The Ultimate List of 101 Limiting Beliefs That Hold Us Back

Are you wondering how limiting beliefs are affecting you? Would you like to get rid of them? Let us show you a list of limiting beliefs, so you can determine what is limiting you in your life.

The journey down the path of life can be hard for anyone at any point in time. We are all predestined to find our purpose of living and fulfillment of existence but who is to say that there are no obstacles on the way.

On an everyday basis, limitations can come in the form of slow traffic, being late for a job interview,or being late to your kid’s soccer practice.

All these do deal out a certain level of hardships, but what can make them go from either inconsequential or large let-downs in life are in the form of limiting beliefs.

Limiting beliefs form barriers to open-mindedness and being aware of a larger plan at play.

Jump straight on a topic:

• What are Limiting Beliefs?
• How Limiting Beliefs Influence You
• Where They Come From
• Our List of Limiting Beliefs
• 20 Limiting Beliefs about Money
• 20 Limiting Beliefs about Relationships
• 20 Limiting Beliefs About Health
• 20 Limiting Beliefs about Work
• 20 Limiting Beliefs About Yourself
• How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs
• Exercise 1
• Exercise 2
• Conclusion

What are Limiting Beliefs?

As mentioned earlier, limiting beliefs are barriers towards the achievement of certain time-related goals or aspirations that one might want to accomplish.

They have the potential to restrict the personal growth and holistic development of a person’s mind and body.

From a psychological standpoint, limiting beliefs, also known as negative thoughts, have a lot to do with the way a person reacts to his or her environment and the events that come to play. They rupture our idea of who we are and what we are capable of.

It may be easier to understand from a generalized point of view, that these affect the way we think about who we are, what we stand for, and what makes us uniquely us.

Limiting beliefs are limitations that hold you back from becoming the best person you can be – someone who wakes up with all the potential to make every day a productive and enriching experience.  

If you’re unsure of how your mind works, feel free to read about subconscious mind here.

How Limiting Beliefs Influence You

Limiting beliefs try to hold you back from what you can achieve and reorganize your idea of what is attainable.

When there is a lack of clarity about one’s own innate abilities and the elements at play, we lose a sense of consciousness about a certain event.

This can later on leak into other aspects of our lives like mental sewage and close our eyes to all doors towards opportunities, possibilities, and ultimately hopes and dreams.

Some ways in which limiting beliefs can really bring negativity in your life is through your world view: Your ideas of what you can do, what you can achieve, what others think of you, and what you think of yourself come under distortion. If this is not bad enough, your understanding of how the world works also comes under attack.

This leaves no room for comfort and stability to come and rescue the situation if you do not take certain steps to break the chain of negative command in your life and your success.

Where They Come From

Limiting beliefs can come from an array of different sources. But to narrow them down, these beliefs can come from two main sources: from within oneself and from the environment.

In either case, we believe that unblocking both these sources holds the key to unleashing your innermost potentials.

Limiting beliefs originating from within oneself usually surfaces as certain events and experiences from one’s own childhood that have been set to surface as self-limiting beliefs later on in life.

These can all lead to an early onset of mistrust of others and, most importantly, mistrust of oneself. When one is unsure of what is true, what is right and just, it can lead to the very development of limiting beliefs, especially when there is no intervention from a more knowledgeable adult at the right time. 

Distortion of oneself and the idea of it results in the distortion of reality. What you believe to be true becomes what is true around you.

So if your parents have made you feel small, you will forever carry on the limiting belief of inadequacy as true. As we develop into adulthood, these become ingrained and harder to change or even identify the source of all distortions. These resurface later on as limiting beliefs from within.

Limiting beliefs coming from external sources refer to those that can arise from events or circumstances later on in life after attaining a more mature stance in life.

These can come in the form of prolonged exposure to certain causes of stresses in our lives, such as a toxic home, social, or work environment.

But at this age, it is easier to deal with limiting beliefs that arise from these stressors as one can choose to believe or disregard the beliefs that may arise from them.

Next we’ll show you our list of limiting beliefs so you can easily spot them on yourself.

Our List of Limiting Beliefs  

Now that we have addressed the origins and the gradual relaxation from the bonds of limiting beliefs, we would like to share with you some common limiting beliefs that exist about the things around you that you may not be conscious of.

Have a look at the following list of common things most people carry limiting beliefs about:

20 Limiting Beliefs about Money

Money is an object that has meaning due to the value that human beings put on it. But have you ever wondered whether this could be a limiting belief and the reason why you are maybe not earning as much as you want unconsciously?

Change your thought process and start looking at money as a resource, and soon you will find yourself feeling better about finding new avenues to earn more, and maybe even get a promotion.

