Can Our Assumptions Turn To Limiting Beliefs?

I love reading inspiring stories, especially the ones that make me feel good instantly, teach me something or motivate me to take action. This could be an entire article, or a quote or just a witty joke. I believe we all need that little push once in a while as a self-improvement exercise.

For example, I recently read a post that talked about the power of asking.  I realized most of us have a tendency to assume (oh yes – I read your mind – ass | u | me) the consequences of any situation and just hold ourselves back from achieving what we want.

Would you agree? 

We hesitate to ask for something simply because we think we will meet up with refusal. How sad. We should take the example of children (the best salesmen, incidentally) in being persistent about getting what we want.  Unfortunately, as we grow up, we develop limiting beliefs that prevent us from reaching our full potential.

I am guilty of this, too

Some years ago, I went shopping for groceries. I mean, I obviously still shop for groceries, ha, ha – but this is a specific instance. This place was slightly far from where we stay and I went there because they had some good deals on the usual things we buy. Tight budget, you see.

When I returned home, I realized that the guys had not included the free gifts that were supposed to come with some of the products. Now – I am not a fan of free add-on stuff. But I had a 5 year old at home yearning for the freebie after watching it advertised on TV, and I certainly didn’t want to see him disappointed. Yet, I didn’t do anything about it. I felt bad, I felt angry and complained to my mom. She immediately told me to find the bill and call the store. Now, this store is one of those super busy ones that drive you nuts on the phone making you repeat your problem to five different people times five.  I grumbled, saying that those guys won’t do anything about it and it wasn’t worth it going all the way there to pick up the stuff, assuming, that is, if they even believed me.

Giving the benefit of the doubt

Anyway, if you knew my mom, you wouldn’t argue with her.  She convinced me to call them saying we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. So reluctantly, I called them.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear a courteous voice at the other end and an ear that listened to what I had to say. The voice apologized, asked for my bill number, took my address and told me someone would come by to my house in a couple of hours.

Well, after the call, I smirked, and asked mom if she would make a bet with me about this.  She readily obliged (quite a sweetie, you know) and we made a hilarious one about going for a walk every day. Very clever.  Okay – so a couple of hours later, the doorbell rang, and there was this rather nice looking guy holding a carry bag from the store. He gave it to me. I looked inside and what did I find? Not just the freebie toys that were left out, but a couple of others too. I naturally told him that we were entitled only to some of the toys and not the extra stuff. To which he pleasantly said – compliments of the store. He urged me to visit again and left. Oh well, we went on that walk every day.  And I continued to do it well past the week. Win-win-ish.

Point is ..

If we don’t ask, we’ll never know what we can get.  I agree there are situations when things don’t go well – and life is often less than ideal…but these situations could probably be fewer and far between if we stopped second-guessing fate and taking the easy way out via negative thought. Assuming that something won’t happen is unfair. It is like saying you hate something without knowing what it is or trying it even once.

Now, I think assumptions tie in closely with limiting beliefs.

When you assume, you think you can’t.  That’s a limiting belief, right?  

So is it not time to throw your limiting beliefs out of the window?

Let me share another interesting incident.

You know, a couple of decades ago (yeah, I AM a fossil), at the time I worked with a top brand in office automation, I had the pleasure of attending several training sessions – delivered by excellent trainers. The venue for our annual sales training programs was usually a cool resort  where there were zero interruptions. The idea was to have the team in a happy frame of mind to “receive” learning points. Some of us made very good use of it, while others – well, they just had fun and experienced extra hangovers from the previous evening’s revelry.

I used to be teased quite a lot (being the only woman on the sales team) for taking the training very seriously. We had several customer-salesman role plays that I diligently worked on. I would answer the questionnaires and make notes to put into action on the field once we were back on the job. Some of my colleagues found it hilarious that I actually followed the blueprint with some customers. They would be sarcastic, cynical – telling me those things were good for theory but would never work in practice.

That was unfair, because the training team was reputed to be one of the best and the trainers put together the material based on solid research of customer behavior.  Point is, it is very hard to make believers of some people because they just don’t want to believe. (Horse – water – drink – ring a bell?) Hmm.

The men who knew too much

So every morning, they never tired of telling me I would never make a sale if I practiced what I learned at the training programs.  My point was – no harm in trying, was there? Like my Mom said, nothing to lose, and everything to gain. I did use the blueprint and to cut my autobiography short – let me just wind up this episode by saying I got the maximum sales in the succeeding months. I was also very very surprised to learn that some of the best salesmen do. not. ask. for. the. order. Fear of hearing “no”.

Can you?

Did I learn any lessons along the way? Yes.

Just because someone tells you something won’t work, that does not mean you shouldn’t try it
Intuition works. You are more intuitive than you think.
Do not allow limiting beliefs to hold you back
Every one is human. Well, almost.
Everyone has feelings
Don’t assume someone is unapproachable
Do not hesitate to ask for what you want. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to get it
Don’t be afraid of not being taken seriously. If you don’t tell, they’ll never know
You can be happy in life

Strive for excellence – you will reach there
Know when to quit
Kind actions speak more than words
A good deed never goes waste
Don’t think on someone else’s behalf. Let them enjoy the pleasure
You can create freedom for yourself
Don’t think small, don’t be mean. What can you get out of that, anyway, except a momentary cheap thrill?
Don’t be guilty about following the rules sometimes
Be generous about giving without expecting something back

We have one life to live (unless you believe in the meow myth about nine lives)

Awake, create! You control your happiness!

And here’s one for the road:
Unshackle your fears
Let go of what holds you back
You are good enough
Your thoughts?