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Writer's pictureSally Meyers

5 Examples of Limiting Beliefs



Are you still struggling to understand the concept of limiting beliefs? Does the concept make sense, but you can’t understand how to put limiting beliefs into words? That’s a common experience. It’s often hard to come up with examples of a new idea. Luckily, because every person has limiting beliefs, some of them are common enough to be used as examples. This is a list of five of the most common limiting beliefs along with their negative consequences.



1.) Fear of Rejection

This is one of the top three limiting beliefs. Everyone ever born is afraid of being rejected by someone or something, whether that’s a romantic partner, a college, a sports team, a job, or something else altogether. Most people are able to deal with their fear well enough to go for their desires anyway, but some people develop it into a limiting belief and stop trying for the things they want for fear of rejection. Did you know that fear of rejection is actually PHYSIOLOGICAL? Back when we lived in tribes, if we were rejected, we'd be in danger of death. So this one is common to everyone.



2.) Fear of Failure

This is the second of the top three, but it’s really tied with the fear of rejection. Fear of failure is normal and natural. We all want to succeed, and we all worry about the consequences of failing. Some people develop a limiting belief around failure and are unable to try to reach their goals.


3.) Fear of Success

Some people are also afraid of success. After all, what comes next? Can you handle the consequences of succeeding? When this becomes a limiting belief, people will deliberately fail to avoid having to deal with the results of succeeding. It’s a common enough limiting belief to make the top three in most countries, but it does vary by culture. This one is very closely related to our views on money, but we will talk about that another day!


4.) Believing that you’re not worthy of (fill in the blank)

This is another incredibly common limiting belief, and some people have multiple limiting beliefs that fall into this category. The blank can be anything -love, acceptance, money, getting into school, getting a good job. Anything that a human being can desire can fill that blank, but it’s most commonly associated with interpersonal relationships, romantic or otherwise.


5.) I’m too (fill in the blank) to find a partner.

Romantic relationships tend to bring up a lot of self-doubt in people, which makes them fertile ground for limiting beliefs. The blank can be filled by any attribute the person feels is too “much” for romantic relationships -fat, skinny, rich, poor, ugly, smart, etc. These beliefs are often a way to protect ourselves from that fear of rejection. They often surface as insecurities we developed as kids, like if someone called you fat or ugly at recess in 3rd grade, you may still be holding onto that as an adult.


Does this hit home with you?




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