The possibilities are endless, and here are some of the things that stand in the way:

1. Money is a temptation from evil.
2. Having too much money can be a bad thing. 
3. If I have money to spend, I might want to take up drugs or alcohol.
4. I have to work to get a salary that is barely enough to sustain me.
5. Money is only for paying bills.
6. Having money means people will be out to get me.
7. I have to have money because I can get into an accident anytime.
8. Money is only for spending.
9. I will never have as much money as I want.
10. I will never save enough to go on a vacation.
11. Money sustains my survival, so I have to HAVE it.
12. You only live once, spend money today.
13. You only live once, sacrifice today for a better tomorrow.
14. Money is hard to get by.
15. I will only earn money if I work myself to the bones.
16. If I want more money, it shows that I am greedy.
17. Money is not important at all.
18. If I think about money, I am neglecting my spiritual growth.
19. I can get a lot of money just from sheer luck or hopes.
20. I am not good at managing money.
21. I am not destined to have a lot of money.

20 Limiting Beliefs about Relationships

We build relationships around us from the moment we’re born. Starting with our parents and our siblings. From there, we move on to our extended families, neighbors, classmates, friends, and so on and so forth.

Building relationships is key to any society, of which you are a key part of. But whether they benefit you or they don’t is what’s up to you.

Given below are a few scenarios that we will all be familiar with:

1. I have one idea about what a relationship is, and I want nothing other than that.
2. I will only settle for the man or woman of my dreams.
3. My relationships are not working because there is something wrong with me.
4. I just want to have the status of being in a relationship, nothing more.
5. I do not want a relationship because of the relationships I have seen growing up, such as between my parents or extended family.
6. Having a relationship takes in a lot of work I do not want to invest in.
7. I do not want a long-term relationship with anyone. 
8. I only want the kind of relationship my family will approve of.
9. Relationships are doomed to fail nowadays.
10. Any potential partner might have an alternative motive.
11. I am not worthy of a loving, stable relationship.
12. Love is too hard to find.
13. I do not love myself, so I want someone to love me instead.
14. My partner must be hiding secrets from me, so I cannot really trust him/her.
15. There are no more good fish in the sea.
16. Am I happy in this relationship or not?
17. What if the other person does not feel the same way?
18. This feels too good to be true; something bad will happen soon.
19. I am doomed to have bad relationships forever.
20. People are only nice; no one can truly understand me. 

20 Limiting Beliefs About Health

Many of us see making a healthy turn as something major such as a change in our daily routine, restricting or even starving ourselves on a new diet plan, and something that is tasking and not pleasurable at all.

But maybe you can look at becoming healthier as increasing your intake of water, spending a few minutes a day to sit down and really read a paper or a book, opening a window and letting fresh air in.

Here is a list of limiting beliefs on this topic:  

1. To get good health means spending a lot of money.
2. It is too difficult to change my lifestyle.
3. There is no time to think about my health.
4. I don’t want to invest in a gym membership I will not use anyway.
5. I will never lose as much weight as I would like.
6. It’s too much hard work.
7. Healthy food tastes horrid.
8. I don’t feel like I can follow through on any health plan.
9. I cannot afford a personal trainer.
10. People will make fun of me, call me a health nut.
11. I really don’t know what healthy means.
12. I am as healthy as I can be and do not need to make any changes.
13. It is too complicated to keep track of health monitors
14. I do not have the energy to exercise.
15. I do not want to wake up earlier than I usually do.
16. I love sugar and carbs too much.
17. I am surrounded by unhealthy food.
18. I do not want to sweat.
19. ‘Healthy’ is not for me.
20. Energy drinks and giving up meat is enough.

20 Limiting Beliefs about Work

Why works is having a place in our list of limiting beliefs?

We are rarely ever really conscious about our thoughts, and work is one of them. Earning money is an act that all of us participate in, but some take it as a burden and some as a blessing.

The way that you look at things defines the way you will participate in it for the rest of your life. Change the way you look at work, and you could be enjoying it more than you have before

 It is the journey that matters a lot more than the destination, especially when it comes to working:

1. Work is a modern form of slavery.
2. I will not settle for anything less than my dream job.
3. I will never get my dream job.
4. What I do is too hard.
5. Work takes up too much of my time.
6. If I enjoy my job, it is not work.
7. If I do not enjoy my work, I am doing it right.
8. It forces me to do things I do not want to do, such as wake up too early in the morning and commute.
9. I am not happy at my current job.
10. All the good-paying and jobs worth doing are all taken.
11. The economy is doing so bad I probably will not get any jobs these days anyway.
12. I do not have the right requirements for the job, so what is the point?
13. I am in the wrong job or profession.
14. Why am I doing this job anyway?
15. The job position was probably already taken before the interview even started. 
16. All my colleagues are out to get me.
17. Everyone here is better than me.
18. I wish I could do less for more money.
19. I could have just stayed home and lazed about.
20. I do not have time for any social life.

20 Limiting Beliefs About Yourself

Self-confidence also becomes a limited belief as it leads us down the path where having more equals being more confident and hence, happier.

