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It is a rather splendid quote to take a stance on quote of the day series with Maya Angelou’s powerful words. I do strongly believe that the impact of a quote or powerful literature is in making us think. 

This quote does precisely that for me. What limits us or holds us back when we consider self improvement? The most common answers is FEAR. But where does this Fear come from? What is the source of this emotion which holds us back in doing things which we know are important and good for us? 

There are other reasons such as procrastination, laziness, etc on the rationalisation table. But I would like to focus on the element and the limitation for self improvement. For this – I want to focus on three main questions: 

1. What do you think about yourself? 
2. Why do you think so? 
3. What if? 

Limiting Beliefs for self improvement

When we talk about the limitations for self improvement, I do want to touch upon the image you have for yourself? I do agree there is a sense of you which is true to the bone, that purity within.

There is also a side which is controlled and trained to behave in a certain way because we think – this is the person I am. According to this definition – I am an introvert, don’t like large groups, well read person, not instantaneous…. so on. There are plenty of adjectives which we define ourselves with. 

Now, the question, I ask amidst all these is – how many of these beliefs are helping you? Are there any amongst these which hold you back or deny you of any opportunities? 

Image Influencers – Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

What has influenced this image of yourself? Why do you think you are such a person – what is the source of all these thought processes? 

• Is it because of external people telling you that you are a certain way? 
• Have you modelled yourself on some definitions because you think that’s the ideal to focus on? 
• Simply you think that’s the right way and the rest is wrong? 

I am not here to psychoanalyse and a small discussion is too tiny to go to the depths of something this fascinating. Instead, my question is simple – there might be lots of reasons about the way we define ourselves. But, we do have to question – is this holding me back from my self improvements? 

I use the word self improvement loosely, the real question here is – am I being held back by these beliefs about myself? What if ‘ME’ is something beyond these thoughts and limitations. 

What if… 

I will loose the statement incomplete because if you are able to imagine yourself with the what if.. 

• What if you were not that person, not held by limitations or fears? 
• What if your past did not dictate your limitations or the future? 
• What if this is a fresh slate and you start everything anew? 

The what ifs can take wondrous turns, but these turns should be helpful to get you beyond the limitation for self improvement. If you know what’s holding you back and most often the limitation is our own image of ourself.

Can we change this image to help us achieve what we really want? Surely, we don’t want the world to dictate how our life should be and if we should not allow the world to dictate our dreams – are we being fair if we are allowing our own mind to limit our aspirations? 

The real difficulty is in overcoming what you think about yourself 

Maya Angelou