Do you feel like you consistently put in effort, but still don’t meet your goals?

You might have some subconscious beliefs holding you back from success. I completely relate to this scenario and understand how frustrating it feels. But luckily, you can overcome limiting subconscious beliefs! This post breaks down some simple steps to do just that! Overcoming limiting subconscious beliefs can help you unlock your full potential and level up in life!

Conscious Mind vs Subconscious Mind

What is Your Conscious Mind?

Your conscious mind is made up of all of the thoughts, feelings, and memories that you are aware of.

What is Your Subconscious Mind?

Your subconscious mind includes thoughts, feelings, and memories that you are not consciously aware of.

From birth until about age 7, your subconscious mind takes in information from the world around you and forms your beliefs and views.

Many of us have limiting beliefs that form due to early life experiences and remain in our subconscious minds. 

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What is a limiting belief?

A limiting belief is anything that you believe about yourself/about the world that holds you back in some way. Limiting beliefs can prevent us from achieving our goals and keep us stuck in negative cycles. 

I’ve been feeling frustrated about continuously struggling to achieve certain goals that I’ve been working on for a long time. This led me to wonder if there is something deeper going on that is getting in my way without me realizing it. My friend Diana McAllister is a life coach who focuses heavily on how our subconscious impacts our current experience. She inspired me to analyze how I can address these subconscious beliefs and write this post!

If you also feel stagnant in your self-improvement journey, despite making an effort to change, you may have some subconscious limiting beliefs getting in the way of your success. But luckily, you can overcome these beliefs. Read on to find out how.

How to Overcome Subconscious Limiting Beliefs

Gain awareness

Gaining awareness is the crucial first step to overcoming subconscious limiting beliefs.

A good place to start is to think about the patterns in your life that you don’t like. Make a comprehensive list of every habit that is holding you back.

Pay close attention to your thoughts. Are your thoughts typically more negative than positive? Do you notice any recurring thought patterns? Try to identify the default thought patterns that you usually don’t even notice because you are so used to them.

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Reflect

Start reflecting on why you fall into these patterns.

Dig deep and think about when you first adopted each pattern. You might have had an experience at some point that cemented your current belief in your mind. You might also have heard messages about this belief from external sources, like friends, family, and media.

Pay attention to the thoughts and emotions that come up around these topics.

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Make a list

Make a list of all your subconscious beliefs. This list will help you when you start rewriting your limiting beliefs.

Some Limiting Belief Examples Include

“I’m not worthy.”

“I’m not capable.”

“Healthy relationships don’t exist.”

These may or may not resonate with you. This is just to give you an idea of potential limiting beliefs.

To paint you a picture, since I am working on rewriting my subconscious beliefs right alongside you, I decided to start by reflecting on the beliefs that lead me to procrastinate. I recognize that procrastination is an unhelpful pattern in my life that I want to shift (I say as I am still working on this post on the Monday it is going up). So, I am reflecting and analyzing the thoughts and beliefs that might fuel this procrastination pattern.

Change Your Identity to Change Your Beliefs and Environment

When researching “How to overcome subconscious belief,” I found this amazing YouTube video, from Lisa Alexandra, that broke these concepts down in a way I hadn’t heard before.

“We don’t actually manifest what we want…We manifest what we believe to be true and possible in our lives and for ourselves.”

Many people will blame their environment when life isn’t going the way they want it to. This is completely understandable. But, Lisa very clearly explains that if your circumstances are not what you desire, your environment is a symptom, not the cause.

Many of us receive messages telling us we need to work harder and do more to get results. But doing more work isn’t always how we get the results we want.

This isn’t to say stop taking action. You still need to act to get results, but this is only one piece of the puzzle.

Robert Dilts’ Pyramid is a model that breaks down different levels that are important to understand for making changes. This model tells us that starting with environmental changes is backwards. 

In this video, Robert Dilts explains each levels’ significance, what it means in our lives, and how we can use this information to create meaningful changes.

