Nothing in this world is so elusive yet so powerful as our beliefs. They have the power to dictate the direction of our lives, for good or bad, and they seemingly come out of nowhere. But where do your beliefs really come from? Simply put, they are developed as a child and stick with you (like glue!) into adulthood.
Most people are completely oblivious to the power that their own thoughts have. Beliefs carry emotion, and emotion turns to action. That then influences the way we live. Whether you hold negative or positive beliefs about relationships, finances or your own abilities — they all carve out the path that is your life.
Negative beliefs can be changed; all it takes is digging a little deeper. And in doing so, you can change the course of your life for the better. Here are the steps to do so:
Step 1: Evaluate the tone of your belief system
Is it good or bad? In other words, do your beliefs hold a positive or negative connotation? A positive belief system gets someone like Oprah Winfrey to excel in an industry traditionally dominated by white male broadcasters. A destructive belief system keeps a person suffering in an abusive relationship from ever getting help. How are your beliefs affecting your life? Do you have any negative beliefs lingering in any of these areas? If so, it’s time to turn them around. Take a moment to evaluate your outlook on the following:
— Your future
— Your career potential
— Opportunities life is offering you
— Your relationship
— Your finances
— Your health
Step 2: Turn your negatives into positives
We have no limitations in life. The only limitations we have is ourselves. Think about your negative outlooks from the areas in the first step. Now, ask yourself: is that true? For instance, you may believe you can’t go any higher in your industry. But is that really true? If your belief is that all men, or all women, are a certain way and for that reason you can’t have a successful relationship, you may need to prove yourself wrong by asking yourself, can that really be the truth? Likely, it won’t be. If you think about your negative beliefs deep enough, you will find that the they likely hold no merit.
Need more proof?
Apollos Hester’s belief system got 10,000,000 YouTube views
A positive, firmly-held belief system can win a lot of attention.
The video reveals a footballer-on-fire about how he and his teammates came back in the second half of the game. While really it’s just a young man thrilled by a game that could have gone either way, that the video has gotten 8,675,000 YouTube views at this writing indicates just how much people long to hear his message.
Reading the words here is a sorry comparison to the footage, but if you don’t get a chance to watch it, some of his best statements are:
“You’re going to be successful because you put in all the time all the effort all the hard work, it’s going to pay off and if it doesn’t pay off, you continue to give God the glory. Win or lose, we realized we were going to be alright. It was awesome.”
“We started slow, because sometimes you start slow. Always finish fast and hard.”
“It’s a mindset. You can do anything you put your mind to. If you can’t get up, people are there to help you up: mom, dad, God, everybody.”
Apollos Hester’s moment of glory passed.
Which beliefs are you ready to drop? Which will you adopt?
All personal breakthroughs begin with a change in beliefs. If you want to start the journey toward building the creative belief system that spurs you to positive actions, positive relationships and positive decision, consider treating yourself to a total immersion in the principles that empower you to change.
This post is authored by the Tony Robbins editorial team and first appeared on the Tony Robbins blog.
Originally published at journal.thriveglobal.com