There is wisdom in knowing what you don’t know!

  There’s an important kind of wisdom in knowing what you don’t know.

Too often we fall into the delusion of thinking we know a lot more than we really do, commonly known as “illusory superiority.”

This can often make us stubborn in our beliefs and unwilling to accept new information. Ultimately, it stagnates our growth and inhibits development.

Recognizing what you don’t know actually puts you in a unique place of power. It can improve your choices in life and career, because it’s an honest view of your knowledge and capabilities, as well as your ignorance and limitations.

When you know that you don’t know something, there are a range of things you can do to improve the situation:

·       Knowing what you don’t know teaches you what areas you need to seek more information in.

·       Knowing what you don’t know gives you the opportunity to refer to someone else who can help you.

·       Knowing what you don’t know allows you to step back before making a hasty decision.

Understanding the limitations of your knowledge puts you at an advantage from people who overestimate their knowledge or aren’t aware of their own ignorance. This isn’t a negative thing, this is about being honest with yourself which means acknowledging both your strengths and your weaknesses.

To know more about what you don’t know, always be willing to test your beliefs and assumptions, however certain you may be that they are true.

It’s important to challenge your beliefs to see if they are backed by some amount of evidence, logic, and/or personal experience.

We can begin challenging our beliefs by asking ourselves questions, such as:

    “What caused me to form this belief? Where did I learn this?”

    “What kind of evidence would help support this belief as true?”

    “What kind of evidence would help support this belief as false?”

    “Are there alternative beliefs that may be just as valid, if not more?”

    “What’s one thing I don’t know that would be really useful in this situation?”

    “Does this belief conflict with any other beliefs I hold?”

Questions like these will give you some idea on the limitations of your beliefs and knowing what you know vs. what you don’t know.

If you are willing to keep an open mind about your beliefs and the possibility that you don’t have all the facts, you will be much better off than if you were to just take everything you believe as complete truth.

There is wisdom in knowing what you don’t know. Approach your beliefs with honesty and humility, and that will provide you with the flexibility you need to begin building a life of genuine happiness.

Achieve Your Full Potential! Book a complimentary session at Business and Life Management Coaching to get the tools and support you need to excel in your professional and personal life.

We Are Defined By Our Thoughts So Make Them Positive

We often define ourselves by the mental chatter that goes on constantly inside our heads. By our thoughts, we have ideas of who we are and what everything around us means.

And the only way that you can begin to recondition your subconscious mind for success is by detaching yourself from the idea that you are your thoughts.

Feelings of success, mindfulness and happiness come from the realization that thoughts come and go of their own accord—that you are not your thoughts. You can watch as your thoughts appear in your mind, almost from thin air, and watch again as they disappear, like a soap bubble bursting. Your thoughts come and they go, and ultimately, you have a choice about whether to act on them or not.

If you have been operating on autopilot for a while, you’ve probably settled into a nice groove, and it takes some serious effort to change that. It's sort of like how you feel on a cold winter morning, while you're nestled in between your warm sheets, when the thought of getting out of bed is uncomfortable, and when doing so requires motivation and willpower.

But whenever you fully grasp the idea that you are something far greater than your thoughts—beyond words at all—you begin to understand that you have the power to choose which thoughts you will think.

Try it out:
Think of a purple banana... Got it?
Think of a flying elephant... Got it?
Think of a green bicycle... Got it?

You were able to conjure up images of these incredibly silly ideas because you have control over your mind. Your mind will do whatever you tell it to do, so altering your subconscious mind, and therefore your life, is no more difficult a task than telling your mind to do new things—new things, like complete belief in yourself and your abilities, regardless of what anyone else thinks or says.

A simple way to grasp this whole idea is to compare your mind and your thoughts to a computer. Your subconscious mind can be compared to the hard drive, the actual machine itself; your conscious mind can be compared to the programs that are loaded on the machine; and you can be compared to the programmer, who chooses the programs that are installed on the computer.

Your thoughts and beliefs are nothing but programs that are installed on your hard drive, and since they determine the course of your life, it would be wise to install the most beneficial programs you can find. All it takes to reprogram your mind is a sincere desire to do so and an indomitable persistence to stick with it day after day.

When you catch yourself thinking the following negative thoughts, replace them with these positive thoughts.

