Episode 7 A+A podcast: Upgrading your Beliefs in Business

Upgrading your beliefs in business - it's a conscious choice.

Let's look at our beliefs and how they impact us. And consider which beliefs we might like to upgrade - and how we can make the conscious choice to do that. We can look at what our beliefs are without getting drawn into it, without overthinking it, without judging ourselves. We can look at the belief and we can identify that it's not working for us anymore.

Maybe it's something we've picked up from the past. Maybe it's something we learned in childhood. It's something that we learned from a parent or another significant adult in our lives. Maybe it's something we've picked up earlier in our career, maybe when we worked in a different industry. Maybe we've even picked it up from our peers in our current industry.

Whatever your beliefs are right now... You can totally change them.

Let's dive in.

First of all, I'm going to ask you to think about what is actually possible for you in your business. When you start to think about this, it can throw up some beliefs that might not be helpful. Start to think about what is possible for you in relation to your impact. That might be your impact in working with your specific clients and maybe even a broader impact that you could be having on the world. It's quite big, right? Then how does that make you feel and what feels truthful for you?

What do you believe about the level of impact you can have?

I've worked with clients who have beautiful, expansive beliefs about the impact they can have, but no sooner do they fall into that - believing they are here to have a really big impact on the world - they get completely intimidated by their own belief. And it brings up other beliefs sitting underneath that. I want you to notice if this is happening for you.

It could be: I'm not sure if I can really do that. Maybe that's my ego. I'm not really sure how to do that. What about this webinar that I ran or this Facebook Live that I did, and it only had this number of people who engaged with it? So maybe that's just all rubbish. Maybe I'm never going to have that level of impact.

Can you hear the initial belief may be quite positive, might be quite expansive, but it then brings up beliefs sitting underneath that say that's not actually possible for you?

So, who do you think you are?

I'd love to know what has come up for you as you think about the kind of impact that you can have. And what kinds of beliefs you would like to consciously choose. Let's say you feel like you can have a positive impact in the world. I would like you in this moment to consciously start to choose some beliefs that would support you with that overall belief. For example: I can do anything with the right support. I am always learning and growing. I am available to serve in whatever way can have the most impact. Beliefs like that would support you in creating that bigger belief.

Next, I want you to think about what is possible for you in relation to the kinds of results that your clients get. It might be: My clients get amazing results. I know it, I believe it. My clients tell me it. That feels really solid for me. That would be a time when your beliefs don't need to be upgraded. They are already awesome. It could be however, that your clients do tell you they get great results, but you always have a little bit of a doubt or worry. Instead of focusing on the clients and the participants in your programs that do get incredible results, you worry about the one or two people who don't like it. Maybe you have been asked for a refund or two in your time, or perhaps it's people who just don't engage with it. They don't even complete the work.

They don't get the results - so you find yourself being more focused on them.

Or maybe that person works with you one-on-one but they don't actually follow through. And then unfortunately, they don't get the results that they could otherwise get. And again, you find yourself more focused on that than you are on the people who do get incredible results and outcomes and transformations from their work with you. Think about the kinds of beliefs that you may already have. It could be: My clients do get amazing results. And then anything that comes up underneath that like: Sometimes they don't and I blame myself. When some of my clients don't get great results, I wonder if there's something I could have done.

What might an upgraded belief look like?

It could be: I know that when my clients show up and do the work, I help them get amazing results. Or it could be: I am always improving the ways I support my clients to get the best possible outcomes. I always attract clients who are ready and willing to show up for themselves. And I know I can get them great results. Think for yourself what would feel really, really good.

Next step, I want to look at income...

What do you believe is possible for you?

This is something I talk about in my private client sessions quite a lot. A lot of people over the years have definitely brought this as a goal to their sessions and it can bring up some negative or limiting beliefs.

So it could be: Other people in my family have never earned that amount of money. Or: If I was to earn that amount, I would outgrow my friends. People in my life might judge me or criticise me. I might become too visible. It could be: I've got that huge income goal, but then when I don't achieve it, I just fall in a heap. And rather than thinking about this as an alignment problem, or a strategy problem, instead they just decide that it's not possible.

The downgraded belief could be: It's just not possible for me.