Robert Dilts’ Pyramid

⟢Spirit

⟢Identity

⟢Values and Beliefs

⟢Capabilities

⟢Behavior

⟢Environment

Everything starts with spirit, which builds your sense of identity. 

Your sense of identity forms your beliefs. 

Your beliefs determine your capabilities. 

Your capabilities shape your behavior. 

And, finally, your behavior creates your environment.

Environment is at the bottom, not the top! Most people focus on making changes at the environment level. But changing your external circumstances doesn’t necessarily translate to changing your life experience. 

Think about the phrase, “Everywhere I go, there I am.”

This model tells us that we have to start at the top to change our lives.

Changing your identity powerfully impacts your beliefs, capabilities, behavior, and your environment. Most of us believe our identities are presets that we have no control over. But that is not true! If there is something you don’t like about your identity, you have the power to change that at any time!

So I will identify as someone who works ahead and doesn’t procrastinate, which will trickle down to influence my beliefs, capabilities, behavior, and environment. So everything aligns with my identity as someone who works ahead.

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Determine what you want to believe

The next step to overcoming subconscious limiting beliefs is to determine what you want to believe about yourself and your life.

According to Marissa Peer, “Your mind has a job…your mind’s job is to do what you tell it to do. And you have a job, and your job is to tell your mind exactly what you want using specific, detailed language.”

So start telling your mind exactly what your desired reality is. Make sure to use present tense and to create a vivid, descriptive mental image. Using present tense is important, as it tells your subconscious mind that this is your current reality. If you use future tense, you might not see changes. If you start repeating, “I will be successful,” your subconscious mind hears that you are not yet successful.

Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash

Create affirmations based on your new beliefs

Remember the list you made of all your limiting beliefs? Go through and rewrite each one of those beliefs to reflect your desired reality.

Instead of “I always procrastinate,” I will now say “I implement systems that help me work ahead and finish projects early.”

For example, if you currently believe that “I never have enough money,” you can re-write that as “I am financially abundant.”

Make sure to choose wording that resonates with you.

What are affirmations?

Louise Hay, recognized as one of the self-help movement’s founders, defines repeating affirmations as “consciously choosing words that will either help eliminate something from your life or help create something new in your life.” All of our thoughts are affirmations, so when we continuously have negative thoughts, we will continuously have negative experiences. This is why it is so important to pay attention to our thoughts and intentionally think thoughts that align with our desired lives.

It’s important to know that affirmations are tricky. You need to word them very carefully in order to not create more resistance. Strong, negative subconscious beliefs will hold you back from creating change by questioning and doubting your affirmations.

For example, if you strongly believe that you are not worthy and one day you start telling yourself “I am worthy,” those pesky subconscious beliefs will undermine that affirmation. This is why we have to get creative when choosing positive affirmations.

Photo by carolyn christine on Unsplash

How to Create More Effective Affirmations

These strategies help you bridge the gap if you have trouble believing your positive affirmations.

Use Positive What-If Questions

You know those pesky “what-if” questions that can cause you to go into an anxious spiral? Put a positive spin on those by using “what-if” questions to imagine possible positive scenarios.

Examples:

⟢“What if everything works out?”

⟢“What if I succeed?”

⟢“What if I find love?”

Tell Yourself That You Are Learning

Another way to bridge the gap when you don’t fully believe your affirmation is to start with the phrase “I am learning.” This is a suggestion my therapist gave me when we started working together.

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Examples:

“I am learning to practice a financially abundant mindset.”

Tell Yourself That You “Just Want to See What Will Happen”

Instead of saying “I am learning,” you can also start your affirmations by stating “I just want to see what will happen if…” This mindset comes from Lexie Lombard, host of the @Lexie Podcast.

Examples:

“I just want to see what will happen if I take steps to start a business.”

“I just want to see what will happen if I prioritize self-care.”

