Jumping Beyond Self Limiting Beliefs

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Henry Ford

What you believe becomes your reality. Belief is an incredibly powerful force in our lives, shaping the way that we see the world and our place in it. Having faith in yourself is a vital factor in achieving success as an actor, director, writer – or in any field.

But venture beneath the surface and most of us have beliefs unconsciously limiting our behaviour. And we may not even be aware of it. A well known story about fleas is a good illustration.

Fleas have a tremendous capacity for jumping. They can leap incredibly high. But if you put them in a jar and put a lid on it, then after hitting the jar lid for a while, the fleas will stop trying to jump beyond the jar, to avoid the pain. If you then remove the lid, the fleas will not try to escape. They can no longer tell the difference between their real limitations and those imposed upon them. Those imposed limitations become self-imposed limitations.

We are no different from the fleas. Our perception of reality limits our behaviour. And the most important factor, the biggest influence is exactly like the fleas, it is your environment.

Your environment is the biggest factor effecting your self belief and your self limitations. Where you have spent the most time and who you have spent it with is a massive impactful influencer upon self belief.

IF you grew up in a highly motivational household of professional actors who worked constantly and were proud of their contribution to the world, you’ll have little trouble believing that you too can be a professional actor, work regularly, and be proud of it.

IF you grew up in an environment where your parents were lawyers and doctors, you’ll have no problem believing that the law and medicine are suitable professions for you if you wish to enter them.

IF you grew up in a low income but highly supportive environment, where although your parents didn’t earn much, they truly believed in the power of education to change lives, the chances are that you’ll go to college.

IF you spend most of your time around people that spend most of their time pursuing their goal of becoming a successful actor, the chances are you’ll believe that it’s possible and your behaviour will follow suit.

IF you spend most of your time around people that place creativity and art as highly as simply making a living, the chances are you’ll believe that art is important too.

BUT if you spend most of your time around people that do not believe that people can achieve their dreams, if you are surrounded by negativity, if your parents chose financial security over their dreams, if your friends went the safe route in college, if the people that you surround yourself with mock and deride your attempts to better yourself, or place no value or belief in doing so, – the chances are that even with the all the willpower in the world, eventually you’ll believe that too, and you’ll give in. Your behaviour will follow your beliefs.

IF you spend your time in drama school being made to feel that you aren’t good enough to be there, then you will believe that, and you will act accordingly. BUT if you spend your time surrounded by like-minded people, in a supportive environment, in which staff and students all believe that being extraordinary is possible, the chances are that you’ll believe that too.

Just like the fleas, your beliefs are limited by whichever environments have the biggest impact on your life and your behaviour follows your beliefs.

We act in line with our beliefs.

But how do you then jump beyond the behaviour that is caused by self-limiting beliefs? The answer is surprisingly simple.

Surround yourself with the kinds of people that you wish to be like, surround yourself with people that have already achieved some of their goals, because those people already believe that it’s possible and that belief will quickly rub off on you too.

But there is an obvious problem.

You want to be a world famous movie star. But they’ve stopped hanging out at your local cafe recently, or they don’t come round to your place to play PS4 as often as they used to.

Well, there is a second option that’s entirely in your control. Surround yourself with them in other ways. Read their books, watch their interviews, listen to their podcasts, put up their photos, in other words create the kind of environment that reinforces the belief that its possible, and guess what happens? It becomes possible.

How will you liberate yourself from the limits imposed upon you? Spend as much time as you can with like-minded successful people. Or start with a book, an interview, a picture, a quotation – reinforce that belief in any way you can.