Breaking Free From Mental Limitations

Everything, good or evil, genius or mediocre, begins in the mind. I’m sure you’ve heard some version of this sentence at least once. Repetitive as it sounds, it’s a timeless fact.

In this article, we’ll be looking at what mental limitations are and how we can break free from them to maximize the quality of our lives.

What are Mental Limitations?

Mental limitations are self-restricting thoughts or behaviour that exist to protect us from a repetition of hurtful past experiences or prospective future challenges. Sounds like a mouthful? Let’s break it down.

Imagine you’re a writer at heart and you’ve always dreamt of writing a best-seller book. You could conclude that since millions of books already exist, you have nothing relevant to say so why bother? That’s one way a mental limit could play out.

Let’s say you went ahead to write a book, but couldn’t get published or you did get published and made just a few hundred sales. You could also conclude that writing books isn’t profitable enough and quit altogether.

The possibility of not succeeding in the future as an author or the experience of not succeeding on the first (second, third…) try may encourage you to build a mental cage that prevents you from taking subsequent actions.

Do you understand better now? Yes? Awesome!

Story Time

Once upon a time, decades ago, doctors and scientists concluded that no human could run a mile in 4 minutes. It was deemed impossible by science, “The body is unable to cover a mile beyond the 4-minute limit” they said.

Well, that was true at the time because it hadn’t been done. But, in 1956, the British athlete and neurologist Roger Bannister pushed past that boundary and ran 1 mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

But that’s not where it ends. 46 days later, John Landy broke that barrier in less time, running a mile in 3 minutes and 58 seconds. About a year later, more runners broke the 4-minute limit and proved beyond reasonable doubt that it could be done.

Break free or accept?

Identifying mental limitations is an intentional attempt to look inward and challenge your beliefs, thought patterns, traumatic responses, and emotions. Looking inward is difficult and not the first approach we take when solving problems, but I believe it’s the most productive one.

Mental limitation examples include beliefs like “I’m not good enough” “I’m not ready” “I can’t succeed at so and so” “It’s impossible” “I can’t heal from this pain” “ and so on.

Before venturing into blogging and content creation, I didn’t start for at least 2 years after having the idea because I thought “What value do I have to offer that doesn’t already exist?” But, I eventually had to shrug it off and start writing anyway.

You may have built a mental limit that’s crippling you from taking action. But, you can always answer the question - are you willing to break free from the mental cage or do you want to accept it?

How To Break-free from Mental Limitations

Be honest

To begin working your way out of a mental limitation, you must tell yourself the truth about what it is. For instance, “I didn’t start that business because I don’t think I have what it takes”.

Sometimes, you may not be sure if what you’re experiencing qualifies as a mental cage or limitation, but if you’re convinced it limits, hurts you or people around in any way, and is repetitive, you may want to note it down.

Replace negative patterns

Once you identify negative patterns in the form of thoughts, beliefs, or behaviour, you want to replace them with healthier options. If you believe you don’t have what it takes to start a business, for instance, that’s what you’ll confess which further strengthens the belief and prevents you from taking action.

Replace that belief with the possibilities. Now you may need a little help here (a conversation with someone wise that you trust). But, think about it. Were people born with all the great inventions, business enterprises, and successful relationships we see today, were they not created by men and women who dared to dream and put in the work? They first envisioned it in their minds and that’s where we all need to start.

Take small steps

Lasting positive change isn’t instant. It involves small decisions that compound over time. Begin with a small step, complete that, and take the next.

A first step for someone who doesn’t feel they have what it takes to start a business because they won’t succeed can be embracing a new attitude that believes it’s okay to fail, but there’s always a way to win. Taking risks, learning from failures, and not giving up will get you there.

The next step may be conducting a market survey to test the feasibility of their business idea. Bit by bit, they can shift from someone who feels they aren’t good enough to a person who isn’t afraid of failing.

Seek support from trusted mentors, friends, community, and professionals

It’s okay to need some help. We all need a soul to rely on, a shoulder to cry on, a friend through the highs and the lows, you catch my drift?

We may form some habits or remain in a mental cage for so long that we need some external intervention to uncover the layers and break the walls. A trusted counselor, pastor, friend, or family member can facilitate the process. You can also employ the services of professional therapists and psychologists.

However, there may be times when you believe in something that most people don’t think is possible. I imagine not everyone believed Roger could break the 4-minute limit. Hopefully, a few people support you (like family). But, there may be times you’ll believe something can be done and other well-meaning individuals won’t agree because they can’t see the vision in your mind or they just don’t understand.

Practice gratitude

Even in the bleakest situation, there’s always something to be grateful for. Painful or discomforting experiences could be relevant for a good or blessing. Solutions and new feats may also birthed from problems and seeming impossibilities.

Practicing gratitude helps us shift our minds from things that aren’t working to things that are. It also increases our hope for things to get much better and brighter.

Living Beyond Mental Limitations

Mental limits keep us stuck in a position we’re well able to walk out from. While “walking out” may not always be a pretty picture, what kind of life are we living if we are not constantly testing the boundaries of what is possible?

Sometimes, things work out great. Other times, they don’t. But, if we never try because we never want to fail, we’ll never know how much we can succeed.