We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare; the hare was complacent and boastful about his speed and lost the race to the tortoise because he took a nap during the race, the tortoise on the other hand was a quiet achiever and simply kept at his slow but steady pace and won the race due to his perseverance.

In this instance, the tortoise had a self-belief that he could win the race despite the more commonly accepted belief that the hare, being a much faster runner would win the race. The hare on the other hand, whilst he had an empowered self-belief about his speed, his own complacency and misplaced belief about the capabilities of the tortoise caused him to lose the race.

Our beliefs help us make sense of the world we live in. It gives us a framework to work with and helps to guide us toward making decisions and it can either hinder us or propel us forward in our pursuits. Beliefs are ingrained in us from our childhood, these are imprinted upon us by our parents, society, peers and people who influence us in our environment. Some are positive and some are negative but the good news is we can empower ourselves by reframing our limiting beliefs.

When we think about beliefs, most focus on religious beliefs. But I think it is far more important to focus on what we believe about the world we live in and ourselves. We tend to accept our beliefs as the truth even when there aren’t any proof to back it up.

The beliefs we have

1. Existential Beliefs
2. Self-limiting Beliefs
3. Self-empowering Beliefs

An existential belief is a belief that you have about your perceived realities of life and the world around you such as:

“Only the lucky get ahead in life.”

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”

“There is nothing anyone can do about the world, it is what it is.”

“We are born with our lot and that’s that.”

Or conversely:

“Everyone is here on earth for their own unique purpose.”

“If there’s a will, there’s a way.”

 Then there are beliefs about yourself which falls under self-limiting beliefs and self-empowering beliefs.

Self-limiting beliefs

Self-limiting beliefs are beliefs that are negative which holds you back from reaching for your dreams. These are beliefs such as:

“Who am I to do this?”

“I don’t know enough to do this.”

“I am not smart enough.”

“I will never make enough money.”

“I will always be fat and unhealthy.”

Self-empowering beliefs

On the other hand, self-empowering beliefs are beliefs that help move you forward to your dreams because of the faith you have in yourself.

“If not me, who else?”

“Why not me?”

“I am capable enough to do this.”

“I know if I put in the effort, I can do this.”

Where do our beliefs come from?

Existential beliefs are simply beliefs that you have acquired about the world you live in. If you are surrounded by people who believe that the world is flat, there is no reason for you to believe that the world is round. These beliefs stay with us because no one refutes it until someone does.

If you have friends who are of the belief that you are all in charge of your own destiny, don’t you think you would be encouraged to think the same? Likewise, if your friends and family thought there is no point working so hard because you are limited by fate then wouldn’t you be less motivated to create your own luck?

When it comes to beliefs about ourselves, we find an abundance of self-limiting beliefs but self-empowering beliefs tend to appear few and far between. Beliefs about ourselves are formed by our experience with the world. These could be things like your parents or teachers telling you things about your capabilities from a young age such as “maths is not for you” or “you can’t write well”.

We hold on to these statements and start believing in them despite the lack of proof that they are true. Even when we are adults, we take criticisms to heart and beat ourselves up for it and yet find it almost impossible to accept praise and dismisses as “just people being nice”.

Beliefs are a part of your identity

The bad thing about beliefs is that they get ingrained in our identity and it is difficult to break the hold they have over us. The good thing however, is that we can change our beliefs because they are ours, not others. For example, what do you think about the belief that you are born with your lot and you should be content with that?

Do you think that is a true statement or in your heart and soul do you believe that you deserve so much more than this? What if the people we admire accepted their lot in life and never worked hard for more?

What about the self-limiting belief that you are not smart enough to reach for the stars? Can you say exactly how you are not smart enough, can you also point out other people who have made it despite being less qualified than you?

How to turn your limiting belief to an empowering belief

We all have beliefs about the world and about ourselves but when we have beliefs that only serves to hold us back, it stops us from achieving our dreams. The next time you face an obstacle, find out what is the belief that is holding you back and reframe it into an empowering belief to help you move forward and here are the steps to do so.

1. Identify the limiting belief behind your inaction, it may be self and it could also be existential.

 For example:

 I am not smart enough to succeed or only the wealthy or lucky people succeed in this world.

2. Identify the source and reason behind your belief.

How do you know this belief to be true? How did you come up with this belief? Where did it come from?

For example:

The belief of not being smart enough to succeed, how do you know this is true? Have you started businesses before and failed because you weren’t smart enough? Who told you this belief, was it you or someone else? What is smart enough?

3. Reframe the belief

Now that you know the belief you had was not true. How would you reframe this self-limiting belief as an empowering belief?

For example:

I am not smart enough to succeed becomes I am smart enough to succeed, as long as I am willing to put in the effort

Only the wealthy or lucky people succeed in this world becomes success is dependent on how much effort you are willing to put in.

Changing our beliefs is not as easy as just simply reframing all of your core beliefs overnight. It requires a fundamental change in your identity. If you identify with being a lucky person, naturally you will believe that luck comes to you in whatever you do. If however, you identify with being a hard slogger without anything to show for it except for food and roof then naturally you will believe that working hard will not make you rich.

Like the hare, some people may have a great head start in life such as being born wealthy or have influential family connections but many who have the advantages in life have also wasted it all away and never achieve true abundance and wealth within themselves. We can all learn from the tortoise that just because you weren’t born with the advantage of the hare it doesn’t mean you should just curl up and give up.

With consistency, effort and self-belief, the tortoise surmounted the odds and so too, can you.

What are some of the limiting beliefs you have about the world and yourself? How has it held you back and how would you change it?