An Introduction to Limiting Beliefs

If you want to achieve more of your goals and dreams along your personal

empowerment journey called life, you must identify and remove the biggest

obstacle – your limiting beliefs.

If you continue to allow disempowering beliefs - “I'm not good enough”,

“Success is hard”, “Money is the root of all evil”, “Nobody likes me”, “I'm

unlovable”, “Winning is everything”... – to control your thoughts, you’ll always

self-sabotage. You’ll never witness your own greatness, achieve your most

significant goals or share your gifts with the world. Instead, you’ll create

restriction. A life of less.

I know because I lived in that self-created mental prison for 26½ years before an

empowerment coach helped me drop all my major limiting beliefs in one session.

Every aspect of my life changed for the better. I made tons more money. I

connected more deeply with my wife and children. I simply had more fun living.

I don't know where you are in your career, relationships, health or happiness, but

there's got to be a reason you're reading this e-book, which tells me you want more

out of life – more money, more freedom, more joy, more connection, more

confidence, more self-esteem, more significance...

Letting go of your limiting beliefs has to be the first step. Otherwise, all of your

other efforts will be wasted because you'll never allow yourself to succeed at a

level which exceeds your belief system. This absolutely must be an inside-out

approach if you want your success to last.

"Working with Sean ABSOLUTELY has transformed

my life! Not only am I making twice as much money,

but I'm also a lot happier and I've attracted amazing

people into my life because of my new attitude. Thank

you so much, Sean!"

~ Imran Rahman, WealthWalla, www.imranrahman.com

What are Limiting Beliefs?

Most people don't know what limiting

beliefs are, so let's first start with beliefs

in general. A belief is a strongly held

opinion about yourself or the world

around you. Your beliefs create thought

and emotional patterns, just like movies,

that continue to play over and over in

your head.

For a visual (and funny) demonstration of how our beliefs are created, go here...

http://coachseansmith.com/video/how-we-create-beliefs-glasses

There are two kinds of beliefs – your natural beliefs that you were born with, and

the ones you created along the way. Your natural beliefs support you living an

authentic lifestyle of your dreams - one of harmony, purpose and passion.

Because these beliefs help you live your highest good, they empower you.

They sound like:

I’m perfectly capable of doing whatever I put my mind to.

I am attracting all the abundance the universe has to offer.

I can be in a loving relationship with my ideal soulmate.

I appreciate and accept myself the way I am.

I deserve success at the highest levels.

I am enough.

Now, along the journey of life, you also picked up or created some other beliefs –

usually in early childhood – that DO NOT support you living an authentic life and

achieving all your goals and dreams.

These false, yet powerful beliefs create all your internal problems: fears, doubts,

low self-esteem, lack of confidence, stress, negative head talk, frustration,

overwhelm, perfectionism and sometimes disease, illness and depression.

Because these learned beliefs restrict you and hold you back from living the life of

your dreams, they disempower you. They are commonly called “limiting beliefs”.

They sound like:

Life is hard.

I am not good enough.

I’ll never be successful.

Losing weight is difficult.

Money is the root of all evil.

I will never find my soulmate.

The good news is, no matter what your limiting beliefs are, or how they were

created, you can always eliminate them, just like getting rid of a nasty virus in

your computer.

"I've been around a whole lot of coaches, but never

seen anyone who can free people from internal fear,

pain and limitations like Sean can. The immediate

transformations I've witnessed him create in people

are nothing short of mind-blowing!"

~Tony Magee, MS, MBA, "The Destiny Doctor®"

What Can I Do About My Limiting Beliefs?

You MUST challenge your beliefs to make sure they support you in achieving all

your goals and dreams because no matter how hard you try with your will power

and traditional goal setting techniques, you will ALWAYS manifest your beliefs

into reality.

You Cannot Outperform the Boundaries of Your Belief System

If you are tolerating, but not

enjoying, your circumstances

in any area of your life -

financial, health, relationships,

spiritual, body, career - it’s

because you have beliefs that

are holding you back, causing

and supporting the struggle.

You weren’t created to settle for less. You were created to thrive.

If you have the ability to succeed, you have an obligation to succeed. Therefore,

in order to improve your circumstances, you MUST improve your belief system

first if you want to create foundational change that lasts.

How All Limiting Beliefs Are Created

The recipe is a result of three of the major functions of the unconscious mind, each

of which is positive by itself. But when you add them together, it’s a recipe for

disastrous, painful and dangerous beliefs that often last a lifetime and will cause

you to settle for a life of less.

