So far, everything TVWriter™ has posted about improving creativity/concentration and increasing chances for success (as a writer or just about anything else) has had all the impact the MPAA has stopping movie downloads, but we’re not giving up. (Because all the articles say not to, dammit.)
How to hack the beliefs that are holding you back
by Daniel TennerWe all have beliefs that are holding us back. Sometimes we’re aware of them, sometimes not.
One entrepreneur I know…admitted (after quite a lot of wine) that he has a block around sending invoices. He was perhaps exaggerating when he said that before he could send an invoice he had to down a bottle of wine and get drunk so he could hit the send button, but even so, it was clear that he had a serious block around asking people to pay him.
As an entrepreneur, that’s obviously a deadly flaw. In terms of “holding you back”, struggling to ask people for money for work that you’ve done is like wearing blocks of cement as boots. It won’t just slow you down, it will probably stop you dead in your tracks.
Myself, I have – or used to have – similar blocks. Generally, many geeks early in their entrepreneurial career tend to have a general dislike of things like marketing and sales, that, in my opinion, often are rooted not only in fear of an unknown activity, but also in beliefs about money. For example, I used to believe (subconsciously) that money was bad. I would spend money as quickly as (or more quickly than) I earned it. If your first thought when you’re given £10,000 is how to spend it (rather than how it adds to your wealth), you probably have a similar belief that money is something to be gotten rid of, to push away – that’s not a belief that’s conducive to making money and becoming comfortably well off, because you have to have a saving, wealth-building mindset for that.
Another would-be entrepreneur I spoke to recently was afraid to quit his job. He hated the work passionately. His wife supported his decision to quit,…yet he couldn’t bring himself to actually quit, because he couldn’t quite make the leap to believe in himself, even though he knew he should…
Now, perhaps the beliefs holding you back are of a different nature, but…[c]hances are there are other beliefs rooted deep inside you that are holding you back…So, if you’re aware of such a belief and want to “fix” it, what can you do to hack your brain?
Having gone through the process, here are the handful of techniques I’ve found that…help in a tangible way.
[scrippet]
munchman and LB are phone conferencing:
MUNCHMAN
So whatcha think, Boss? Anybody gonna read the article?
LB
Read the article? You kidding? Dood, nobody’s even going to click on this post.
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Please. Don’t let LB be right…again.
Good article. One more that has helped me. Focus on what needs to be done today and do it. Sometimes if one heads into an unknown with the full picture of the mountain before you, it becomes self-defeating. How could one actually climb that damned perilous peak? But if one approaches it like a real mountain climber, that is, focus on the next step, just the next step, then one meets definable goals and keeps moving toward the summit.
This article spoke to me in the same way. I realized long ago that while I’d be delighted to go back in time and be young and starting out again, unlike so many other people I would only do it if I could NOT know what I know now. Because if I did I’d be way too overwhelmed to succeed. Gotta look for the handholds, feel for the toeholds. Concentrate, concentrate…
This is a fantastic article and can be applied to all area of life. I think we all get in the way of our own successes, or non-success. If we believe something can happen, it can. If we believe it can not happen, well, then, it won’t. I’m not even talking about “The Secret” or the law of attraction or any of that kind of stuff. If comes down to basic cognitive-behavioral psychology; if you change your thoughts, it will automatically result in a different behavior. Well, it’s not so easy, but it’s like breaking any other bad habit. Anyway, thanks for reminding me to get back on track and stop holding myself back. An inspirational article which is exactly what I needed. Peace 🙂