Lifting Beliefs vs. Limiting Beliefs
How we speak to and about ourselves is powerful. We may not always realize it, but we have internal narratives, stories we tell ourselves, playing in our minds—and often on repeat. The key is to discern what those narratives are so that you can stop playing the ones limiting you and reinforce the ones lifting you.
At Building Champions, we believe that just as our phones need regular updates, so do our mindsets because we all have Leadership Operating Systems determining our words, actions, and ultimately, results. In this article, we discuss how a leader’s lifting beliefs can lead to success and how a leader’s limiting beliefs can lead to failure.
What’s the Difference Between a Lifting and a Limiting Belief?
To best explain the difference between a lifting and a limiting belief, let’s discuss a possible scenario:
You just received feedback on a big project that you’ve been leading over the better part of six months. Your team has spent their time focusing on this deliverable and you felt confident in the work. But the feedback isn’t what you expected, and you’re disappointed.
In this scenario, a lifting belief could sound like: “I’m discouraged, but not going to let my feelings control my words and actions. Instead, I get to learn from this feedback. I can view this as an opportunity for growth. And I can help my team learn and grow too by showing up well for them with this news.”
Or, in this scenario, a limiting belief could sound like: “Well, I did my best! The team just didn’t get it. It’s not my fault that the stakeholders didn’t catch the vision. I don’t know what they want from us. Why does this always happen to me? I guess I’m a bad leader.”
Negative emotions toward disappointment are normal (and even healthy), but it’s the power that we give negativity that determines how we speak and act. As a leader, you have a privilege to help others walk through failure in a healthy way. And failure can be positive—because it always gives you the chance to grow.
How Lifting Beliefs Can Lead to Success
We’re not suggesting that a “Pollyanna” sort of mindset is the best approach to take to leadership because there definitely is such a thing as toxic positivity, but we do believe that maintaining a healthy view of challenges can really change your reality. If you’re operating from a place of health in your beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, then you’ll be well equipped to tackle the inevitable obstacles that come your way in life and leadership. Here are a few examples of how lifting beliefs can lead to success:
Innovation. When you view obstacles as opportunities, you’ll inspire others to do the same. A healthy view of challenge acknowledges it for what it is: something difficult to figure out. A lifting belief would remind you that you’ve experienced challenges before, that you’ve figured them out, and that you’re capable to lead your team through this one. If your team sees you operating from a positive mindset in times of uncertainty, they’ll likely operate from that space too. And when a team approaches challenge in this way, their innovation and creativity will be boundless.
Lifelong learning. A lifting belief would remind you that you can always learn something new. It’s never too late. And a leader with a lifelong learner mindset is someone who is open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. This is key to grasp in a fast-moving world with a rapidly advancing technological landscape. And if you can lead your team toward new learnings and growth with whatever new workplace shift has occurred, you’ll experience a team of inspired people working together to make something new.
Energy. Medical research indicates that positive thinking has actual health benefits. The Mayo Clinic says that the health benefits of positive thinking include lower rates of depression, greater resistance to illnesses, and an increased life span. This goes to show the power of our mindsets. A lifting belief inspires you, motivating you toward work, and helping you to live into your purpose. And a motivated person is an energized person. Your lifting beliefs can help you get the right things done and will encourage those around you to do the same.
How Limiting Beliefs Can Lead to Failure
Failure is really how you view it, because as we said earlier, you can always learn and grow from failure. But if you allow limiting beliefs to infiltrate your Leadership Operating System’s inner gear (your thinking, feeling, and believing) then your leadership effectiveness (the decisions you make and the influence you have) will suffer. Here are a few examples of how limiting beliefs can lead to failure:
Missed opportunities. A limiting view of a challenge (or crisis) would be to sink into the negativity and struggle to see a way forward. And this type of thinking would inhibit your ability to see what has been made possible because of this situation. You would lose out on the creativity, innovation, and collaboration that is often born of necessity.
Loss of influence. If you’re allowing limiting beliefs to lead you, people will notice. As a leader, you need to be aware that your influence can either be lost or gained—and it is largely dependent on how you’re showing up to those around you. People want to follow leaders who operate from a place of authenticity and health—someone who can acknowledge the emotions of hardship without letting those emotions negatively drive their behaviors.
Lack of ownership. A limiting belief is a blaming belief. As a leader, you are responsible to lead your team in delivering results, and you are responsible to your leadership of them. This starts with you—your self-leadership. A leader functioning from a place of health acknowledges the privilege of leadership and takes ownership of their team’s work. If your team is struggling, then you get to be a coaching leader and help them grow so that they can collectively find success.
If you’re wanting to work on your Leadership Operating System’s inner gear (your thinking, feeling, and believing) then we’d love to help. Reach out for a complimentary discovery call to learn how our coaches partner with leaders like you to help them strengthen their leadership effectiveness, live into their purpose, and get the results they want in both life and leadership.