Ingredient #1: Emotional Safety

The unconscious mind’s highest priority is NOT the achievement of your goals. Its

highest priority is to protect you and keep you emotionally safe. That’s what it

spends most of its existence on– guarding your feelings.

Ingredient #2: Constant Search for Meaning

From the moment you saw the brand new light of this world, you’ve been trying to

understand everything that happens to you, as well as why people do what they do.

So you’ve been seeking answers to the question “why” at virtually every turn.

Ingredient #3: Inherent Desire to Be Right

The human mind does not like to be wrong in its quest to figure this world out. We

are all unconscious control freaks and being correct makes us feel more in control.

You’ll generally do whatever you can to be right.

When these three functions go to work during a certain event or series of events

where your feelings get hurt, negative beliefs are usually created. And to protect

yourself from getting hurt again, you’ll create emotional coping mechanisms, such

as self-destructive behaviors, drug or alcohol abuse, depression, eating disorders,

perfectionism, overeating, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of success, etc.

Most people think all of these behaviors are the problem. What I want you to

realize is that every single one of them, and many more that aren’t on the list, are

actually solutions to a deeper problem – your limiting beliefs. Here’s how it

works…

During the formative years between ages 0 and 7, we’re in a state of “blind belief”

because we don’t have anything to compare our reality to, so everything we

experience is “truth” – it’s just the way the world works. We have no basis to

challenge our reality. This is when most of our beliefs are formed, as our

unconscious minds continually search for meaning in every single moment.

Examples of Limiting Beliefs Being Created:

Q: “Why does daddy yell and scream at me?”

A: “I must not be good enough for him to like me.”

Q: “Why did mommy and daddy have another child?”

A: “I must not be loveable enough, so they need another one.”

Q: “Why do I always gt punished?”

A: “I must be a bad person.”

Q: “Why do Suzie and Billy not let me play with their toys?”

A: “They have lots of money. Money makes you mean.”

For whatever reason, when left to its own awareness, the young unconscious mind

usually creates negative meanings in an attempt to protect our feelings and avoid

being hurt again or to avoid becoming a bad person. This same process creates all

of our fears too.

Examples of Fears Being Created:

Q: “Why did my mommy yell at me for asking too many questions?”

A: “Asking questions gets me in trouble.”

This can easily become a lifelong fear of asking for what you want.

Q: “Why do I keep getting abandoned by the people I love?”

A: “People will always leave me.”

This can easily become a lifelong fear of connecting with people. It often

manifests into fear of emotional vulnerability and a pattern of poor relationships.

Q: “Why do I keep falling down every time I get successful?”

A: “Success never lasts.”

This is one of the many ways people create fear of success, which is when success

is somehow negative, uncomfortable or causes you to sacrifice your values.

Once we’ve determined what the event means, we then go on an unconscious

search for evidence to support our new idea because we have an inherent desire to

protect ourselves emotionally, and to be right. So we collect a bunch of proof

every day that this belief is true, and whether it’s positive or negative doesn’t

matter.

When this process takes place after you either personally experience or observe

pain and discomfort, the unconscious mind tries to avoid any similar events in the

future so you won’t ever feel that way again.

Even though it doesn’t make any logical sense, it usually creates some sort of

restrictive belief and/or fear in an attempt to understand what just happened or

keep you from getting into that same situation again. To the unconscious mind,

NOT knowing why something happened is actually more uncomfortable than

adopting a negative belief! ;-(

Most of us have been collecting disempowering evidence for almost our entire

lives since we made that very first decision in childhood.

This means that most adults are living their lives and making their current

decisions according to a Belief System (B.S.) that was created by the wisdom,

knowledge and logic of a small child. Isn’t that scary to think about?

But the great news is that since you created your B.S., you can un-create it quickly

whenever you’re ready to stop being a victim of your thoughts & emotions,

choose empowerment and start attracting all your dreams and goals!

How to Identify Your Limiting Beliefs

The following three-step process will help you identify your internal obstacles:

1 – Examine Your Circumstances

You will always manifest your belief system into reality. Always. And you won’t

tolerate anything that doesn’t match your beliefs. Therefore, an easy way to

deduce your limiting beliefs is to identify your negative or stressful environments.

If you’re tolerating a lack of money, unhealthy habits, relationships that don’t

serve you, a body you don’t enjoy, physical surroundings that aren’t attracting or

supportive, a network of negative people, etc – you must have a limiting belief

that’s allowing this unproductive environment to remain inside your comfort zone

as a toleration. Otherwise it wouldn’t be in your life.

Mental Exercise: Take a look at some situations that you are tolerating, but not

enjoying. Now ask yourself this question, “What belief MUST I currently be

holding onto in order to keep this situation in my life?” It works all the time.

