How Do I Know If I Have Limiting Beliefs?

Here's the tricky thing about limiting beliefs: they feel like facts. They don't announce themselves as beliefs. They show up as "that's just the way it is" or "that's just who I am." And because they feel so true, most people never think to question them.

After years of coaching people through this, I've noticed the same signs showing up again and again. If any of these sound familiar, there's a good chance a limiting belief is running the show.

You keep hitting the same ceiling.

You get to a certain point in your business, your income, your relationships — and then something pulls you back. You might self-sabotage right when things are going well. You might find reasons to quit just before a breakthrough. You might create chaos or drama at the exact moment things start to feel stable. This pattern often points to a subconscious belief that says something like: "I don't deserve this," "success is dangerous," or "people like me don't get to have that."

You know what to do but you can't make yourself do it.

You have the plan. You have the strategy. You've watched the videos, read the books, maybe even hired a coach before. And still — you procrastinate, avoid, or go through the motions without real commitment. This gap between knowing and doing almost always has a limiting belief underneath it. Something in your subconscious has decided that taking action is risky, and it's overriding your conscious intentions to keep you safe.

You have a strong emotional reaction to something that logically shouldn't bother you.

Someone makes an offhand comment and you spiral for two days. You get a piece of constructive feedback and feel devastated. A small setback triggers a reaction that feels way too big for the situation. These disproportionate reactions are a spotlight on a limiting belief. The situation itself isn't the real trigger — it's hitting an old wound or belief that says "I'm not good enough," "I'm going to be rejected," or "I always fail."

You feel stuck for reasons you can't explain.

Everything looks fine on paper. You have a decent life, maybe even a good one. But there's this persistent feeling that something is off — like you're living someone else's life, or performing a version of yourself that isn't really you. You can't point to one specific problem, but you feel held back by something invisible. That invisible thing is usually a cluster of beliefs about who you're allowed to be and what you're allowed to want.

You speak about yourself in absolutes.

Pay attention to your language. "I've always been this way." "I could never do that." "That's just how I am." "I'm bad with money." "I'm not a creative person." "I always attract the wrong people." These statements feel like descriptions of reality. They're actually beliefs your subconscious installed at some point — often in childhood — and you've been living inside them ever since. They define what you think is possible for you.

What to do about it.

Awareness is the first step, and just reading this might have surfaced something for you. But awareness alone usually isn't enough to change a deeply held belief — because the belief lives in your subconscious, and your conscious mind doesn't have direct editing access.

That's where coaching with hypnotherapy and NLP comes in. Through guided conversation, we uncover the specific beliefs driving your patterns. Then through hypnotherapy and NLP, we go to the subconscious level where they're stored and reshape them. The belief loosens its grip, the pattern changes, and you get access to possibilities that were always there but felt blocked.