It becomes: I don't know why it's not working. It becomes like a dead end. Why bother? Because I just can't get there anyway. For example, let's just say your income goal was a million dollars - and this is something plenty of my clients have worked on in their sessions with me.

But if every time you hit up against a challenge or a launch does not go as well as you would have hoped, and then you turn around and have these negative beliefs coming up or limiting beliefs, or you make it mean something like: I'm not good enough. I'm obviously not supposed to get to that level. I'm not capable of that. Other people can do it. I can't.

Beliefs like that are going to stop you from solving the problem.

Instead, if you can just see whatever your next income goal is as a fun problem, something that's kind of creative, you're doing it because it would be really interesting to learn how to do that - it feels really expansive. It feels really motivating. You know other people have done it. So therefore, you know it must be possible for you.

You might need to learn some things, you need to upgrade a strategy, or you need to upgrade your mindset. If you believe that, you're going to take actions which are going to be more likely to support you to create that goal. So that's why looking at our beliefs can be useful and important because it comes back to the aligned actions.

It's difficult to take aligned action if you don't believe something is possible.

Or, you don't really think it's going to happen anyway. What does it matter what I do because I'm never going to get there. How's that going to serve you? And how is that going to serve all of the people who could be benefiting from your work and benefiting from the impact that you could have in the world? Another area that you might look at what you believe is possible for you, could be in terms of time.

The only way I could make more money is to work heaps more hours. I'm just not willing to do it. I've had so many people say that to me over the years. And it's like - it's just a belief. Of course, you'll be able to find examples of people who have made a lot more money than what they were currently making - and done it in less hours. Maybe those examples aren't so readily available.

You might be more tuned in to the examples where people are just really hustling and working a million hours. It does not mean that's inevitable and doesn't mean that you need to do it that way...

So, what is possible for you in relation to your time and energy?

Does creating more success mean that you have to be more tired, more depleted? Well, likely not, because it tends to be those people who are more successful often will have really abundant energy. You kind of need to, to be able to operate at that more expansive level. So just think about how you currently feel about time and energy and what you would like to choose to believe and to feel.

For example: I can create a successful business or I can grow my business however many hours I choose to work. I just need to become smarter. I can learn strategies that will enable me to grow my business in less hours. I can have really abundant energy whatever the size of my business. When I have got a successful business, I can have really vital energy. Whatever it is that is going to feel good for you, and it's also going to then inspire actions that are in alignment with that.

So of course, there's no point in just thinking: Oh, I'm going to have really great energy with this really successful business, but then I'm going to completely ignore the basics of business, which I talked about in the dopamine and business alignment episode. You know, my food, my exercise, and my sleep, those things don't apply to me. I just magic up my energy...

What you believe leads into your actions - and that leads into your reality.

If you believe that you can have great energy and you also take the actions that are going to support you to have high energy - guess what? You're more likely to be able to achieve that. So start to see it that way. You're creating your reality through your actions, and your beliefs can support the actions that you take.

So next step, how do you see yourself?

Sometimes we can have beliefs and stories that we have told ourselves. For example, I will hear people say: I'm an introvert and therefore dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. It's not possible for me to ... Or I'm just the kind of person who ... So I would love you to start to think of some of your own examples. How do you currently see yourself? I'm just not confident. I'm just not that extroverted person who can network and who can show up visibly on Facebook Lives all the time or on Insta Lives.

Whatever this story is that you're telling yourself, if indeed there are stories like that, that you're telling yourself, remember that you can change that. So you change it to: I can choose whichever strategies I would like to use in my business. I can be confident in my business. I can have really expansive energy in my business, and I can succeed in my business in many different ways.

It can also be like: I can do things in my own way...

It can be sometimes we're a bit fixated and focused on what it is that we don't have, the qualities we don't possess, the ways that we think that we might fall short and we'd get stuck in this comparison with other people.

And it's just rubbish because if you really look around and you're honest, you'll see that there are people with all different kinds of personalities, who show up in all different kinds of ways, who use all different kinds of strategies to achieve success. There is not just one linear path. There's not just one way of doing things, and if you are finding you are really getting stuck on noticing how people who are different from you operate and show up and achieve success, you just might need to put some blinkers on and bring it back to you. Understand your own strengths and the ways that you actually shine.