2 – Monitor Your Emotional Responses

Another great way to learn what limiting beliefs you have is to pay attention to

your emotional responses. For example, if someone tells you ‘no’ and you have

some sort of emotional meltdown, you must be holding onto some limiting belief

about your value as a person. That’s the only reason why you would emotionally

engage when confronted with “rejection”.

Again, you can ask yourself, “What belief MUST I currently be holding onto in

order to react that way?”

You can also re-read the negative statements on page 6. If you emotionally

respond to any one of those, it more than likely matches one of your own beliefs.

3 – Listen to Your Language

Your language, both internal and external, is the truest representation of your

belief system. So if you find yourself repeating the same thought or same pattern

of thoughts in your mind, there’s an underlying belief that’s responsible for that

pattern. By listening to the language, you can usually notice what your beliefs are.

I want you to really scrutinize your words. If you keep hearing yourself say victim

phrases like, “I’m not creative”, “I’m just lazy”, “I’m always late”, “Making

money is hard”, “I don’t deserve it”, etc – you will create those realities in your

life. They’re like prescriptions. And the more you say them, the more they stick.

A word of caution – it can sometimes be extremely challenging to monitor your

own language patterns because most language is completely unconscious. That’s

why it’s always important to have people surrounding you (coaches, mentors,

mastermind groups) that are able and willing to catch your negative language and

help you in changing it to something positive and supportive.

"After Sean helped me get rid of my perfectionism, my

income tripled immediately!"

~Antonella Miccarelli, Sales Director - Hopewell Junction, NY

How to Erase Your Limiting BeliefsBefore talking about what actually does work, let's talk about some of the things

people try that absolutely don't work...

~ Simply telling yourself not to. You'll never be able to solve an emotional

problem with logical avoidance called "just don't do it". That's why telling

yourself "Don't take it personally" usually doesn't help you overcome an

emotional fear of rejection or failure.

By adulthood, your limiting beliefs have

become unconscious emotional

responses that bypass your logical

reasoning. In the moment, you don't

logically decide to feel terrible when

someone rejects you. It's automated:

You get rejected, you feel terrible.

Simple logic cannot undo that emotional

connection, especially when it has existed for many years. The connection must

be broken at the source.

~ Pretending the events didn't happen. Your unconscious mind knows they did.

It remembers everything. Trying to fool yourself does not release the belief, in fact

it actually makes it stronger. Whenever you're trying hard to avoid something,

you're really energizing it with your focus and making it worse.

~ Coping with it. You were not created to cope with your limitations. Enough

said.

In all my studies, if you really want to erase all your limiting beliefs quickly and

forever, you must experience a neurological shift in your emotional reality. That

simply means take care of the problem where the problems exists – at the

emotional, unconscious level. Clearing instead of coping. Huge difference.

If you’re committed to the process and the outcome, you can reprogram your

unconscious mind for success and empowerment by breaking the negative

emotional connections that are creating all the problems. In other words, don’t go

after the symptoms, go after the cause.

When exposed and

challenged well

enough, all of your

limiting beliefs will

eventually fall because

they are unnatural -

they're not based on

reality. They are based

on the interpretations

of reality made by a

young mind, doing its

best.

Remember, if you would have made a different interpretation of what happened at

the time it happened, one that was either positive or neutral, the limiting belief

would have never been created in the first place. Therefore, the negative

interpretation is the problem.

When the interpretations change, the emotional connections (as well as all of the

problems based on those emotional connections) can be eliminated. That's the

seed which eventually grew into the problem.

Here’s how it works…

In order to dissolve the negative belief, we must "reframe", or change your

interpretation of, the events you experienced. It might sound too easy to be true,

that you can’t change the emotional and thought patterns you’ve lived with for

years, or even decades, so simply right?

I thought that too until Nov. 17th, 2005, when a coach certified in NLP (Neuro-

Linguistic Programming) helped me drop all of my major limiting beliefs with one

simple exercise that took less than 15 minutes in a crowded hotel lobby.

I felt like a hundred

pounds had been lifted

off my shoulders. I

stopped beating myself

up so viciously. I

started believing in my

goals again. My

confidence and self-

esteem returned. I

started connecting

better with my wife

and children. In short, my whole life changed as a result of releasing the biggest

internal obstacle I had been carrying around for over 26 years – “I’m not good

enough.”

Since then, I got certified in the same NLP techniques and have been teaching and

coaching people to erase their limiting beliefs. What I’ve learned through my

experience as a coach is that almost every one of us has some form of limiting

belief relating to adequacy – “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not pretty enough”,

“I’m not smart enough”, “My accomplishments are never enough”, etc.

