We’ve all heard about self-limiting beliefs and how dangerous they are. If you’re new to the idea, in essence, self-limiting beliefs are the negative, inhibiting things we think about ourselves. These are thoughts that we just take to be true, maybe because we’ve been told them over and over again, or perhaps because we’ve come up with some reasoning in our own minds as to why they are facts.

But the reality is, most self-limiting beliefs are not facts at all. Rather, they are lies we tell ourselves, usually as some sort of a defense mechanism. And more often than not, it is our own self-limiting beliefs that hold us back, rather than the actual capabilities of our mind and body.

For example, let’s say there’s a job at your current company that you really, really want. It’s your dream job! But instead of going for it, or doing the work you need to throw your hat in the ring and prepare for the interview, you tell yourself: “Oh I’m not qualified for that job. They’re looking for someone with twice my experience.” Because you believe this, you will never go out for the job. You will stay in your comfort zone, where you are protected by your self-limiting beliefs, and remain unchallenged, and, ultimately, unhappy.

Another example: let’s say there’s a guy or gal you have a humongous crush on. But you’re convinced that they’ll never ask you out because: “Oh, he/she is way out of my league.” Because you believe this, instead of making yourself physically and emotionally available to date this person, or, better yet, making the first move to ask THEM out, you stay single, unhappy, and comfortable in your unhappy singleness.

Do not read this as me knocking single-dom, because I’m absolutely not. The point is, we tell ourselves the things that we think will keep us safe and comfortable. It’s an act of self-preservation.

I once had the pleasure of listening to esteemed hypnotherapist, Marisa Peer, give a talk on how the brain works. As a hypnotherapist, one of the areas that she specializes in is helping patients overcome their own limiting beliefs by first identifying what they are, often through the use of hypnotherapy tactics, to unlock key realizations in the brain.

I listened to Marisa tell story after story of how certain patients ailments and issues were not caused by physical issues, but rather by self-limiting beliefs and scenarios that they had created in their own mind.

One that stood out to me was a woman who Marisa worked with who above all HATED speaking in public. She was convinced that she was terrible at it, and that she hated it more than anything else in the world. And she said this all the time, even out-loud to peers. She’s day “oh, I hate public speaking,” and “I’d rather die than speak in public.”

But low and behold, one day at work she was assigned a very high-profile presentation that she would have to give to many of her colleagues. And she stressed over it greatly, until the day before the presentation.

And what happened? She got very, very sick. Like, bed-ridden sick. And ended up not having to give the presentation.

You see, the brain is smarter than we give it credit for. If we tell ourselves (and others) that “we hate public speaking” and “we’d rather die than speak in public,” then our brains will devise a way for us to NOT have to do those things. See? Self-preservation.

If you tell yourself something enough times (or if you get told something enough times), you will eventually believe it to be true. So if you TELL yourself, “I’m not qualified for that job” or “that guy is out of my league” or “I could never quit my job and start my own business,” then you won’t do any of those things.

But if you force yourself to step outside of your comfort zone, change your internal dialogue, and break the cycle of self-limiting beliefs, then all of those things become very possible. It’s all a matter of overcoming these limiting beliefs.

The human body and the human mind are capable of incredible things. With enough practice and preparation, anything is possible.