If you're trying to force yourself to do things that you don't enjoy, or that aren't a natural fit for you, you're going to find it harder.

So really decide... And this could be your upgraded belief. I find the ways that I best shine. I find the ways that I best show up and connect with my ideal clients. I find the best ways for me to grow my business in ways that are in alignment with who I am and how I absolutely love to work. If you believe that's true and you believe that that is possible, you will find those ways.

If you get stuck in thinking: That's for other people, I just need to be different. Rubbish. Stop thinking that. That's just going to make you feel like shit. You don't need that. Okay? That was a mini rant by me! But I get it because I think this is something I have certainly done.

You know, I'm pretty shy. I'm hopeless at networking...

For me, to show up and talk to people about what it is that I did and explain kinesiology - I was not great at explaining it and certainly not great at selling it. So that was not going to be a good strategy for me. I could have kept on telling myself: That's what you need to do. That's how you become successful. How are you going to grow your business if you can't do those things? But instead, thankfully, I leaned into my strengths, which were in writing and in connecting online. At that time, blogging was really big.

I used to write blog posts which were well suited to my ideal clients. I could help them solve a problem, but could also help them to see how I could support them with a range of different problems and help them to feel better about themselves. And so I had a lot of clients who would come to me because they had read a blog post that I had written and it just felt so personal to them.

They would say to me: "I felt like you wrote that just for me."

It was because I leaned into my strengths. I want you to do the same thing in your own business. Really get clear, what are my strengths? Lean into those and know that when you are working with your strengths, that's how you are going to create a greater level of success. You don't need to be somebody else. You just need to be you and to use the kinds of strategies that work for you and connect with your ideal clients.

Now... I want you to think about how do you respond when things don't go your way in business? What are your go-to thoughts and you're go-to words when something doesn't go right? And it could just be something little where you've just gotten a piece of feedback. It could just be that somebody's cancelled or somebody just didn't respond so well to something that you did. Or, you didn't get the response on social media in maybe one post or even more, or you didn't get the number of signups for something that you'd hoped for. What tends to be the things that you would think or say in those kinds of situations?

It could be: I'm just not good enough. There must be something wrong with me...

Or, I'm not cut out for this. This is too difficult. Maybe I should just go back to a job. What kind of go-to thoughts, in your experience, do you notice popping up for you? And then this is the place that we can start to decide that we are a person who is very resilient and very resourceful. We move through challenges. We just can. When those things happen, if you can start to consciously see this as things that just happen in business. So it's like: This is just something that happens in business. Right now this thing is happening to me. There might be a change I can make. So you can always do that. Self analysis and reflection.

Choose to to see yourself as a resilient, resourceful, capable, confident person who can handle this.

Someone who has got what it takes to be successful in business, and to create what it is that you desire. I would encourage you to do that, to start to see yourself as someone who is capable of creating, who is capable of achieving, who is capable of working towards your goals. And that setbacks are really not a big deal to you because of that greater belief that you have, that you are a successful person who just moves through challenges if they happen to appear and continues to move to that next level. And you do it, for whatever reason that resonates for you. I keep on growing and I keep on moving to that next level when I keep on expanding, I keep on creating more success because it's fun for me. Or: Because I enjoy it. Or: Because I want to.

Whatever feels good for you - or because of the impact that means you can have on the world...

Going back to that increased level of income... You could link that into that increased level of income or revenue by thinking: It allows me to have a greater impact in the world. It helps me to contribute to causes and issues that might concern or trouble me, and to really feel that I'm making a difference with the dollars that I am making. So it's those kinds of beliefs that can become a part of who you are and a part of what makes you a successful person. I would love you to continue to think about this, to continue to notice the beliefs that pop up for you. And when you notice any kind of belief coming up, just observe it.

Start to notice beliefs when they arise, and then ask yourself: Is this a belief that supports me?

Is this something I would like to hang on to? If not, how might I upgrade that belief? What would be something else that I could choose to believe about myself or about this situation or about what I'm creating that would be more supportive, more expansive, and that would inspire me rather than limit me?

I hope you loved this episode. I've had a great time chatting with you and it would be great if you would please share this episode with a friend. Maybe you can talk it through together.

If you would love to go deeper into upgrading your beliefs, I would love to support you with that. You can find out more about working with me at alignandattract.com.