Break the Chains of Negative Thinking

“I am not good at pushups” grunts a young beginner student as he struggles to peel himself off the ground. I have heard it all before: “I’m not very good at \\\\”, “I can’t \\\”, “I have never been able to \\\\\”, and many more.

This time, for some reason, it struck a chord within me. I saw quite clearly that this student was, and is, incredibly capable of just about anything he could set his mind to. However, in his mind, that was not the case.

I stopped the class, and asked everyone if they knew the meaning of “Self Limiting Beliefs”. I was very surprised when one of our youngest students nailed the answer: *“That’s when you think you can’t do something, so you don’t even try!”* Smiling, I nodded in agreement.

We collect self limiting beliefs over time. Family members, teachers, or friends, while well intentioned, sometimes create or reinforce them. “Math is not your thing”, “You never finish anything you start…”, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard from you.” Then our mind translates them into: “I’m not good at math”, “I have trouble finishing tasks”, “I’m just not very smart”. And so we go through life fulfilling these commands as if they were part of our DNA.

As a Karate instructor, one of my main goals is to squash my students’ self limiting beliefs and replace them with belief in themselves, true self-confidence. It is a slow process, but it works every time. All one has to do is prove that self limiting belief wrong ONCE for the individual to realize that they have been believing a lie about their true potential. The: “I’m not good at pushups” crumbles once the student is able to do just one good pushup, which then turns into two, five, 10, 20, and more.

As a parent, teacher, coach, mentor, or friend, when you hear someone talk negatively about themselves, challenge them, do not let them give in to their negative mental jail. And when you say something similar to yourself, also challenge yourself. We are always capable of more than we give ourselves credit for.

Continuing my class, I asked: “When you first started Karate, were the techniques easy?” Students: “NO”, Me: “Is it easier now?”, Students: “YES”, Me: “So what happened?”, Students: “We practiced”.

Me: “Exactly, everything is hard before it becomes easy. But if you try something and give up because it seems hard, you will never get good at it. If you want to be good at something, you need to work hard at it, ask for help from someone who is good at it, and follow their advice. Before you know it, you will be great at it, whatever IT is.”

If you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you are correct. Every success starts first within our minds. Break the chains of negative thinking and a whole new world of possibilities will open in front of you.