When you think this… Say this instead…

1. Think about the future! Enjoy the moment you’re in right now. 
2. Don’t do something you’ll regret! In the end, we only regret the things we didn’t get to do. 
3. I wish I hadn’t done that! I can’t change the past—learn and move on. 
4. Will things ever work out? What’s meant to be will happen. 
5. Why did they do that? I can’t control others but I can control how I react to it. 
6. Will I ever find happiness? What can I be happy about right now? 
7. What’s wrong with me? I am perfect exactly the way I am in this moment. 

You can flip it and begin training your thoughts to empowering statements of positivity. Changing the way you think is vital to your success. Negative thinking can stop you before you even get started.

As Wayne Dyer said, “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”

Source: Success.com

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

Self-limiting beliefs are everywhere and a part of all of us, to greater or lesser degree. The keys to overcoming many of these are first recognizing them, then understanding how we got them, and take action to banish them through sustained activity. Start by taking these steps.

“Self-limiting beliefs are everywhere and a part of all of us, to greater or lesser degree,” says Bruce Frankel, author of What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life? “The keys to overcoming many of these are recognizing them, understanding how we got them, and then banishing them through sustained activity.” - See more at: http://www.success.com/article/doubtbusters-erase-self-limiting-beliefs#sthash.gTRnef19.dpuf

“Self-limiting beliefs are everywhere and a part of all of us, to greater or lesser degree,” says Bruce Frankel, author of What Should I Do With the Rest of My Life? “The keys to overcoming many of these are recognizing them, understanding how we got them, and then banishing them through sustained activity.” - See more at: http://www.success.com/article/doubtbusters-erase-self-limiting-beliefs#sthash.gTRnef19.dpuf

Isolate The Belief

First consider what the belief is that is limiting you. Many of us make limiting choices without realizing that they are based on flawed, limiting beliefs.

Find times where you have done something (or not done something) that seemed to limit you in some way. Then ask 'What beliefs led to this choice?' Keep digging, asking 'What belief underlies that belief?' until you come to the limiting belief or beliefs.

Also consider what concerns or frightens you and so limits you. What do you fear? Why? What beliefs lead you to such fears?

Seek The Source

Think back to when you first had the belief. When did you first belief this? What happened for you to believe it?

Were you told to believe it by someone? Was it a parent, teacher, or maybe someone who was not thinking kindly about you.

Was it based on an experience? Did you try something once, failed and then formed the belief that you were incapable? Or that 'other people' think in certain ways?

Recognize The Falsehood

In doing the above steps, you may already realize that the limiting belief is just that: a belief which is both limited and limiting. You are holding it because you were told to or because it helped you once.

Take time to reflect on this and recognize the full extent of the belief, how false it really is and especially how it has limited you in the past. Feel free to get angry about this.

In doing this, you may need to accept that you are not perfect, which can be disconcerting (beware of limiting beliefs here also). You must be open to learning and ready to change.

Form Empowering Beliefs

When you want to change a belief, you may well need an enabling belief which will replace the old one.

Be careful with these, making them realistic and not setting yourself up for disappointment. It can be more effective, for example, to believe that you can do public speaking than to immediately believe you are world-class at it. If you lack a skill that needs to be learned, believing you now have it is likely to lead to problems. It is better to believe you are able to learn (which is one of the most empowering beliefs you can have). Believing 'I can' can be more powerful than thinking 'I am'.

In a similar vein, if you thought you’re not smart enough, notice the different between thinking that as opposed to being intelligent. The trick is to consider where the belief will take you, what will it let you think and do, and what evidence will it create, as in the next step.

Create Evidence of Success

The most powerful and unshakeable beliefs are those that are based on lots of evidence. So now you have recognized and challenged you limiting beliefs and found empowering beliefs, then you need to start creating evidence.

Depending on what it is, you may be more sensible to start small. If you believed that you could not talk with strangers, try starting with simple politeness, saying 'thank you' and 'after you', which immediately show that actually you can talk to strangers. Then build up with brief small-talk, such as about the weather or sports.

When you see a success, no matter how small, use this affirmation. Tell yourself 'I did it!' and reflect on how you are now a changed person, with no way back. When you have done something new, it cannot be undone.

Keep building evidence until the limiting belief seems daft and you are now comfortable in your new belief. Determination and persistence are critical in this. 

Achieve Your Full Potential! Book a complimentary session at Business and Life Management Coaching to get the support you need to excel in your professional and personal life.