The "Pain" of Change and Growth!
Understand and conquer your "Limiting Beliefs" that hold you back!
Five years ago my wife and I looked at our lives we were not happy with how hard we were working and how far behind we were getting. The harder we worked, the more behind we got! We are good honest people doing good honest work and yet we were not "successful". What we had been taught was not working and we wanted to learn why.
So, we started reading "success" books. We started with Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and T. Harv Eker's "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind". We felt like they were on to something so, off we went to a "free" weekend "Millionaire Mind" seminar. Harv teaches that the only thing that makes wealthy people different from you and me is the way they think. Really wealthy people come from every walk of life, every area of the country, every race, every religion, every business and the only thing they have in common is a set of beliefs about their abilities and about the world around them.
I decided then and there that I wanted to adopt those same beliefs and attitudes. Harv has a system and there are thousands of books on the subject. Everything you need to know about changing your beliefs is spelled out clearly and simply. I kept thinking, this is simple. Sure, it is simple, but it is not easy. It is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime and it is really not easy to change that little voice that loves to keep you in your "comfort zone".
Now you may think that this inner voice is you talking to yourself. But it is not the truest part of you, the inner voice is really the voice of fear. There is another voice that speaks much more softly and you have to listen more carefully and that is the voice of your heart. The voice of fear wants to keep you exactly were you are. Nice and safe and in the same place, even if you do not like it, "no, no, it is safer here, you know what to expect, you know the results your going to get, you know who your friends are".
Please think about what is holding you back, or what is making your business more like all the other businesses in your marketplace.
Here are a few fear statements I have heard recently:
"I cannot grow to the next level, until I feel that I am ready" Can you just hear your fear voice keeping you in the exact same place that you are? Wow, I can! Growth only comes from being OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE. You know you are growing when you're worried about how you're going to get this or that acomplished.
"I cannot afford to implement these changes", Yet how can you afford to put another dime into advertising in the same old magazine, or worse, an unproven new magazine to increase your business that drives prospects to the same old showroom, using the same old techniques of selling! Can you hear yourself now?
"Robert, I cannot be so blunt about asking someone to buy from me because my clients are my friends, shouldn't I develop a rapport first? Your technique is too direct and it does not feel friendly". If you have done your job and earned the prospect's respect by giving them information, authority and time to choose, then how can you expect to have a win-win relationship if you allow the prospect to waste your time and theirs?
These three examples are only a very small sampling of what I call "limiting beliefs".
Limiting beliefs are your fear exercising it's authority and power over you and holding you back from the changes that will make you rich and abundant.
Every business, every designer, every person has setbacks and challenges. This is your life, my life and everyone else's life. It is what we do with those challenges that separates us. Do we have the courage and grace to grow into the lives we were meant to live, the lives that are waiting for us when we rise up and fulfill our dreams?
My heroes this month are Joe & Bill Feinberg from Allied Kitchen & Bath. They just completed a gorgeous new showroom building here in Fort Lauderdale. They could have stopped or held the project back as the economy stumbled, instead they said to themselves " We are going to complete this expansion and it will help us increase our business and market share". Of course, I am paraphrasing, but earlier this month when they had their grand opening, cars were backed up for 2 miles trying to get in. People love to associate with a winner, and want that positive and resourceful energy to rub off on them.
Change is hard because you have to get past your own fears and limiting beliefs. You are the only one that can unblock these "limiting beliefs". It gets easier with practice and I find it helps to work on just one at a time. I am working on realizing that other people do not have the same tolerance for change that I do and I need to be more sympathetic and understanding as they go through these changes.
Contact me today and let us discuss your situation and how I might be of some assistance to help you shed your own "limiting beliefs". Listen carefully to your heart and know that on the other side of fear is the feeling of joy and abundance that comes from living your dreams and the life you were meant to live.
If these ideas interests you then you can watch the movie "The Secret" ( www.thesecrettv.com for only $5 online), read Ekhardt Tolle's "The Power of Now" or "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles (published back in 1910 and just as relevant today as it was 100 years ago) or "Ask and it is Given" by Esther and Jerry Hicks. All of these teach you how to quiet the voice of fear and strengthen the voice of your heart to live the life of abundance and joy. While you can complete this journey on your own, it is much easier and faster with someone holding your hand and accountable.
Thank you and Have a Profitable Day!
Robert Foltz, CKD
Kitchen Sales Coach