How to declutter limiting thoughts

If we aren’t getting the result we want it’s because of a thought.

Our thoughts create our feelings, our feelings drive our actions, our actions accumulate into results. – The trouble starts when we forget about this powerful cycle of results-creation.

If something is not as we want it to be,

if we have a result in our life that we don’t like,

for example: ‘My desk is covered with piles of papers’),

• • we often believe that something is wrong with us.

For example: ‘I am hopeless at organising my stuff.

• • Or we blame certain circumstances in our life.

For example: ‘I don’t have enough space to file my paperwork properly.’

The consequence is feeling incapable, out of control, and stuck, and making any changes to the unsatisfying situation seems impossible.

It just seems like that that’s the way things are and that there is nothing we can do about it.

However, we can do something about it! Always!

We can change the results we currently have by changing the thoughts we currently think.

How can we declutter limiting thoughts?

The first step is becoming aware of the limiting thought. We need to recognise that what we believe to be a fact is actually a thought.

The fact in the example situation above is: ‘My desk is covered with piles of papers.’

The statement, ‘I am hopeless at organising my stuff’, however, is not a fact, it’s just a thought about the fact.

This differentiation is very important!

Thoughts are optional.

We can change them, and we can believe whatever we want about the circumstances/facts in our lives.

As soon as we are aware of what we are thinking, we can start to question our thoughts.

Questioning our thoughts

One of the many ways to test our thoughts – especially our limiting beliefs – is to ask ourselves powerful questions like the following (Source: April Price) – and to answer them:

• • ‘If I didn’t believe this, then what would I do?’

We play around with the idea that what we believe to be true might actually not be true.

Example: ‘I am hopeless at organising my stuff. 

-> If I didn’t believe that, then what would I do?’

Possible new answer: ‘Organising might not be one of my top 5 strengths but that’s okay. And I am actually getting better at it.’

• • ‘What if I’m wrong about that?’

The more willing we are to consider that we might be wrong about our beliefs, the less self-limiting power they have over us.

Example: ‘I don’t have enough space to organise my paperwork properly. 

-> What if I’m wrong about that?’

Possible new answer: ‘I absolutely have enough space to organise my paperwork properly. I just have to rearrange a few things before I get started.’

• • ‘What if this is just a story my mind made up?’

Stories are not reality; they are made up. They are interpretations of the things and events in our lives. We can decide to interpret things differently.

Example: ‘I am hopeless at organising my stuff. 

-> What if this is just a story my mind made up? What’s a different story I could tell myself?’

Possible new answer: ‘I didn’t learn how to organise my stuff when I was young. So, of course, I don’t find it so easy today. But it’s just a skill, and I am getting better at it.’

Give it a try!

Pick a limiting thought, something you got so used to that you never questioned it.

Question it now (see above). Then, write down the answers. Pick one of them to practice and establish a new thought.  

Whenever the old thought comes up – and it will for a while because your brain is so used to thinking it – you decide deliberately to let it go. And you ‘turn around’ and focus your attention on the new thought. 

The more often you do this, the faster the old thought will lose its power.

Based on the new thought, your feelings and actions will change – and your results.

It works! Always!