Our beliefs about ourselves profoundly impact what we attempt, what we are willing to tolerate, and how we invest our time, attention, and energy. Few attempt what we think we will fail at, few pursue opportunities we think above or beyond our abilities. Yet how many of these limitations are real v. self-imposed? Your self-concept profoundly shapes your expectations which in turn shape your behavior, creating a self-reinforcing loop, manufacturing outcomes to serve as ‘evidence’ of our beliefs, powerfully attracting experiences consistent with itself.
Good News! Your self-concept is malleable! You can revise and develop your existing self-concept. Choose to enlarge its boundaries by incorporating new, growth-oriented concepts: “I enjoy learning, I am a learner. I enjoy growing. I know how to flex, pivot, and adapt if need be. I accept the occasional setback as part of the growth process of life.”
Choose! Your self-concept is a set of predictions about yourself and can either be a passport or a prison. Adopt the mindset above and your self-concept becomes a passport to a bigger, better world; choose to hold onto a limiting, fear based mindset, and you reinforce the walls of your prison.
Closing Quotes:
“As a Man Thinketh in his heart, so is he.” – James Allen
“The world will take you at your word; it will believe your unconscious self-appraisal and treat you as you have taught it to.” – NSC
“(O)f all the judgements we pass in life, none is more important than the judgments we pass on ourselves.” – Nathaniel Branden, ‘The Power of Self-Esteem’
“People’s beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities… Self-belief does not necessarily ensure success, but self-disbelief assuredly spawns failure.” – Albert Bandura
“You will ‘act like’ the sort of person you conceive yourself to be… the self-image is a premise upon which your entire personality, your behavior, and even your circumstances are built… because of this our experiences seem to verify, and thereby strengthen, our self-images and a vicious or a beneficent cycle, as the case may be, is set up.” – Maxwell Maltz, ‘Psycho-Cybernetics’
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
