Although I seemed well versed in various law of attraction principles I still had challenges in manifesting certain outcomes. What was confusing was that I was still manifesting wonderful things in my life, but some of my desires wouldn't budge.
What was the difference?
I suspect that the one thing that separates my achieved outcomes from the ones that haven't manifested are my own limiting beliefs.
One major example that comes to mind is my journey to entrepreneurship. I've wanted to work for myself since probably 2007. But for years I continued to work in the traditional job market. The more success I experienced at work, the more I struggled to build my side hustle. Eventually, I got to the point where I had to look introspectively as to why I wasn't experiencing my freedom.
After a bit of reflection, I came to a realization that marked the beginning of my greatest manifestation. Although I desperately wanted to work for myself, I held a limiting belief that kept me from achieving what I want. Even though I dreamed of launching a business, I maintained a deeply held belief that working within the corporate system was the key to financial security. This belief was the result of me holding positions that provided company cars, corporate spending accounts, free travel, quarterly bonuses, you name it. Heck, I didn't have to pay for car insurance, car repairs or gas for like 6 years. The thought of being fully responsible for all of my expenses frightened me.
That limiting belief laid dormant as I worked feverishly to create my escape from corporate America. No matter how hard I worked, nothing changed. Sure I made a little progress here and there, but that little bit of income only further secured my belief that working for myself would never produce enough money to support my lifestyle.
Once I realized what was happening, I went into overdrive to annihilate that belief. I had to recondition my mind to accept the possibility of earning more than enough revenue (from my business) to support the business and all of my personal expenses.
Limiting beliefs are like the termites of our intentions. They lurk in the background eating away at the foundation of our desires. If we allow them to fester, we'll make little to no progress on our goals. For every unmanifested intention, chances are there's a limiting belief associated with it.
So what do you do?
The first step is to identify the beliefs you have that hold you back. Sometimes you have several associated with one goal. Once you understand which beliefs that don't serve you, it's time to get to work. Basically, you want to develop a belief that helps drive you towards your goal. There are several ways to do this. One of my favorite techniques is to find countless real-life examples of people who are enjoying the experience I wish to have.
Another technique that I utilize is the act of normalizing your intended outcomes. Sometimes we hold goals to such high standards that they seem unreachable. You can counteract this way of thinking through immersion which normalizes your goals, making them seem real and attainable. Insert glimpses of your goal into your current life and see how quickly you can attract what you desire. You can get really creative in the "normalization process." When I quit my job, the first thing I did was to try to find other stable entrepreneurs to associate with. This helped me to overcome the fear of failing at my new venture and gave me the confidence to have a successful transition into my new life.
I recently identified a limiting belief I held in the area of financial abundance. In 2018, my monthly living expenses seemed to climb drastically. I invested quite a bit into the renovation of my home, a bunch of unexpected expenses came up and I just was spending more money on a day to day basis. I found myself complaining a lot about all the money going out. All I talked about was how much I was spending on a monthly basis. Every time another major expense came up, I was overcome with frustration.
After months of this, I realized that I was reacting to a deeply held negative belief that spending a lot of money will lead to me becoming broke. I mean, in theory that's true, but that's not the only outcome. When I challenged this limited belief, I realized that perhaps now I should invest time and attention towards increasing the financial flow into my life. On the one hand, I dream about financial independence but I seemed to forget that the lifestyle I wish to live requires a greater monthly expenditure. I wasn't complaining because I was running out of money, I was complaining because I was spending more than I was used to. This higher monthly spending took me outside of my comfort zone and I immediately attached a negative belief to the circumstance. There's no way that I can continue this way of thinking and expect to attract more abundance into my life. That way of thinking is too contradictory to where I want to be. So, I decided to no longer focus on the money going out, but to turn my attention towards nurturing what comes in. If I need to slow down on spending, I will. But I won't put too much mental energy on scarcity based thoughts.
**(disclaimer, my growing expenses did not cause/create any debt. So the scarcity thinking was not based on spending more than I have. I advocate having a healthy savings fund in place so that you can accommodate unexpected expenses without going into debt)**
Now that I have identified my limiting belief, I'll now a goal to replace it with an empowering belief that will create my ideal outcome. Maybe something like believing that my bank account can continue to grow even as my expenses expand. Then I'll work tirelessly to find examples of this reality and work towards creating it in my own life. But if I continued to feel a strong sense of scarcity about every large expense that came up, it would be so difficult to achieve lofty financial goals.
This same premise works if you want to work any other area of your life. Make sure that you don't have your foot on the gas and the brake pedal at the same time. That's the fastest way to get to where you are going.
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