Over the last two months, I have been reading and re-reading The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz (you too should read this book…it is a must for anyone who is in business.) In chapter 2, Mike talks about the wall of limiting beliefs and the profound impact they can have on our ability to break through our current plateau or to stay stuck in mediocrity.

In chapter 16 of EDGE! A Leadership Story, our protagonist, Mitchell James begins to come to grips with his own leadership and his lack of authenticity. His team has nailed him on the 360 Degree Feedback for not bringing his true leadership forward, and he knows that in order to break through the plateau and to begin to lead global change, he has to be willing to do things differently, including changing his beliefs and turning his doubts about his own authentic style upside down. If you have never tried on being truly authentic, it can be as scary as hell, and in EDGE!, our protagonist experiences both the exhilaration and the panic of finally becoming an authentic leader.

I believe that the first step in overcoming our old belief systems is to name them on paper…to write them out big and bold and to then show these beliefs to someone else. This one activity can release the choke hold of negative beliefs and can help you break through the plateau Michalowicz talks about in his groundbreaking book.

If you are reading this blog post today, I am going to challenge you to answer the following questions on paper and then talk to at least 3 people about what you wrote:

1) How are you currently living in a state of mediocrity, living as you have for decades?

2) What do you most doubt about yourself and why?

3) What is a dream you have given up on and why?

4) When you look at the world around you (your environment, the people in your life, the books you are reading,) what old beliefs are still smothering you?

5) What one change do you know you need to make in order to be more successful? What is holding you back from making that change?

6) What about your childhood, family or roots are a part of your story, and what are you doing to tell others about that story? If you are leaving this out of your story, what are you ashamed of or afraid to talk about?

If this post has resonated with you today, I invite you to check out The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur and EDGE! A Leadership Story and then send me an e-mail for a complimentary consultation. I would be honored to offer you 30 minutes to explore the above questions.