Your Beliefs: Fuel For Your Habits

Your conscious and subconscious beliefs fuel your habits. Wether these are positive or negative in nature, you have the ability to change them as it happened to me. For example, growing up in a household where parents constantly argued, led me to develop a fear of relationships. I believed it was normal for adults to constantly argue, making it uncomfortable for me as an adult. Although I worked through this limiting belief system, it left an indelible mark in me to experience this. I often see this type of negative response in family scenarios involving money as well. When a child grows up surrounded by argumentative adults who consistently feel stressed-out about money problems, children tend to feel fearful or angry when the subject of money and finances is discussed.

Beliefs turn habits into force. Force creates our reality through repetition. Each one determines if a belief is either constructive or destructive for them. Choice is pivotal for change. In the above scenario about money, a person’s relationship with money determines the flow or stagnation of this important resource in their life. By developing strong positive beliefs about money, a person is more open to accepting abundance in their own life experience. The opposite is true, if you habitually think and feel negatively about money, scarcity inevitably is part of your own life experience. Your belief about money plays a key role in these contrasting outcomes. Habit, is the enforcing factor.

Let us recall the definition of habit: “a regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.” Observing how destructive thoughts and negative feelings affect us is a crucial step to forming new habits. As the above scenario suggests, a child may grow up expecting that they will never have money. Therefore, children don’t bother taking steps to counteract these limiting belief. Why?

Children do not understand the detrimental effects of internalizing limiting beliefs. The long-term effect influences their belief negatively about relationships, money, self-esteem, and other areas of their lives. The long-term destructive effects develop in time, but are set in motion by accepting any type of limiting beliefs. This in turn, reflects in the negative habits that feed the limiting tendencies and behaviors.

Knowing what you want to achieve in life is the first step. Do you want a better job? Do you want to be a successful writer? Do you want to live on a ranch with your family?

Whatever your goals may be, it's very helpful and powerful to write them down. Then, spend time developing a framework of steps you’ll follow to accomplish your goals. For example, to get your dream job, what skills and education do you need? Then start thinking positively about your desired outcome; this will keep your mindset congruent with your efforts. Be positive that you will learn the skills and knowledge you need to find the career of your dreams.

Now that you’ve developed an action plan, it’s time to determine what habits you’ll need to master in order to achieve your goals. This can include creating a study schedule to keep you on track, or learning how-to put money aside each month to pay for classes. As you start taking these small but decisive steps consistently, these will become part of your daily routine, thus, a new habit will form. Before you know it, you will be studying regularly without resistance, or growing bolder in your dream of finding your dream career.

Another common scenario is weight-management, which requires the participant to form new habits to sustain their efforts. You’ll most likely need to eat smaller portions of healthier food to achieve your goals. You may have already tried to reach your ideal weight unsuccessfully in the past. This usually happens because your mindset was not congruent to sustain your efforts. You may start thinking that you’ll never lose those coveted 25 pound. Or, that you’ll always feel as you do now, even after achieving your goal. You must convince yourself that this is not true, and that change is your choice! When you get beyond the limiting perceptions fueled by old negative feelings, you will begin to change your beliefs, and therefore achieve your results.

To be successful, everyone must consistently build new habits, and not lose sight of their goals. Believe that you can turn all your negative beliefs/feelings into positive ones; the struggle will be intense, but the results are real and life-transforming. Your options for success will improve when you focus all your energy on achieving your goals. Don’t delay, start to reprogram your beliefs by thinking and feeling how great it is to live your dream or goal. Let yourself experience this belief.

It is ideal to want to improve and change your life in any way you imagine. However, not planning and not taking action is what strengthens all your old-beliefs and keeps your current habits in place. Start working today on changing the way you feel about yourself and about others. Gratitude is one of the strongest and most constructive emotions you can practice because it builds confidence and self-esteem. This important shift in perception can lead you to major improvements in your life as you materialize your goals.

Interested in forming new habits? Find out more here.