You want to change, yet you continue to point out all the reasons why you can’t. You may already realize this, but fighting for your limitations is a broken strategy—if you want transformation.
Every time you say, “I really want to____ (fill in the blank with your desired change, like stop smoking, “begin meditating,” “stop overeating,” “be more courageous”), but I can’t because____ (fill in the blank with your reason or limitation, such as “I don’t have the time or money,” “my partner won’t like it,” “I’ve tried and failed in the past.”), you tell yourself, others, and Source you don’t want to change.
Instead, you prefer to remain stuck. You’d rather argue for the circumstances or challenges that limit your potential transformation than fight for your transformation.
Fighting for your limitations—rather than your potential—leads to frustration…big time! It’s why you feel so stuck and unable to change.
Focus on Your Potential
Plus, consider that your words are powerfully creative. Each time you offer a reason why you can’t change, you pick up a sword. And you fight off any possibility of reducing the challenges you perceive as enemies of your personal transformation.
Yet, anything is possible 100% of the time…even your transformation.
When you insist that you can’t change because of a circumstance in your life, you focus your attention on why you can’t do something rather than on why you can do it. You tell your subconscious mind and Source the circumstance is important and you want it in your life.
As Richard Bach teaches in Illusions, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.” Thus, if you focus on your potential, you will experience transformation.
Why You Fight for Your Limitations
Fighting for your limitations seems crazy, right…especially since you want to change? Well, you know what Albert Einstein said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
But it is human nature to find reasons—Admit it…they are excuses.—to justify why you can’t do something that feels hard or scary. And that’s the root of the issue: different equates to hard and scary.
The reptilian part of your brain perceives any change as a threat to your life. Therefore, it gives you several reasons why you can’t change. It does not want you to do anything different…ever…especially if it is hard and scary!
Past Proof Doesn’t Serve You
Not only that, your brain draws on the past to prove you can’t change. That’s why your desire to change is met with memories of the times you tried to change but failed. Or you recall all the times you did something different for a little while and then returned to your old ways. Your brain points out these events to you as a way to deter you from trying again.
Just the other day, someone I know told me she wanted to do things differently going forward but would not commit. “I can tell you—or myself—that I commit to taking this action consistently, but I have never stuck with it before. So I don’t know why now would be any different,” she said.
She was fighting for her limitations…her old limitations. By so doing, she gives herself an “out.” She has a reason or excuse for not following through this time either.
But she is different now, and so are her limitations. Therefore, she has new possibilities, too.
Fight for Your Potential
If fighting for your limitations is a faulty strategy, what’s a better one? Fight for your potential. Fight for the possibility of change!
I bet there have been times when you changed successfully—or did something different, challenging, or new, like losing weight, ending a bad relationship, or changing jobs. Additionally, I am sure there are times when you had the self-integrity to carry through on your promises to yourself. For example, this might have been when you learned a different language or developed a new habit.
So, replace your old memories of past failures with memories that provide proof that you can change. And focus your thoughts and words on the possibility of doing so again.
The Past Does Not Need to Repeat Itself
Despite what you might think (or have been told), the past does not need to repeat itself. Instead, you can create a totally different future if you choose to do so.
However, the past will repeat itself…over and over…if you continue using past experiences to justify the future turning out the same. This is just another way to fight for your limitations—and to create what you don’t want.
You’ve heard this type of mental chatter before. It sounds a lot like the words used by my friend: “I failed before, so why bother? I’ll just fail again.”
And your thoughts are powerful, just like your spoken words. As James Allen wrote, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”
Five Ways to Fight for Your Potential
So, how do you stop fighting for your limitations and fight for your potential instead? Here are five ways.
- Replace the word “can’t” with “can.”
- Replace the reasons why you can’t change with why you can change.
- Stop using past failures to prove future outcomes.
- Use past successes to fight for future possibilities.
- Decide to be someone who can change.
The last strategy is the most effective. After all, if you are someone who can change, you will change. That result is 100% possible—even probable—based simply on your identity.
Plus, when you are someone who can change, you fight for your potential and see possibility everywhere. And you experience transformation as a result.
Do you fight for your limitations or potential? Tell me in a comment below, and share this post on social media or with a friend. And if you are struggling to fight for your potential, let’s chat. Click here to schedule a brief session with me.
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“The only constant in the universe is change,” but change can take many directions. What happens when change is consistently moving in the direction opposite the way I want it to go? It seems the more I try to develop my skills to stand on my own feet, the more people pull the rug out from under me and try to push me into dependence on an employer, a landlord, an untrustworthy gadget.
You provided a great example of fighting for your limitations, Wendy. 🙂 You said: “It seems the more I try to develop my skills to stand on my own feet, the more people pull the rug out from under me and try to push me into dependence on an employer, a landlord, an untrustworthy gadget.” You see, that’s your belief…and you need to change it to create a different direction for the change happening around you.
Plus, your statement tells me that you are the victim of your circumstances. It’s time to take back your personal power and freedom, is it not? You probably realize this already, but if you don’t, you’ll continue to experience change that comes from outside you rather than inside you.
If you want to explore positive change more deeply, consider joining the Inspired Creator Community. Or reach out for a brief chat to see how I might best support your desire to have control of the direction of the changes you experience. https://ninaamir.as.me/15-min-strategy-session