on one facet of your company at a time. Pay attention to what comes up when you do so, including any ideas, feelings, or internal conversations that arise. (It’s that incessantly chattering inner monologue.) Don’t force it; instead, relax and let your thoughts show you where you’re struggling. Beliefs that are holding you back can be found there.
I’ve made a checklist that you may use to start thinking about the ways in which you limit yourself when it comes to achieving financial success. Money and Success Attitudes Inventory
Here’s your assignment: after you’ve listed as many limiting beliefs as you can think of, choose one to work on changing. If you’re up to it, go for the “big” one that looks to be at the heart of your problem. This idea is the central axis around which your other limiting beliefs cluster. (Since you likely conceived of it as a youngster, its expression will be simple and direct, such as “I’m not good enough.”)
The first step is to admit that you once had a valid justification for coming to this conclusion. Just because it was made logical to you at the time doesn’t mean it was true at any point in the past. It may have helped you feel secure, prevent embarrassment or failure, or maintain a relationship with another person. So, give credit to the younger version of yourself that was trying to figure things out.
Think about where you’ll be in five, ten, or twenty years if you continue to hang on to this limiting belief. Imagine what you would look like, how you would act, what you would be saying to yourself, who you would be hanging out with, what your business would be like, and anything else that would be affected by this newfound belief. Is this where you want to take your company?
The next step is to settle on a self-affirming belief that will be more helpful to you now. Add to this new, improved version your original goal, which the limiting belief was helping you achieve (e.g., security, connection). Use straightforward language that speaks to the part of you that dealt with this problem first. (Not many 5-year-olds would make the decision, “Knowing that all humans are created equal, I now affirm that I am truly praiseworthy and inferior to none.”) Take your time in forming this conviction, as you will be clinging to it for the next 30–40 years.
Think forward five, ten, or twenty years with your newfound confidence. Look at how this new concept changes your expressions, your thoughts, your business, your relationships, and everything else in your life.
Last but not least, decide which potential future you wish to actualize. (I have a fair idea of what you’re thinking.)
Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Marketing & Website Strategy Helen Graves knows better than anybody how to help sole proprietors increase their customer base while decreasing their workload. She teaches you how to write enticing website copy that gets people to take action and how to build true relationships with your target audience through marketing.
Helen has a free small audio webinar called “Simplify Your Marketing in 6 Easy Steps” if you want to learn more or sign up.
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