Last week, I wrote about how deeply your beliefs about yourself affect your choices. But how on earth can we take control and actually change those deep-seated beliefs?
Believe it or not, it’s a simple two-step process you’ll use on repeat. Want to know what it is?
Once you recognize and name the belief that is holding you back, here’s what you’ll do:
Step #1: Ask yourself: What is one thing you can do to change this?
Step #2: Go do that thing–not just once, but over and over agin.
Too simple? Look at it this way:
Let’s say your limiting belief is: “I’m not closing enough sales!”
Step #1: One thing I can do to change that belief is to make more calls per day.
Step #2: Make more calls per day.
Still too simple? Think about it this way: Belief is based on evidence — that stuff we talked about last week. Once you’ve done this, you form new evidence in your favor. You’ve proven to yourself that you can make more calls. According to all kinds of research, we can quite literally “re-wire” the brain by teaching it new ways to think, feel and experience the same situation. Sales is just a numbers game, so if you aren’t closing enough sales, change something and give yourself a different experience. By making more calls, you’ve upped your chances of making sales and consequently you begin to form a new belief. It may not be a wholesale change to “Wow! I can close as many sales as I want!” But it can move you closer to the belief that you have some control. And then you get to ask yourself: What’s your new belief?
Your new belief might be: I still don’t know everything I could know to be more successful.
Step #1: The one thing I can do to change that is to seek advice from a more experienced sales person.
Step #2: Talk to that person.
Repeat that two-step process.
Note that this is about simple, incremental growth. One step at a time. Beliefs don’t change overnight, they change over time, fed by continual, new evidence. So stretch your current belief into a new action, and once you accomplish it, you can’t help but find yourself in a new belief. As Einstein taught us, our minds are just like rubber bands–once stretched, they seldom return to their original shape and dimension.
Don’t over think it, just start stretching!
Don’t over think it, just start stretching!
