Recognizing Dysfunctional Beliefs to Take Back Control of Your Thinking

 

You may not have heard of the term "dysfunctional beliefs", I can guarantee you though that you have them.

Dysfunctional beliefs are things that you tell yourself that are generally untrue and uncooperative. You can also label these as negative or limiting beliefs. No matter what you call them, they are ideas that influence your thinking, which means that they are influencing your actions.

These types of beliefs will impact your career, keeping you stuck in the same place or role for too long. They will make you more risk averse and will limit the opportunities that are presented to you. Negative beliefs will tax your mental health, making you judge yourself harshly while constantly comparing your achievements to others.

 

Dysfunctional beliefs grow. As we get older, and the longer we hold onto them, the more dominant they become in our mind. We latch onto this type of thinking because it provides us with an easy answer to explain why something happened; as a general rule, humans love answers, they don't always have to be right, but we get comfort and security from thinking we know the "why" of something.

Here are some examples of limiting beliefs and what you can do to conquer them.

What You've Learned is What You Can Do

The idea that what you learned in school, what you majored in or what your work experience has been up to a point is "all that you can do". This is completely false. 

Did you know that less than 20% of people are still working in a field related to their major within 10 years.

I majored in Law, minor in Anthropology. I work in Supply Chain, have for the last 15 years. I have done network modelling, last mile logistics, bulk transportation, business strategy, project management and continuous improvement.

I apply none of my education in a formal way to my professional life.

As long as you are willing to learn and apply yourself (just as you did at school), you can continue to expand and explore new horizons.

Imposter Syndrome / Not Ready / Not Good Enough

This line of thinking is probably the most dangerous because it stops us from taking action; and action is one of the most important things when you want to make a change in your life.

Have you ever said to yourself "I really would like X, but I probably need to do Y before I can try", or maybe "I'm not really good with (numbers), which means I really can't do the job".

These are fear responses. You are afraid of failure, of being rejected or feeling not good enough.

Want to know the secret to overcoming your fear? Embrace failure.

Change your perspective and know that every failure teaches you something, it helps guide you. The more you are willing to try, the more you experiment, the faster you will learn. It won't take long before those lessons start paying dividends.

You Should Already Know

A world of information overload and social media has left a lot of people feeling like they are the only ones that don't have things figured out. Look at all these people all around me that have everything together, achieving their dreams

Nonsense.

Yes, some people figure things out quickly or the timing of events in their life have helped guide them faster than others, as a rule though, everyone is always dealing with something. We all have the same basic needs, we are all looking to find our way and place in the world. What people broadcast is often a curated stream of highlights, telling the story they want to tell.

Most people building in public are only presenting one side of the journey.

It's ok to not have everything figured out, it's ok to still be learning about yourself and the world. You have more access and opportunity than any other generation that has come before you, choice overload is real.

How to tackle figuring things out is something all to itself, a few things that will help you are: focus on your interests, leverage the ability to change your mind, test and try things.

Most things in life are simpler than people make them seem, break things down step by step, you'll be amazed how far that will take you

(That idea right there is a personal mantra of mine, I can tell you with certainty that it is true and the older I get, the more true it gets).