But this is cruelly untrue and can even lead to further damage to your self-image or what you think or feel about what makes you unique and special.

It downplays on your self-worth in the long run, like:

1. I will never be happy until I have expensive things.
2. People will not pay attention or love me if I have no money.
3. I need the latest of everything on the market to be happy.
4. Happiness means to give up on the physical world entirely.
5. I am not worthy of attention.
6. I have nothing to give to other people, society, etc.
7. I am perfect and do not need to change.
8. I will forever remain imperfect and flawed.
9. I was born in the wrong era or generation.
10. People will never understand the real me. 
11. I was doomed from success from the day I was born.
12. It is someone else’s fault that I am not successful.
13. If that event had not happened, I would be rich right now.
14. Being in debt is a never-ending hole.
15. I do not have the time to work on myself.
16. There will always be people better than me.
17. Being successful means being No.1 at everything.
18. I have failed before, so I will fail again.
19. I am too stupid to be successful.
20. I am not born into the same circumstances as others.

How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs

To distinguish between limiting beliefs and thoughts is the attainment of wisdom as life becomes less of a burden and more of an adventure of probabilities and circumstances rather than a chain of misfortunate events.

For this step to happen, we highly recommend you to take some time off to meditate on yourself in order to learn to decipher and mediate your own beliefs and emotions.

This will help you in the long run to evade the chain of unfulfilled expectations, prolonged pain, and unhealed wounds that might come your way.

Keep in mind that negative events are part and parcel of one’s life and that it is alright to feel them as they come. The danger is their turning into indulgences that can lead you down the path of self-pity and, ultimately, destruction.

Overcome Limiting Beliefs Exercise 1 

The first exercise we will discuss is a mental one, where it will be ideal if you sit down somewhere comfortable, and maybe have a pen and pencil ready to list out your limiting beliefs.

This way, you get to acknowledge their existence and allow yourself the opportunity to study them for the very first time. As limiting beliefs arise from the human mind, it is essential that you get the time to explore yourself and the many mental places that you may have ignored for many years.

This includes childhood traumas, accidents in the past, the loss of a loved one, losing a job, failing a paper, etc. You will give yourself the chance to let any, all, or other wounds to let the pus out so that it no longer festers and causes harm to you.  

The next step is the part where you analyze them. After you have found the source and acknowledged their existence and the imprint that they have left inside your mind, you must channel yourself to question them.

Our thoughts always have a polar opposite, like a shadow that dwells inside us to protect us. But scabs cannot and should not stay too long. So with the limited belief, find the polar opposite.

For example, if you have been hurt in your childhood while you were a child, how would you react to it as an adult? Or, knowing that a terrible accident happened years ago, how would the present you react to it after all this time?

This will allow a new dialogue to open about past experiences, where you have a discussion with yourself about it like a close yet objective friend. You will find that the present you is more powerful than you thought. And that takes courage to admit and to believe it.

If you are successful with the above steps, you will soon find yourself in a position to allow fresh opinions and perspectives on these old, limiting beliefs.

Challenging them will take time and constant practice, but it is well worth the reward to find that there are actually new and positive beliefs that you can unearth.

Overcome Limiting Beliefs Exercise 2

The other aspect of the mind that we would like to discuss is the emotional aspect. As strong as our thoughts may be, one cannot deny that they are governed by the movement of emotions and what directions they may fall.

Objective reasoning was the need of the hour for the first exercise; now, the second will require emotional maturity.

Limited beliefs arise from thoughts at the time of specific events and how it made one feel at the time of the “impact. “ And it is the feeling of hurt, guilt, or pain that connects to the memory and draw from it whenever similar instances arise later on.  

Every emotion that you will feel in this life is valid, and a natural reaction to the unknown, the unprepared, and the alien – especially when taken by surprise.

As a child, one has no control over and even is confused by the way one might feel new emotions or when old emotions change in intensity and frequency. But this changes as one grows older and understands more about the way the world works.

In this exercise, revisit the source of the old limiting beliefs and challenge how they made you feel then and how they make you feel now. With this, one usually will find that there is maturity, empathy, and a new understanding between the old and new emotional re-visitations. 

With the release of the sources of limiting beliefs will come to a breath of fresh air and a relaxing of one’s shoulders that have not known the lifting of the weight of these mental and emotional limitations for so long.

You will find that there is less tension in your head, your upper and lower back, and feel more enthusiastic to try more positively stimulating activities such as yoga, exercise, jogging, etc., which as recommend you do. 

Conclusion

That’s all for our article where we explained to you how your mind makes beliefs, we showed you a list of limiting beliefs and also gave you exact tutorial on how to get rid of them.

After reading this entire article, we are sure that you are equipped to be more conscious about the information that you feed yourself and the information that can get ingrained overtime.

We hope that you will now walk with us down the path of self-awareness, self-confidence, and, ultimately, success.