Limiting beliefs can be sneaky. They zap your energy. Paralyze you from being able to take any sort of action. These beliefs keep you up at night. They keep you checking your phone for emails, texts, phone calls. They keep you from being present in the moment. They keep you from being your best self.
Some of our limiting beliefs we inherit. Without questioning these beliefs, we believe them to be true. I remember being told as a child that “we” were not good at math.
Here’s a short story:
After having gotten my BSN in nursing and returning to get my MS in Nursing Leadership and Adult Education, I went back to get my MBA. In order to be accepted into the MBA program, I had to take some undergraduate courses. Accounting was on the list and apparently there is a lot of math in accounting.
At the time, I had undiagnosed ADHD. Being undiagnosed meant I had created all sorts of coping skills to navigate my life so I could be successful.
So as a result, this is what I looked like when I took a test: ear plugs in, chewing gum, taking copious notes, and retaking every test I have ever took…twice. Meaning, after I completed a test. I would go back and literally re-work all of the problems. Why? I had undiagnosed dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. I knew if I didn’t recheck my work, I would end up with “foolish” mistakes.
The class had 4 hours to take the test. I took all 4 hours. The professor approached me at 9:45pm. “I’m going to have to take the exam from you in 15 minutes”. I nodded.
At 9:55pm, I handed him the completed exam. He asked me to wait. I paced outside of the classroom. I thought for sure I had had failed. I was sick to my stomach.
The door opened. He came out. He asked me if he could shake my hand.
“I knew it! I totally bombed. He is actually saying good-bye to me right now.”
Then he said this,
“I want to shake your hand because no student of mine has ever gotten a 98% on any exam I have ever given”.
I remember my drive home. I remember what the city of Denver looked like as I made my way home to Washington Park. I remember feeling on top of the world and feeling the world was a new place to me. If I could be good at things that people had told me I couldn’t be good at…then the world had truly shifted.
I wasn’t what anyone said I was. I was who I said I was.
Having clarity about which limiting beliefs are getting in the way, what the challenge really is, and what solutions are available to you becomes accessible when one takes the time to look at what is stopping them from moving something forward.
Image by Caleb George