Treating your affirmations as experiments can help take away any pressure to have a certain outcome.  

I will tell myself that “I am organized and work ahead.” And I will ask myself “What would it look like if I worked ahead?” and “What if I was someone who finished tasks on schedule?”

Watch this video for more support with rewriting subconscious beliefs and creating effective affirmations.

When to repeat your affirmations

⟢Right before falling asleep

⟢As soon as you wake up

⟢During meditation

⟢While on a walk/run

Repeat your affirmations anytime you are doing repetitive tasks and your brain is on auto-pilot. It’s also a good idea to repeat your affirmation anytime negative thoughts pop up to remind yourself that you are rewriting that story. I like to write some affirmations in my journal before going to sleep.

Consume content that aligns with your desired life.

Consuming positive content will also help you overcome subconscious limiting beliefs and get your mind ready to live your dream life. Intentionally consuming positive content primes your mind to think more positively.

Suggestions for positive media consumption:

⟢Listen to self-improvement and personal development podcasts.

Read this post to learn about How Listening to Podcasts Can Improve Your Life along with this post with 7 Self-Improvement Podcast To Inspire You To Start Living Your Best Life .

⟢Read self-help books.

⟢Listen to self-help audiobooks.

⟢Watch self-improvement and personal development YouTubers.

I love consuming content from successful digital entrepreneurs. Seeing other people achieve their dream lives tells my brain that this is possible for me as well.

Photo by Shiromani Kant on Unsplash

To give you some suggestions for incorporating positive media into your life, you can play motivational podcasts or audiobooks while driving, while you get ready, and while you are on a walk. Make sure to also go through your social media apps and follow people who inspire you, as well as unfollow anyone you feel is bringing you down. Take advantage of the fact that you control your social media accounts by curating your content, so you only see content that will help you on your self-improvement journey.

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Challenge Your Subconscious Beliefs

Your brain is always looking for evidence to support your beliefs and worldviews.

Finding evidence that counters your limiting beliefs is very powerful for overcoming them. Make a point to seek information and experiences that teach your subconscious that your limiting beliefs are untrue.

For example, if your limiting belief is that you are not capable, take extra effort to find examples that prove that you are capable. Make note of every time you succeed at anything, from meeting a career milestone, to checking an item off your to-do list.

I will pay attention to every time I complete a task when I say I will, instead of procrastinating, to show my brain that I am fully capable of this.

Focus on One Belief at a Time

I know, you might feel excited and motivated to tackle all these limiting beliefs and level up in life. But if you truly want to make lasting and meaningful changes, it is best to focus on rewriting one limiting belief at a time. I know that is probably not what you want to hear. So many of us feel attracted to efficiency and getting as much done as quickly as possible, but tackling one belief at a time is the best way to truly dig deep and get unstuck. This might take longer, but it will also yield more effective results.

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Journal 

Journaling is a powerful tool for letting go of negative beliefs and embracing new, positive beliefs. Take some time to journal about your new identity and these new beliefs.

Keeping with my example, I will journal about my life as someone who works ahead and doesn’t procrastinate.

Journal Prompts to Help You Overcome Subconscious Limiting Beliefs

⟢What is your new belief? 

⟢What does your life look like when you live aligned with your new belief?

⟢How do you feel when you live aligned with your new belief?

⟢How do you feel about letting go of your old belief?

I hope these tips help you take steps to overcome your subconscious beliefs. I realized that this is the key to moving forward on my personal development journey. I’ve been feeling frustrated and stuck for a while, so I am excited to see how tackling my deep-rooted beliefs will help me make positive mindset changes.

What  beliefs are you going to challenge? Let me know in a comment how these tips help you! Make sure to sign up to my email list to get notified of weekly blog posts with realistic and simple tips to help you live your best life. And make sure to also follow me on social media (links below) to stay connected and receive more positive lifestyle and mindset content.

Additional Resources

Featured Image: Photo by Taylor Van Riper on Unsplash