How To Break Through Your Limiting Beliefs

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”  Marianne Williamson

How do you break through a limiting belief about yourself?  Reflecting on this question, reminded me of a story I read in John Maxwell’s book, The Five Levels of Leadership,

Maxwell writes about of a young lawyer named Herb, who was new to the legal profession.  In an effort to get up to speed, Herb studied two experienced attorneys to see what he could learn.

The first attorney displayed a dominant and aggressive style.  Lawyer #1 always interrupted with objections, was confrontational with witnesses, and was very demanding when communicating with the jury.  The second attorney was the complete opposite.

Lawyer #2 had a quiet and reserved demeanor.  He rarely interrupted with objections, was respectful to witnesses, and never raised his voice as he made his arguments. 

Which style was most the effective?  It has to be option #1 right?   If you agree, that makes us both wrong!  The two lawyers were equally effective!

Both produced the best results in their field by winning over 90% of the cases they tried!

 Here’s the takeaway: Once you realize there’s more than one way to win, you can break through your limiting beliefs.

Have you ever made one of the following statements: “I don’t have an automotive background”; “I don’t have the personality hold my employees accountable”; “I’m introverted and not good at networking.”

Stay with me to discover two strategies to break through these limiting beliefs!

Play To Your Strengths

Shop leaders who believe their personality is holding them back, tend to ignore the advantages of their personal make-up.

For example, the ability to listen is an underrated skill when dealing with people.  Those with an introverted personality tend to be better listeners than their more outgoing counterparts. 

Effective listening builds trust and leads to better decision making.  The one who does 80% of the talking in the conversation may miss out on critical information that could help close the sale or convert a potential customer.   

Playing to your strengths, will allow you to leverage the power of authenticity.   Authentic individuals stay true to who they are, and what they value.

Being yourself will cause you to stand out because most people are looking to fit in.  If you don’t know your strong points, reviewing your most recent wonderlic test results is a great place to start. 

The wonderlic test evaluates the following personality traits: emotional intensity, intuition, need for recognition, sensitivity, assertiveness, trust, and exaggeration. 

Pay special attention to page 9 of the report where the strengths of each trait are summarized. Doing more of what you’re good at is the key to playing to your strengths. 

Commit To Daily Improvement

In his book The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy uses the following “penny illustration” to show the impact of daily improvement.

Imagine if you received a lump sum payment of $3 million cash right now and I received a penny that doubled in value every day for 31 days.

Which one of us would finish the month with more money?     During the first 20 days of our experiment, you would laugh at me because the value of the doubling penny would only total $5,243.

On day 29, you would still be ahead because I would have $2.7 million in pennies compared to your $3 million.  On day 31, I would have you beat by $7 million with a total of $10,734,418 in compounding pennies! 

You are worth more than a penny!  What's possible if you committed to doubling your value every day for the next 48 months?  

I have good news and bad news.  The bad news is that if you’re not getting better, you’re going backwards.

The good news is that today’s technology makes it easier to get better.  All of the teleseminars in our resource center can be saved to an MP3 file and listened to from your smart phone! 

We also have several two minute you-tube training videos that can be watched to help sharpen your skills.  Always remember that the training you don’t download, won’t help your in your quest for success!

Summary

So, there you have it.  Playing to your strengths and committing to daily improvement will help your break through your limiting beliefs

 The young man I mentioned in the opening story is Herb Kelleher, who left the legal profession to become the CEO of Southwest Airlines.  If you apply the lesson he learned, you will take flight towards your goals! 

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

PS.    Email etwiggs@autotraining.net  and I will send you a special set of 360 Degree feedback questions that will help you to leverage your strengths!