Wherever you are, however you got there, if it’s good,
you’re meant to be there either because you earned it
or life led you there and
you were smart enough to hold on.
Kristen Ashley
In the last blog, we learned how to let others help us reach our goals faster and easier. But even with the help of others, we could be severely limiting ourselves if we continue to think that we are not smart enough.
This limiting mindset has the potential to keep us from trying most new things. We feel like we are not smart enough to achieve a particular task or goal. Like we don’t have the necessary intelligence to accomplish what we truly want to accomplish. Like we are lacking the needed knowledge to get something done.
Maybe this belief was instilled in you from a young age by an unkind adult. Maybe you struggled with particular tasks in school which made you assume that you just weren’t a smart person. Or maybe you heard your parents say this about themselves. This limiting belief is that we are not smart enough to do what we really want to do.
In the last blog, I related how my fourth-grade teacher lit a fire under me and got me onto an academic track and mindset. While this remained true throughout school, when the time came to apply for colleges, I fell back into that terrible way of thinking about myself. These days we call it impostor syndrome. Anyway, when it was time to submit college applications, I initially applied to small, local schools. I felt that not only did I not have the finances for larger, and more distant schools, but I lacked the intelligence to be successful. Fortunately, my guidance counselor and fate saw me differently.
This belief can keep us from even trying to do new things. We can feel so intimidated at the thought of trying to learn something new that we won’t even start. We may feel like our supposed lack of knowledge is a handicap and that if we were only smarter we could do what we wanted.
Now let’s rewrite this limiting belief with a set of empowering beliefs.
Limiting belief:
● “I’m not smart enough.”
Empowering Mindset:
● “I have accomplished many things in my life already.”
● “I have an incredible ability to learn.”
● “I can do anything I put my mind to.”
This limiting belief is false on so many levels. First and foremost, you truly are much smarter than you realize.
Next week, we will look more deeply into changing our mindest and pursuing our real dreams.
Chat soon.
[…] Last week we started talking about feeling or thinking we are not smart enough to successfully follow our dreams, and what a hindrance that mindset is to our lives. Because of it, we may choose to avoid certain situations, or simply decide never to try something out. […]