Many of us start the new year with resolutions. And yet, statistics show that only 19% of us successfully achieve our goals. Common resolutions include health– related goals, quitting bad habits or attaining personal or professional milestones. However, unless you transform your mindset, it will be hard to achieve these – or any other – goals. If you really want to have a positive 2023, you need to let go of limiting beliefs that hold you back.
What is a limiting belief? 
When you repeat these ideas, consciously or subconsciously, you reinforce negative ideas about yourself and the world. Even if you set goals, your limiting beliefs have already told you that you’re not good enough or your dreams are impossible. You may find yourself more likely to give up at the first hint of difficulty. And this reinforces your limiting beliefs. You see, you may tell yourself, I knew I wasn’t good enough.
How do you let go of these beliefs?
Start by writing down your limiting beliefs. This may be a hard process that calls for a lot of introspection, so you should only do this when you’re in the right frame of mind.
Then, select each belief and examine it. For example, you may want to start a small business but you may think that you’re not good enough to succeed. Ask yourself why you think so. Maybe people around you have spoken about you in a derogatory way, but that doesn’t mean that what they’re saying is true. Maybe you don’t have any experience in your field, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn about it. Maybe you even tried to open a small business before and it failed. But even this doesn’t mean you’re not good enough.
Many successful people have failed many times before succeeding. Instead, past failures can be lessons that will help you to succeed next time.
You can also think about ways in which your limiting belief hurt you in the past. Maybe you turned down a potentially great opportunity because you were sure that you would fail. The purpose of this exercise is not for you to experience regret. All the regret in the world can’t rewind time. It’s to realise how you’ve been holding yourself back and to resolve to do better in the future.
Next, you want to let go of your limiting belief and replace it with something more positive. Instead of thinking that you’re not good enough to start your own small business, you can think that you are going to do your best to make the small business succeed. You’re going to learn everything you can to give yourself the best chance of success. You know that there will be setbacks, but everyone experiences challenges, and this does not mean that you’re a failure.
