B ME Bites 7: Why Do You Do What You Do? - Part 5

Welcome to edition #7 of B ME Bites. This week is Part 5 of the series titled “Why Do You Do What You Do?” As discussed over the last 4 weeks, there’s a reason why you do everything you do, whether it’s a habit that works for you or not. This week, it’s time to look at your “BeLIEfs”……..

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Featured Topic: Are your beLIEfs holding you back?

Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is, “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” – many people use this quote to motivate themselves and/or others. On its own, it’s not always helpful. Especially if you don’t know how and why beLIEfs impact human behaviour.

So often, your beLIEfs are part of the reason why you do what you do, even if it does seem to be the same thing over and over. You beLIEve something to be true and so you keep doing the same thing because it aligns with that beLIEf.

It’s important to understand that a beLIEf is just a LIE that you beLIEve is true at the time. It is in fact a LIE, because it may or may not be true, even if it feels true for you. As an example, once upon a time, the common beLIEf was that the earth was flat and there are people who still beLIEve that today. A beLIEf is something that you give meaning to and that’s where the true power of a beLIEf lies - in the meaning that YOU give it!

Napoleon Hill said, “What the mind of man can conceive and beLIEve, the mind of man can achieve.” BeLIEf is critical to success and there are 4 important facets to beLIEf on a personal level:

1. That it’s possible – you have to beLIEve that what you are trying to achieve is possible in the first place, otherwise, why would you even try? You might consciously attempt it, but if subconsciously you don’t truly beLIEve that it’s possible, your knights will take over and you, the king or queen, won’t succeed. (If you missed the edition about your conscious vs subconscious, you can check it out in Part 3 here)

2. That YOU can do it - sometimes you do truly beLIEve that something can be done…..by someone else. You don’t beLIEve that you, yourself can do it. For instance, you KNOW that running a marathon is possible, but you don’t run and you don’t beLIEve that YOU can run a marathon. If this is true for you, then the outcome will be the same as #1 - your knights will perform their coup and you, the king or queen, won’t succeed.

3. BeLIEfs changing – it’s important to being open to your beLIEfs changing. Albert Einstein also said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” If you want to make changes, your subconscious beLIEfs MUST change to enable you, the king or queen, to be able to command your knights to do what you want them to do.

4. Removing limiting beLIEfs – limiting beLIEfs are your overprotective human brain parent wrapping you up in bubble wrap and telling you all kinds of LIEs to cause you to self sabotage, in order to keep you safe and protected. By consciously working on removing them, you will find it much easier to command your knights. If you missed the self sabotage issue, you can find it in Part 4 here)

Your beLIEfs either serve you or they don’t, and if they don’t, you have the power to change them! How do you do that? Here’s how:

1. That it’s possible

   1. Find evidence – quite often, especially when it is trying to protect you, your brain won’t see evidence of something being possible unless you consciously search for and find it. Once your subconscious has seen the proof though, it can’t deny it and your knights will be on board because they beLIEve. So search for evidence of others achieving what you are setting out to achieve. Find as much evidence as you can, so that your subconscious has no option but to beLIEve that it is possible.

   2. If you can’t find evidence, (challenge this as it’s hard to beLIEve that this is the case!), start LIEing to yourself better! Yes, you read that correctly. As Marisa Peer says, “Learn to tell yourself better LIEs.” Your brain actually does beLIEve everything you tell it, so if you tell your brain that it IS possible enough times, it will eventually beLIEve it, AND, it will also start subconsciously searching for evidence, because it HAS to prove it to be right. (There will be another edition dedicated to this topic, because it’s a bite sized topic all on its own!)

2. That YOU can do it

   1. Find evidence – if you have already done what you are setting out to achieve in the past and succeeded, then there is clear evidence that it IS possible for you. If you haven’t, what HAVE you achieved in the past that is of a similar or greater magnitude? You have already successfully achieved massive goals you set for yourself in the past…….be honest with yourself now, you know you have!.......so therefore, it is absolutely possible that you will achieve this goal too.

   2. If you can’t find evidence, refer to 1.2

3. BeLIEfs changing

   1. Become more aware of your beLIEfs – awareness is always the first step – journalling is a powerful tool that can help to draw them out

   2. Start to consciously question your beLIEfs – is it true? Is it REALLY true?

   3. Start to challenge your beLIEfs

4. Removing limiting beLIEfs

   1. Flip the script (on the run) – for every limiting beLIEf you tell yourself, flip it to an opposite positive beLIEf

   2. Flip the script (journalling) – write down your limiting beLIEf in BLACK (or another colour that feels negative to you other than red), put a big cross through it in RED (symbolises STOP), write down an opposite positive beLIEf in BLUE (symbolises trust) or GREEN (symbolises GO).

There’s a reason why you do everything you do. Why do you do what you do? Can you identify where a beLIEf is holding you back?

Reader Spotlight

Megan left the following review after reading “Healthy! Beautiful Inside & Out ”:

You can find a link to this book here.

Weekly Challenge

Your mission for this week, if you choose to accept it, is to do at least one of the following:

a) Think about a goal that you set for yourself that you haven’t succeeded in achieving yet, and analyse which of your beLIEfs may be holding you back; or

b) Do the Flip the script (journalling) exercise from the article above.

If you need some help, feel free to hit reply - let’s help you get started if you’re stuck!

B ME Bites is deliberately sent on a Friday morning* (Aussie time) so that where ever you are in the world, you have the weekend to give yourself the gift of implementing a small change towards a better you. What will that small change be? Is there a change that you have been trying to make and haven’t yet succeeded? Give it another go, applying the above - you can do it!

*(Except for the odd occasion where it is sent late due to life happening, such as today, although it is still being sent on Friday, so winning!)

Resource Roundup

Here’s a short 10 minute video from Marisa Peer talking about telling yourself a better LIE:

Marisa Peer also wrote a book titled ”Tell Yourself a Better Lie: Use the power of Rapid Transformational Therapy to edit your story and rewrite your life. “ You can find it on Amazon here.

You can find out more about Marisa Peer here.

Below is a resource list that has been created with you in mind. Whenever something new that could be helpful is discovered, it’s added to the list, so check it out from time to time. If you’re strapped for time, once you open the page below, scroll down to the Resource List section and click on the “Health Tools” link for a list of items that could be helpful on your path to a better you.

Thanks for reading and the hope is that you found something helpful inside this issue. If you did, remember to share it with others whom could also find it helpful. You can do so using this link: https://bmebites.beehiiv.com

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Until next week, keep taking one S.T.E.P.S step at a time! (If you missed the issue explaining The S.T.E.P.S Formula, you can check that out here)

Warm regards,

Shari Ware Chief Encouragement Officer at B ME Bites