But, You Are Infected

Yesterday I wrote a post on exploring your beliefs to determine which of them may no longer serve you. Your beliefs drive the actions you take. Why not also explore the actions you routinely take and determine which of those no longer serve you?

My strong suggestion yesterday was that you shed some unhealthy beliefs and adopt new beliefs and new actions as you think about next year. I wrote this:

Before you write your plan to make next year rock, take a few minutes (or longer, if you’re serious about your goals), and decide what you need to unlearn.

Over the course of your life, you’ve been infected by some beliefs that you now hold as truths. You’ve learned to take some actions based on those beliefs, and to avoid other actions—some of which would help you to produce much greater results.

I won’t lie to you; this isn’t easy work. But growth only comes from outside your comfort zone. Take a big step with me here.

Someone shared the post on Facebook, and the person’s Father posted this comment:

Hi ——-, I’ve been reading this bullshit all my life from people who claim to have a philosophy that transcends our meager intelligence. Don’t believe a word of the nonsense preached by these people. Confide in yourself and believe in yourself. Happy Christmas from Dad and —. xxx

This comment makes my case about infections.

Your results are determined by your beliefs and the actions you take—or fail to take. If you could get the results you wanted without changing your beliefs and your actions, you’d already be producing those results. The price of improvement is change. I’m not sure there is any real opposition to this philosophy.

But sometimes the people that love you the most are the people that infect you with limiting beliefs. They don’t mean to harm you; mostly they just want to keep you safe from harm. But they can infect you nonetheless.

It’s never a bad idea to reflect on your beliefs to determine whether or not they still serve you. It’s never a bad idea to examine whether or not your beliefs are even your own to begin with. This is where all growth begins. The actions you take only change once you adopt new beliefs and change your models.

Questions

Think back to the last breakthrough you made in some area of your life? What belief change set that breakthrough in motion?

As you think about that breakthrough, what new actions did you take once you had the paradigm shift?

As you think about some of your longest held beliefs, who infected you with those beliefs, healthy or otherwise?

What was the last belief that you shed for a healthier belief?

Here’s a clip of Will Smith in the Art of Happyness teaching his son not to allow his father to infect him with a limiting belief.