Now, I can’t promise you that your breakthrough is only going to take 15 minutes,

but I can promise you that it’s possible, no matter what you’re dealing with and no

matter what you’ve endured in your life up to this point.

Sometimes, erasing limiting beliefs requires a little more advanced work and

sometimes it’s lightning fast. It can usually be done right over the phone using

just questions. And the other thing I’ve learned is that there is no correlation

between the depth of emotional baggage and the time it takes to release it.

I have personally dissolved numerous clients’ deep seeded emotional beliefs

around not being lovable or enough, which stemmed from years of neglect and

abuse, with a few simple questions. Granted, it doesn’t always happen so quickly,

but even if it takes a little more effort...

You are Worth ItNo matter how long it takes, no matter how much investment of time, energy or

money it takes, no matter where you have to go or what you have to do, your life

is worth it. Your purpose is worth it. Your goals and dreams are worth it. Your

family is worth it. Your happiness is worth it. Your legacy is worth it. Right?

If you’re ready to let go of

anything and everything that’s

holding you back from living your

dreams right now, all you have to

do is make the decision that

you’re going to do whatever it

takes for as long as it takes to live a

life of freedom in every sense of

the word.

You don’t need to know how you’re going to do it. You don’t need to know the

details of when/where/why your limiting beliefs were created. Just decide that

you’re going to take advantage of the single opportunity you’ve been given to live

on this planet. You have one shot. Make the most of it. Live empowered.

"I learned more about human behavior from one of

Sean's phone calls than I did with my $40,000 degree

in psychology!"

~Fran Bracey, Costa Mesa, CA

Want More Empowerment Information?If you’re ready now to take the next step in eliminating all of your obstacles…

Do this 1st → Get Your Complimentary Coaching Consultation

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Do this 3rd → Go to www.CoachSeanSmith.com for a whole lot more Empowerment Resources to Help You Succeed in All Areas!

About Sean Smith

Sean Smith, "The Premier Breakthrough Coach" is a Certified Master Results

NLP Practitioner who helps individuals and business owners identify and destroy

the obstacles that are holding them back so they can start living the lifestyle of

their dreams RIGHT NOW.

Sean's life was forever changed when he was almost

killed by his next door neighbor over 20 years ago. And

after learning real quick on that cold morning of Dec. 17,

1986, that we only get one chance in life and we're never

promised tomorrow, Sean committed to himself that he

would pursue excellence instead of mediocrity, and bring

as many people with him as possible.

Since that time, he has studied and participated in hundreds upon hundreds of

books, audio programs, group coaching programs, private coaching programs,

teleconferences and live seminars, all in the fields of leadership, peak performance

and goal setting, trying to find the "missing ingredient" to unlock his potential.

Along that journey, he invested well over $100,000 in his own personal

development education and knows some of the world's most successful and

significant people.

Simply put, Sean has a special gift for empowering others. He has helped

hundreds of independent business owners find their purpose, release their limiting

beliefs, and start attracting outrageous financial and personal results into their

lives.

More About Sean...

Sean has a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and worked in the Juvenile

Probation department in Ventura County upon graduation from California

Lutheran University (CLU) in 1997. He left that position to enter the education

environment, hoping to have a different type of impact on kids (before they got in

trouble). Sean earned his Master of Education degree from Azusa Pacific

University. His favorite part about teaching was the several days he would take

away from class time each year to talk to the kids about having goals, making

good choices, and being proud of yourself.

While he loved teaching and having the positive impact on the kids, Sean chose to

leave that profession in pursuit of greater freedom - both time and financial

freedom.

Sean is proudly supported in his

pursuits by his wife Cybil, and

their children, McKenna and

Ecksley. Sean and Cybil were

married on the beach in June

1998, after a two year

engagement. They will never

forget the first time they met each

other at CLU...and they both knew

within weeks that they were meant to be together.

Cybil, Sean, McKenna, and Ecksley reside in Moorpark, CA - a small town in

sunny Southern California. When he's not "working", Sean enjoys golfing,

playing basketball, and shopping. "Work" is in quotations, because Sean is

following his purpose and his passion, and enjoys what he is doing too much to

call it work.

"Sean Smith’s passion and enthusiasm are truly

contagious. He is a polished trainer, a dynamic coach

and a master at empowering people to overachieve in

all areas of their lives."

~Jack Canfield, Co-Creator, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Co-

Creator, The Success Principles, Featured Expert in the

worldwide movie phenomenon, The Secret

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