Let's get ready for some serious shift. This is a podcast shifting Inside Out hosted by your quantum shifter Angela McCourt, we are diving into ways to empower and enable a quantum shift. Inspiring topics hacks and guest speakers take us on a journey around authenticity, challenging status quo, personal power and living a purpose filled life. In this episode, we are going to talk about limiting beliefs. And what I wanted to do first was just kind of lay this up with our mindset. Our mindset is one of our most important tools. Your mindset is basically a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. It influences like how you think and feel and behave pretty much in any given situation, it can seriously harm us and positively shape us. And that makes it a pretty big superpower. And the greatest thing about mindset is that we can change it. And I fully believe this is one of the most impactful changes we can make in our life daily, and in order to continue to evolve. And so when you think about it, so much information is coming at us all day long. And one of the biggest things that really makes a difference between how our mind processes that information is the difference between our conscious mind in our unconscious mind our subconscious mind, the conscious mind can literally only take about seven, maybe plus or minus two pieces of information at any given time, while our unconscious mind ends up consuming about 95 to 99% of the data we're exposed to daily. Yeah, that's a lot. The only thing is, it can process about 134 bits a second. And that same timeframe that the conscious mind can only take in about seven plus or minus two pieces of information per second. So when you think about how does it do that, a lot of times the information that gets stored is not how it was actually portrayed, including our memories. And it's interesting, because when we think about how information can get distorted, or maybe there are pieces that are missing or deleted, or possibly super generalize, this is the layup for how limiting beliefs end up becoming formed. On top of having a lot of those social influences conditional programming, and even generational impacts to our limiting beliefs. So I hope you enjoy this episode. I'd love to hear your thoughts as you listen. You can find me on LinkedIn at Angie belts McCourt on Instagram at Angie underscore McCourt or on Twitter at McCourt, Angie. So without further ado, here goes the solo episode on limiting beliefs. limiting beliefs are conditioned throughout our life through genetics, generational and ancestral beliefs passed down karmic beliefs buried deep in our DNA from past lives, society, education, media, advertising, social media, family and any influential person in our life good or bad. Our limiting beliefs hold power through fear and negativity, comparison and unhealthy competition holds us back and can create a seriously negative impact on our mindset. A fixed mindset keeps us from expanding and can hold us into a pattern of stagnation and flexibility. Plus, we end up dealing with that fun old inner critic, the one that provides such great self criticism, and also some good to help keep us alive. The brain and the mind are really two different things. We will focus on the mind in this chapter and explore all these things that hold us back. Have you ever challenged your own beliefs in the sense of seeking if they are true? A belief is a thought we continue to believe and we can change it. Beliefs aren't true. They're just real. All beliefs carry consequences with them and can create or destroy some of the most important areas of our life like relationships, career and health. There are two types of beliefs global beliefs and rules. Global beliefs began as life is or I am or people are rules or if then statements that we create and tend to live by. The current brain is 3000 years old with a ton of old programming. The core functions of our brain are in place to protect us and keep us alive. fight flight and freeze are the old built in survival tools. To help protect us in threatening situations. Today, instead of trying to save us from a tiger ready to pounce on us, it's using the same programming to protect us from modern threats caused by our limiting beliefs. However, our new survival level is all around awareness, and about seeking alignment purpose, our energy and reconnection with our soul self. These are very different times, yet we still fight, flee or freeze when faced with today's threat. There once was a belief that the world is flat, so almost everyone accepted it. This held back societies from building sturdy ships and seeking new resources. Once Christopher Columbus debunked the belief there was a new fact based belief formed, the world is actually round. This is a simple example of how beliefs can be challenged and changed to truth, or simply something else. We have become a culture of theory and opinions. So most everything including watching a sporting game is narrated by personal observation, and based on that narrator's beliefs. Those beliefs can infiltrate our minds and become our truth, if we allow them to. It's important to seek truth instead of just accepting. Come up with your own perspective and attitude towards something. The biggest challenge we are up against is the infiltration of so much information that has bias with it. How many times have you found yourself parroting information you heard this morning or read on social media? I'm guilty of it too. As you stated out loud, especially to someone is it stated as a belief or as an opinion, what we speak can become a belief or at least what someone else thinks is our belief. When we identify those beliefs that are limiting us in achieving what we are seeking, we completely hold ourselves back. This goes for individuals, family and friend groups, and company and team cultures. Clarity, regular and effective communication and mythbusting are great ways for managers to help teams overcome limiting beliefs, especially in a time of great challenge or transition within a company or industry. When we bring our limiting beliefs about our self worth, ability, intelligence, execution and effectiveness to the workplace, they completely hold us back and keep us from fully enjoying the learning and growth process in our career. I've spoken with so many people who struggle with impostor or poser syndrome, held back by money, beliefs, and confidence. Think about how performance reviews and grades in school and on standardized tests and how they typically highlight our inefficiencies or deficiencies. What limiting beliefs have they formed for you that you still live by? Which ones are holding you back? Of course, measurement is a great way to push ourselves to expand, improve and grow. So I'm not saying measurement is a bad thing. It's how the measurement is delivered to us. It is made up comparison and set of standards created by someone or a group, or is it PFA or pulled from mass? Or is it some high set of standards to try to raise everyone up? Unfortunately, the negative impact that can cause can be long lasting and truly impact other areas of a