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Limiting beliefs are firmly held convictions that hold us back in some way. I like to all this Stinking Thinking because it really is. By holding on to those thoughts you are allowing yourself to be less than you are truly capable of. It limits your ability to live your best life. Stinking Thinking can do more than just damage your belief in yourself. It can completely kill your self-esteem and get in the way of you being able to make positive and much-needed life changes. There are 5 very common ways that Stinking Thinking can show up in your life. Do you ever have any of these thoughts?

1. I Don’t Deserve Good Things

When you tell yourself that you don’t deserve good things, good things won’t happen to you. What are the chances of you getting an ice cream sundae if you have told yourself over and over that you don’t deserve it? Pretty slim. You may be, without realizing it, turning down awesome opportunities that are presented to you or self-sabotaging current ones. People who are confident that they deserve good things, get good things.  They go get the ice cream for themselves!

2. Things Will Never Get Better

Everyone experiences challenges in life. No one has a perfect life. Often, when things go wrong, people feel sad, anxious, upset, or even depressed. If you continue to tell yourself that things can’t get better, you aren’t holding space for the better things to come into your life. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most people who have faced adversity come out the other end as far stronger people. Besides, you don’t have a time machine. You don’t know what the future has in store for you.

3. I’m Too Unattractive

There may have been things that have happened to you that make you begin to question your appearance. While appearance does play an essential role in delivering an excellent first impression, things like executive presence, charm and charm and overall attractiveness are about so much more than just looks. Confidence, in and of itself, is attractive. Trust me.

4. There’s No Point Trying, I Will Fail

Having a mindset of failure stops you from being successful. End of story. If you are afraid of failure the harder, it will be for you to try doing wonderful things. Instead, come from a mindset of understanding that people fail, every single day, and people succeed after failure every single day. Focus on learning to understand the “why” behind the failure and use that knowledge to get better and better each time.  There are tons of inventions that people use every day that are “failures”. You may try and fail yourself into a million dollar product.

5. I Will Never Find Happiness

Well, Eeyore, you won’t find anything if you keep telling yourself that you can’t find it. There will always be negative things that happen to you, negative people who want to be around you, negative emotions that may surface. Happiness is a learned skill. Start with thinking of all of the small things that are in your life that you are grateful for. Then let it grow from there.

Stop letting stinking thinking get in the way of your happiness and success. Want help? Take my free self-esteem challenge.

Ask about my upcoming leadership retreat Sense of Self.