4 steps to get rid of limiting beliefs that prevent you from achieving your goals

In the special issue “Never tired again” from Top Santé magazine, naturopath Pauline Neyrolles explains how to fight chronic fatigue and easily adopt new routines to transform your daily life. Among these, the naturopath shows how to say goodbye to the beliefs that make us give up on our ambitions, in just four steps. Here they are !

Step 1: Identify your limiting beliefs

This first step is to admit that you are making excuses, such as: “I can’t do this sport because I’m too old.” Or “I would like to learn this but I don’t have the time”. In reality, it is by repeating such phrases to yourself that you come to firmly believe these thoughts. You settle for this belief and rely on it to justify your inability to perform an action.

Step 2: Replace These Beliefs

Once you have identified these negative thoughts, it is imperative to replace them because they clearly prevent you from define aims. For example, instead of saying that you cannot undertake a career change because you have to manage your children, tell yourself: “I’m going to take correspondence courses and organize myself to work on my courses for 1 hour each evening”, explains Pauline Neyrolles.

Another example cited by the naturopath: if you are used to saying to yourself “I would like to do yoga but I’m not flexible enough”replace this sentence with “I’m going to sign up for a yoga class to work on my flexibility”.

Step 3: Take it little by little

Good advice if you want to put an end to these false beliefs, change your routine as you go. Indeed, to adopt new habits, it is better to start by focusing on just one of them and devoting all your energy to it. The naturopath recalls that a “a small task carried out daily may seem insignificant but over the course of a year, the results are enormous”. By adopting this way of thinking, you have everything to gain!

Step 4: Follow the two-day rule

Taken by time, laziness or those around you, sometimes you can’t do what you planned… and that’s normal! Indeed, Pauline Neyrolles also recalls that the brain is conditioned to prefer “short term pleasures”. So there is no need to worry if from time to time you fail in the duty you had set for yourself!

A piece of advice: don’t feel guilty and apply the two-day rule. The latter consists of not spending more than two days without making any effort. “For example, if your goal is to take up yoga, set yourself a 10-minute session per day”, explains the naturopath. If you miss a session, force yourself to do the next day’s session. This method will help you last in the long term and acquire an organization that will lead you to better attendance. As a result, it’s a bit like making a contract with yourself.