person's life besides just intelligence and performance. Some examples of potential limiting beliefs on relationships include, I will never find true love, this won't last. They should treat me how I treat them. Some examples of potential limiting beliefs on money include rich people or mean there is not enough money. I must get what I want how I want when I want. Some examples of potential limiting beliefs on health include, I just can't lose weight, I don't have time. Some examples of potential limiting beliefs on self worth include. I am not good enough. I don't deserve fill in the blank. I must or should always do well and win the approval of others. Some examples of potential limiting beliefs on ability include, I am not an expert. I'm an impostor. limiting beliefs don't sit in a box and hang out separated from other limiting beliefs. They merge and blend and grow. Eventually, they infiltrate our entire mindset in many areas of our life. There are many negative consequences of limiting beliefs impacting your scarcity or not good enough definitive which is always or never abstract, which is could or should tribal betrayal and relevance mindsets. Scarcity thinking could be around money, love, time, food, others limiting how much you receive or give in a relationship, your actual money, situation and time limiting what activities you bring into your day for fulfillment feeling not good enough or smart enough and other self worth limiting beliefs can cause hesitation and going for your dreams, taking action toward goals, self care and love. It can also cause depression and unwanted solitude. Having limiting beliefs that are definitive and using words like always and never will keep you from driving toward your goals and meeting fantastic people in your life. Abstract limiting beliefs and using words like should and could keep things out of grasp around you without ever solidifying results, then there are limiting beliefs in place because we don't want to betray our friends and family tribal, that can keep us from succeeding in our career or unhealthy because that is what the tribe believes and does. limiting beliefs around relevance and depending on significance and validation can slow down your decision making process and cause perfectionism allowing the ego to drive your day. victim and blaming mindsets require a conscious responsibility for where you are and deciding what you want to change. Think of failure as feedback. Instead of creating or attaching to new limiting beliefs when failure happens. shift your mindset from failure to feedback to help you improve, shift or gain momentum in a different way. Awareness is key to ensuring you don't continue to add to your library of limiting beliefs. seeking truth is another great tool to add to your analysis of your beliefs, as well as getting the brain to acknowledge the evidence, which will show it that the original intent of protecting the limiting beliefs has actually held us back. The last one is just let a thought enter your mind, acknowledge it and release it instead of locking it in as a belief. Think of it as simply information. The stories we tell ourselves are not only influenced by experiences in the past and present, but a future expectations and fears. The hierarchy of fears for most people is I won't be myself, I'll get rejected, I'll be humiliated. I'll feel invaded, I won't exist, death or vacancy. Living to our true identity is our biggest desire. So when we are not authentic, it can cause us suffering. In the workplace, we may tell ourselves that we will never become an executive or make over $200,000. Or that the only way we can make more money is through working an 8am to 5pm job over time and promotions, our limiting beliefs started our journey and our stories keep us on that same journey. Tony Robbins says change your mind change your life. And I would add change your story. Things are changing and shifting from old paradigms and ways of thinking and doing now is the time to truly challenge all of the old stories and limiting beliefs that partner up with the old ways and look for a new way of being doing and achieving your desires. I mentioned in the introduction to this chapter that genetics can actually impact our limiting beliefs. Epigenetics has discovered that historically, our lineage inherited suppress genes during severe stress. For instance, if your great or great great grandparents lived during the depression and went without food and severe circumstances, the need to avoid wasting food, clean your plate or scarcity thinking can literally be carried in your genes. mainstream science only knows where about 12% of DNA actually comes from. There are so many hidden limiting beliefs that we don't even recognize are holding us back. Even those buried in our DNA. Let's change them. I'll end this section with something that will not only blow your mind but your brain. I know I mentioned I was only going to focus on the mind here. But there is so much discovery that has not made it to the mainstream about how our brains work, challenging beliefs that science has it all figured out? Well, we have been told for decades that the brain is pretty much set by age seven. Research has now determined that for those of us in the 25 to 65 age range, we can do things to change how our brain sees the world. We can apply certain lifestyle changes to support shifting, limiting beliefs. We can literally grow our brain. This process is called neuroplasticity. There is a great amount of research published and I touch on this a bit at the end of part two, the Google it you will be amazed and it will open up your belief that there is so much more yet to be discovered. Let's become more conscious about the stories we tell ourselves. When we do we can change those stories to true When we become aware of what is our truth and what is not, it provides us an easier way to challenge beliefs that pop up. It shifts the approach to seeking the truth of them versus just believing them. When we change our mindset, we become intentional about what we create in the non physical and physical worlds. Make the shift. Let's use some quantum linguistics to shift a belief by creating new neural pathways. Use this method for challenging limiting beliefs and embedding new beliefs. Number one, create a belief you wish you had and move it to a fact set up the truth of this belief and simply embed it in your brain. You can state the belief multiple times to make this happen. Number two, journal on a problem say to yourself, What wouldn't happen if I didn't have this problem? Some examples include worry self shame, burnout, overwhelm, holding back, etc. Number three, simply challenge limiting beliefs using critical thinking. Ask yourself a is this the truth? Be? When has this not happened? See, do the facts support this? Hope you enjoy this excerpt from my book. Love your gifts permission to revolutionize authenticity in the workplace. Chapter seven on the mindset. Let me know what you think. And you can go ahead and hit me up on Instagram or LinkedIn at LinkedIn. I'm Angie belts McCourt, and on Instagram on Angie underscore McCourt.