Do This And Nothing Can Stop You From Achieving Your Dreams and Goals

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

Why have you not achieved your major dreams and goals by now?

What is stopping you?

These are the questions that are worthwhile to ponder.

After all, if you can find the answers to these questions, you can remove the obstacles between YOU and YOUR SUCCESS. Then nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams and goals!

This article was inspired while I was on a Lion Safari. So read on, it is going to get very, very interesting!

Is what Napoleon Hill said really true?

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

- Napoleon Hill (one of the pioneers of self-improvement)

Can this be really true?

While this quote makes everything seem easy, in reality, it is not quite the case. The concept of “beliefs” and the process of how they are formed is very complicated and debatable.

The story of my Lion Safari…

Now, let me show you a photo from the recent lion safari I took that shocked me!

Left: My wife, Centre: The lion (of course), Right: Me

Let me guess — your eyes are fixated on the Lion that I am patting, right? But, for a moment, pay attention to the bush behind me.

Can you spot another lion hiding behind the bush?!

Why is that Lion hiding?!

What happened was — when we approached the lions, one of the lions was scared and therefore chose to hide behind the bush.

This shocked me!

Facts about Lions

The below facts about Lions will justify my shock (at seeing the Lion hide behind the bushes):

• They can weigh up to 300 Kgs (600 pounds)
• They can run up to 80 km/h (50 mph)
• Their leaps are as far as 4–10 meters
• They can stretch up to 10 feet long (3m)

Let me state what is probably very obvious by now — lions are superior (physically) to us! Indeed, this lion can effortlessly kill us in a matter of seconds. What’s more, we were defenseless.

Then, Why Would The Lion Hide?!

Just to clear a possible suspicion, in advance — no humans have behaved badly with these lions before. I know the owner and he is unquestionably passionate about animals.

When is he interacting with the Lions, he carries no weapons for his defense (even though it is very risky)!

Therefore, Lion’s fear does not stem from any sort of previous abuse but rather since they were very little, they have only been raised in the company of humans (almost since they were born)! That’s why these Lions treat humans as superior to themselves.

However, not every Lion is like this — it also depends on their personality! For example, this Lion is probably planning its next meal!

This Lion sure ‘likes’ me (for dinner LOL)

The Connection Of The Hiding Lion And This Article…

Coming back to that shocking photo we were discussing earlier — it is not unreasonable to assume that the scared Lion perhaps had a ‘belief’ when growing up and this ‘belief’ has stuck throughout his adult years.

Even though, the situation is completely different now: the Lion has grown up and is now much stronger than a human. But, it still feels inferior.

The same situation may also happen to us. Just like the Lion, we can achieve much more than we think we can.

You’ve probably heard of the saying, “Your true potential is much more than what you think.”

So What Is Stopping Us?

It is our “self-limiting” beliefs that were formed sometime in our past.

Why Is It Important To Review Our Beliefs?

Numerous researchers have found that we act within the quadrants of our beliefs. If there are any contradictions, we go out of our way to rectify the inconsistencies and in turn, comply with our beliefs.

This is why we need to review our beliefs and eliminate those that are limiting our ability to reach our full potential.

This is the answer to the question I posed at the beginning of the article…

So, Why Have You Not Achieved Your Major Dreams By Now?!

It is because of these self-limiting beliefs that we are unable to achieve our full potential.

Even having one self-limiting belief is like driving a car with the hand brake on. We may have many great ideas and perceptions, but even ONE self-limiting belief is enough to hinder our achievement.

Now, let’s investigate these questions:

• What beliefs do you have?
• How were they formed?
• Where did they come from?

Here Are A Few Facts About Our Beliefs:

1. By the time we reach adulthood, our belief systems are already formed.
2. Even though we can alter our views, our belief system is quite steady.

As psychologist Peter Halligan (Cardiff University, UK) said:

This means going to great lengths to reject something that contradicts our position. For example, we might seek further information to confirm something that we already believe in. This phenomenon is called ‘Confirmation Bias’ and is common to all.

How Are Our Beliefs Formed?

To understand how we form our beliefs, we must reflect on our childhood. A Neuroscientist from George Mason University (USA), Frank Krueger said,

When we are growing up, the people closest to us will inspire our beliefs.

This serves two purposes:

1. It is the fastest way to learn about the world (as opposed to exploring and learning everything by ourselves)!
2. It allows us to be social, have friends, and interact with fellow members of the community.

While adapting to a belief system of a particular environment, allows you to be a member of that particular community. However, it does not prepare you to be a leader of that community.

Many of the beliefs that we imbibe as children allow us to be nice people, but they don’t necessarily prepare us to be successful.

Review & Update Your Beliefs

It is, therefore, necessary to review our beliefs and update those that require modifications (just like your phone needs to be updated with new software from time to time)!

Keep these questions at the back of your mind while you review your beliefs:

“Why haven’t I achieved my major dreams by now?”

“What has hampered me?”

Think about the beliefs that were formed when you were a child — do these need to be updated or are they still relevant?

Just to put it out there — it is completely normal for us to have some self-limiting beliefs. Everyone has them.

For example, 46.4% of Britain believes in the statement: “My body, or part of my body, is misshapen or ugly.”

Here Are Other Common Examples Of Self-Limiting Beliefs:

1. Asking too many “What if…?” questions and being afraid to jump in.
2. “I’m not good enough for …”
3. Only setting small or easy goals; the far-reaching ones seem impractical.
4. Having dreams and ambitions but not taking action toward achieving the same.
5. Trying to please everyone.
6. “I’m not loved”.
7. Relying on you primarily, instead of taking advantage of teamwork and the knowledge of others.
8. Believing that leadership cannot be learned.

There are many other examples of self-limiting beliefs. Dig Deeper and find the ones that are hindering your success.

Find them and get rid of them.

Steps To Do This in a Positive Manner

STEP#1 — Detect and Remove:

Detect negative beliefs that are hampering you. Such beliefs are usually those that were formed sometime in the past and are not quite relevant in the current situation.

STEP#2 — Reframe in a Positive Manner:

Devise a positive counterstatement. For example, instead of thinking, “My body is not ugly,” you can rather use the statement “I am beautiful.”

Another such example is — if the first self-limiting belief (Asking too many “What if…?” questions and being afraid to jump in) applies to YOU, then think, “I am a decisive person” instead.

Or you can always adopt Richard Branson’s (English business tycoon) motto

If you take the above two steps, you will be able to release your hand brake that is hindering your car from reaching full speed.

P.S. Was the article helpful? Do tell us in the comments below.