Is your mindset blocking you from achieving the goals you have set for yourself and your business?

Recently I tweeted:

Even if you have the best systems/growth strategies in place – without the right mindset [attitude] you can still struggle in your business

… as it is something I believe to be both profound and true. And, it is something I also struggled with for many years.

When talking about your mindset, I’m referring to your attitude – your frame of mind. It’s that voice inside your head that is fuelled by your beliefs – the set of rules by which you live your daily life, and which governs and affects your thoughts, emotions, actions AND ultimately your outcomes.

While your inner voice can be empowering, positive and uplifting and will support you in moving forward with clarity and confidence, your voice can unfortunately also be unhelpful, disempowering and negative – therefore keeping you stuck and unable to reach your goals.

Over the last 15 years, from my own experience and through working with my clients I have identified 7 common self-beliefs that prevent people from reaching their personal and business goals. See how many you recognise.

1. Self-Discrimination

You think: “I’m just not good enough…”

The barrier of self-discrimination is where you are extremely judgemental and critical of your work.

You set your benchmarks so high that what you end up doing is setting yourself up for failure because you cannot possibly reach the level of expectations and demands that you place on yourself.

2. Self-Doubt

You think: “Others can do it – but I can’t…”

The barrier of self-doubt has you disbelieving that you have the skills, talents, strengths and any real value that you can offer your clients.

While it is possible to see the strengths in others, you believe that it’s impossible for you because you have this underlying doubt that you have the talent and skills that others have.

3. Self-Dismissal

You think and say: “Oh that? It was nothing – anyone can do it…”

Whenever someone gives you a compliment or makes a comment about one of your successes the self-belief barrier of dismissal automatically causes you to devalue and under-rate your ability by either dismissing or making light of their praise.

4. Self-Denial

You think: “I don’t deserve it…”

The barrier of self-denial is the belief that you don’t deserve success, happiness, wealth or success within your life or business.

You don’t believe that you are good enough or that you can achieve your goals because deep down for some reason, you don’t believe that you merit this success.

5. Self-Deprivation

You think: “My needs aren’t important…”

The barrier of self-deprivation is where you put everyone’s needs before your own. This barrier is also the reason why you may be letting other people take advantage of you, your time and your resources.

The demands and expectations of being a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, colleague (the list can go on) can be extremely demanding and if you have the self-belief of “My needs are not important” then you will constantly put yourself last. This ultimately leads to exhaustion and if you’re not careful – burn out.

6. Self-Disregard

You think: “I’m not worthy…”

The barrier of self-disregard is similar to self-denial where for some reason you don’t believe that you are worthy of success and/or fulfilment.

This can tend to show up as the constant downplaying and discounting of your achievements and the value you offer to your clients and preventing yourself from achieving your goals because of your feelings of unworthiness.

7. Self-Disempowerment

You think: “I’ve failed – again!”

The barrier of self-disempowerment is where you focus only on what didn’t go as planned; you notice when things go wrong and the things that failed.

When you constantly focus on the negative things and the things that go wrong, you dampen all hope of being able to recognise the things that went right; and the things you should be proud of.

While the reasons that cause us to develop these beliefs are different for everyone, sometimes they may be deep-seated and require coaching to address the event that caused you to develop that self-belief.

However, there are some practical steps you can take to challenge these beliefs and therefore stop negative thoughts and self-sabotaging behaviours in their tracks so that you don’t continue to cripple your business’s growth.

If this is something you’re struggling with and you recognise it’s been holding you back – let’s talk!