The Chains of Limiting Beliefs - How To Turn Them Into Opportunities

Limiting beliefs are the biggest challenge we all face every day. Steven Pressfield calls it “Resistance” in his book “The War of Art.”

Pressfield defines Resistance as the internal force that keeps you from showing us your best self. From doing your best work. From taking risks and making mistakes and failing gloriously in pursuit of something greater.

Pressfield was applying his thinking to the creative process but it applies to anything. Resistance has one mission: to keep things as they are.

And we know things don’t stay as they are. They either grow or decay. So resistance is all about pointing you towards decay.

It can be subtle. That little voice says “You need a break today. Start tomorrow.” Or, “You earned it, treat yourself.” You listen, promising to start tomorrow. All of a sudden it is a week later with no change.

It can be a very convincing voice.

Some people live under the “I’ll get hurt” or “I’m too old” umbrella to avoid trying something. They justify their inaction by claiming there is simply too much risk involved.

What they don’t realize is that the risk of doing nothing is a much greater threat.

Gay Hendricks says we all have a tendency to limit our own happiness because we don’t think we deserve things to go well all the time. In his book “The Big Leap” he outlines how these limiting beliefs lead to upper limit problems such as fear and self sabotage.

Days turn into months, months turn into years and you end up watching the game vs being in the game.

A useful question I use to help spark my own efforts is “there are 3 kinds of people; which one are you?” The 3 kinds:

• Those who MAKE IT HAPPEN

• Those who WATCH IT HAPPEN

• Those who ASK WHAT HAPPENED?

I always get a chuckle out of those questions and I immediately get motivated to self-select into that first type…I want to make it happen.

So, how do you make it happen?

One way you can start is by turning this challenge into an opportunity by adding 3 words to your thinking: “How Might We?” This design thinking technique (shorthand: HMW) is great in a group for brainstorming but you can use it on your own. You reframe the situation so that it is all about possibilities. It changes your perspective and gets you on a path to finding a solution.

It helps you be that “make it happen” person.

Let’s apply this thinking to a low stakes but high reward activity. Something I know people have limiting beliefs about.

The Pull-Up.

Common limiting beliefs:

• I’m too old

• I’m not strong enough

• I’m not built for that

• I’ll get hurt trying that

• I need to get in shape first (the most ironic one IMO)

• I couldn't do one when I was young, how could I do one now?

All limiting beliefs.

The pull-up is a great proxy for higher stake endeavors. Get your first pull-up and your confidence soars. Upper limits disappear. You ask yourself “what else have I not done because of a limiting belief?”

A simple way to reframe the pull-up using HMW :

How might we make the path to a pull-up a fun, effective and safe process?

There are 5 commonly used progressions to a pull-up:

• Bar hangs - practice the lower form of the pull-up by hanging from a bar, engage your core and glutes, and hang from the bar for 15 seconds and continue daily until you can hang for 1 minute. You’ll quickly build grip, shoulder, and core strength. More on the dead hang here.

• Scapula pull-ups - hang from the bar and engage the muscles in your mid and upper back. Bring your shoulder blades towards your spine and keep your arms straight. You’ll move up just a little bit (hold it here for a second or two). This is the initial movement of a pull-up. This video shows you how.

• Eccentric pull-ups - Use a chair or box to get your chin over the bar. Lower yourself as slowly as possible. Rest 30 seconds and try it again. Increase your rest time as you increase the time it takes you to lower yourself.

• Inverted Rows or Ring Rows - think of this like a pull-up with your body angled and your feet on the ground. The more upright you are, the easier it is. The closer your upper body gets to the ground, the more challenging it is. This video shows you how to do it.

• Band Assisted Pull-ups - this is your last step before doing a pull-up. Use a band that allows you to easily do a pull-up and then use a thinner band which will make it more challenging. Keep practicing with different bands and repetitions to increase strength and endurance. Here’s how you do it.

Let’s assume you give yourself 90 days to work through these progressions. You diligently work on these movements 4-5 times a week. You progress from the bar hang all the way to band assisted pull-ups.

The day finally arrives and you decide to drop the bands and give it a go.

I’ll bet you a grass-fed ribeye you’ll not only get your first pull-up by day 91, you’ll be doing more than one. You might get to 5 and I wouldn’t be shocked if you were able to do 10.

Here are four men who are 60+ and one young guy in his 50's making it happen in the pull-up department:

Stop listening to the Resistance. Ask yourself “How Might We?” Reframe the question from a problem to an opportunity.

Start today and find out. I would love to buy you that steak in 3 months.

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