Play to Your Strengths

Many of us find it hard to try new things. We know that it would be good for us to to eat healthier, exercise more, or worry less about what other people think. We can devise plans to help us achieve these goals, yet when we try to put plans into action we find ourselves stuck. It’s as though something inside is warning  you not to continue.

These “warnings” are really self- limiting beliefs like “I’m not good enough”, “the world is dangerous”, and “people can’t be trusted”. These beliefs tend to encourage people to overemphasise negative aspects of life and restrict their attempts to change. After a while this becomes a habit and people don’t even realise its happening. 

To deal with this, it’s helpful to; 

1. Recognise these beliefs when they come to mind
2. Appreciate that they are habits you have developed, not facts, and 
3. Accept that even though your beliefs seem right, there is no reason to believe they are right in this particular instance.

As you work on this you will be free to put effort into developing more constructive mental habits. A nice place to start is to identify your strengths and to focus on these as you go through the day. You will probably notice your self- limiting beliefs emerging as you try and do this, if so think of it as a chance to acknowledge and deal with those beliefs. This way you are getting double the effect!

If you are struggling to identify your strengths then you could start by clicking on the link below and either reading about different strengths or completing the questionnaire at 
https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register.

Until next time 

Jon