10 things you were told (and believed) as a child...
that are complete crap and could be stopping you from true success.

As children, we trust the well meaning adults around us - we believe what they tell us.

When we grow into adults, it’s important to recognise that some (actually many!) of these stories we were told are complete crap and NOT serving us:
That's why we call them "limiting beliefs".
 
What are limiting beliefs?

Beliefs are like the computer programs in our brain. They drive our behaviour, without us even realising it.

Consciously we are trying to succeed - love ourselves, build wealth and generally live happy, fulfilled lives. However, our brain is actually filled with all these limiting beliefs which are sabotaging our efforts!

In this article, I describe 10 of the most common limiting beliefs I have come across in that past 15 years of working with my clients.

They contribute to low self esteem, unhappiness, unfulfilment, hopelessness… none of which are useful when we’re trying so hard to love ourselves, be successful and fulfilled and happy!

Which of these do you still believe and what would you like to believe instead?

1) You are not smart… and people who excel at school do well in life.

The truth: The way our school system is set up only caters for less than 10% of the population.

If you weren’t good at school you and believe you’re not smart, it’s complete crap.
Things that are not taught, assessed (nor encouraged) in school are critical components to success:

Creativity, imagination, moving your body, problem solving, big picture thinking, emotional intelligence, determination and persistence have been shown time and again with research to be more important for success than academic achievement.

2) You don’t "fit in", therefore there must be something wrong with you.

The trouble with this one is, no one really fits in.. because we’re ALL DIFFERENT. Der!!
If you’re a quiet, sensitive soul, if you’re loud and joyful and rambunctious, if you’re a deep thinker and super intellectual (add your version here)…

YOU ARE STILL AWESOME.

There is NOTHING wrong with you - and the sooner you can embrace your uniqueness as being your superpower, the sooner you’ll be content with your life, and allow yourself the success that means everything to you.

3) Money is the root of all evil, or Money doesn’t grow on trees.

I will be writing a separate blog post on money beliefs that don’t serve us (because there are loads!), but these two big ones wanted to be mentioned here.

Money is NOT the root of all evil!

Money is a completely neutral and somewhat arbitrary representation of value exchange. Believing that "money is evil" will result in you repelling it - either not earning enough, or spending whatever you have.

Money may not literally grow on trees, but the meaning behind this saying is that money is difficult to find. The truth is that money is everywhere and abundant and there’s more than enough for everyone to be wealthy.

(If you'd like to learn more about money mindset, and how to change those limiting beliefs that might be preventing you from earning more, I have created a 3 part video series to help you do exactly that: click here).

4) If you ask for what you want, or set exciting goals… you’ll only end up being disappointed, so don't bother.

So often I see kids pestering their parents because they want something. Understandably, parents get sick of it, and tell the child to stop asking. The child learns that it’s wrong to ask for what you want.

Furthermore, as kids we naturally set our sights high. Rather than deal with our disappointment when things don’t work out, we might have been told not to expect so much.

But what’s the alternative to hope and setting inspiring goals?
To live a mediocre life and never really be happy? It’s ridiculous when you think about it.

There are two sides to every coin - if you don’t reach high, you do avoid disappointment but you also avoid the sheer excitement and adulation that goes with the achievement.

5) Feeling angry / sad / sensitive / overly emotional is weak and unhelpful.

If you are a human, you are an emotional being.
Our emotions are powerful tools to help us achieve success.

The trouble is, we have been taught that they are “weak” and should be shut down. By age 5 we are told “Big boys don’t cry”, “Control yourself” “snap out of it” if we’re angry. “Harden up” if we’re sensitive.

Unfortunately, internalising our emotions rather than expressing them ends up in us diminishing our internal power and can lead to depression, fatigue and helplessness.

6) You should always make rational decisions with your mind.

Our true decision making power doesn’t happen in the mind, it happens in our body. Our gut / heart / intuitive power to make decisions is far more powerful than our rational minds, which can’t possibly think of all possible scenarios.

Learning to tune into your body rather than weighing up all the pros and cons in our head is a powerful step toward success.

7) The spirit world isn’t real

If you are tuned into very young children, you will notice how they are connected to the spirit world.

My son used to giggle when he was a baby and I was trying to get to sleep. I saw a spiritual healer once who told me my grandfather was playing with him and making him laugh.
Young kids have a vivid imagination when they play, and many kids have an “imaginary friend” that they will tell you is real. But as we get older we’re trained out of it.
The truth is, everything is energy and learning how to tap into the Universal spirit energy when working toward my goals has been one of the most powerful things I’ve done for myself.

8) Giving is more virtuous than receiving

Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other.
Being successful requires an equal exchange of giving and receiving - whether that be monetary or energy exchange. If you are uncomfortable about receiving, consider that you are giving the other person an opportunity to give. You are also honouring yourself. 🙂

9) You’ll never make a living from doing what you love, therefore, stop wasting your time doing it!

Yikes! This one takes the cake for me.

I want you to stop and think right now - what did you do as a child that you absolutely LOVED but stopped doing because you were told it wouldn’t get you anywhere?

We ALL need to be doing MORE what we LOVE - for NO other reason than because we LOVE it!

Please start doing it again!

10) Fill in your own blank here…

What beliefs do you hold that you were taught as a child that you want to change so you can be wildly successful and fulfilled??

Comment below and let me know!

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If you’d like to have a chat with me to discuss what limiting beliefs might be holding you back from success, and how I can help you make a plan to change them, let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

Click here to make a time - it might just change your life.

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About the Author
Stephanie Kakris is one of Australia’s leading mindset experts.
She has a Masters in Sport Psychology and 20 years experience assisting people to reach their potential.
She combines her extensive experience in mindset, emotional intelligence and the science behind the Law of Attraction to offer powerful transformation for her clients.
Her coaching and mentoring packages focus on changing from within, which boosts external results and rewards.
She is especially passionate about money mindset - she has spent many years learning and applying various techniques to master wealth for herself, and now she shares what she has learned to help others to build wealth and abundance.
To book a session with Stephanie, click here.