limiting beliefs

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping out in facilitating a teambuilding event organised by a friend of mine who’s been in this business for a little while now. We adjourned to Namaste, a really nice Indian restaurant at TTDI which had surprisingly very little yet simple deco and a cosy ambience. You would never have known that it served your favourite Indian cuisine such as roti canai, naan, tandoori chicken, vegetarian rice and a whole lot more (but of course, with a slightly inflated price).

Over a scrumptious lunch / tea, my friend, another facilitator and I caught up on old times. Somewhere along that conversation, something caught my ears standing at slight attention (it had been a long day). My friend was telling us how a particular consultant (for lack of a better name to call this person) had asked her on how she felt her business was doing, and she answered that she was pretty happy with the current situation, how it’s a small company that provides personalised service.

A-ha. Why a “small company?” questioned the consultant. Does it mean that large multi-nationals do not provide personalised service? Take Ritz Carlton for example. They’re a huge hotel chain yet they know you by name. Isn’t that personalised service?

To make a short story longer, it seemed that my friend was limiting her beliefs by that sheer statement – that only small companies could provide personalised service. But of course, this case is not true (as per Ritz Carlton example). This mindset was limiting the growth of her company to something bigger. So what’s the way to start improving it? It’s a far better thing to say, “We are a company that provides personalised service” without mentioning “small”. That’s a more powerful statement, to herself and to her staff. It’s saying, “You’re not working for “small” company. You’re working for a company that provides personalised service.” And that in itself is changing the way people look at your business.

Or take another example (I know I’m ranting a bit but bear with me here).

A guy – let’s call him Izzy – is more than 200lbs overweight, yet he thinks he’s healthy despite his giant size. But even though it’s a positive thought – “I’m healthy” – it’s still a limiting belief. In thinking he’s healthy although he’s 200lbs overweight, he’ll never push himself to lose the excess lbs and become even healthier. Again, a change of mindset is in order to break away from that limiting belief.

I guess all of us have limiting beliefs that stop us from doing any better, working any harder, or even feeling great about ourselves. More often than not when we think, “oh, it’s ok for me to stay at this level because I’m already doing well”. But are we really doing well? Or are we just staying comfortable in our own little space because we limit much potential we have?

Hmmm. I wonder what my limiting beliefs are…

What do you want to believe about yourself today?