Eradicate Your Professional Limiting Beliefs

Our experiences and limiting beliefs can colour the lens through which we will view 2022. Do you have any professional limiting beliefs that you need to eradicate to move forward?

Some of the limiting beliefs that I have heard the last month include:

• “It is not the time to make any changes, the economy is terrible.”
• “Things aren’t going to get any better until we are all vaccinated (AGAIN!), so best to stay doing what we are doing and not make any change.”
• “I am no good at x,y,z… that is why I can’t grow and scale my business.”
• “I don’t have the skillset, nor experience for the position/to get promoted.”

Don’t let your assumptions on what will occur in 2022 hold you back. You can have goals around outcomes that you have control over. What goals do you want to have around your: professional life, relationship, parental, social, financial, health, fitness, and professional development.

Our thoughts around our limiting beliefs directly impact our execution of action and bottom-line results. If you can mentally switch your negative beliefs as you experience them, you will have a better year in 2022. Identify where your limiting belief came from (e.g., past negative experiences, media…) and test the validity. Limiting beliefs are just that, barriers to what we can achieve.

Step Forward into 2022

If you don’t think you can achieve your goals, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Take action with the following:

Step 1

Write down five limiting beliefs that may stop you from what you want to achieve in 2022.

Step 2

Objectively evaluate each limiting belief and determine if it is empowering, or hurting you from taking the next step forward.

Step 3

Reframe or replace each limiting belief. If it crops up again, then go back to your reframed statements and use these as motivational cues to move forward.

2022 Goal Framework

If you are nearing year-end with a ‘To Do’ list that is so long, you feel exhausted merely looking at it. Or, if you had so many goals this year that you were unable to achieve and are reluctant to set more in 2022, I want to share a goal framework that will simplify the process for you.

Writing your 2022 goals will help you focus your efforts and set out a roadmap of action for the year ahead. Written goals provide you clarity, motivate action, and help you think through the critical steps that will be required to attain achievement.

For 2022 define seven to ten goals (a combination of professional and personal) in your control. These goals will enable you to focus efforts on what is essential. I usually set seven professional and three personal stretch goals annually.

Goals should follow the S.M.A.R.T. or, better still, S.M.A.R.T.E.R. framework. I am sure you have seen the original S.M.A.R.T. acronym that gained great popularity after General Electric adopted this goal-setting technique in their company.

The intent was to ensure all company goals were specific, had measurable criteria whereby progress can be tracked, were attainable, realistic and timely. There have been many reiterations to the S.M.A.R.T. framework, and it has morphed now into the S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal framework. Of the various versions, the words used for the acronym differ, so I have listed the most common words referenced to the right to provide you with an overview of other additions, and you can simply choose the words that resonate with you.

S – Specific

M – Measurable or Meaningful

A – Attainable, Acceptable, Achievable or Actionable

R – Realistic, Relevant or Risky

T – Timely, Timebound, Time Keyed or Time Frame

E – Exciting or Extending

R – Reviewed, Recorded or Relevant

Your professional goals should be based on your job description, or if you are an Owner or C.E.O., the functional areas of your business that are falling short whereby you know you need to focus.

For example, business functional areas:

Marketing, R&D/Innovation, Sales, Operational, Financial, Information Technology, Human Resources, Talent Development, Personal Professional Development or Customer Focus.

After you have identified 7-10 professional and personal goals to focus on in 2022, map out in what quarter you will complete the required activities. Schedule consistent and relentless action daily towards your goal achievement. Having a plan will help you remain motivated, do better, and be a better individual.

Execution is Key

Getting started is often the hardest step. To decrease the potential of procrastination, write down the first five steps required under each goal that will provide you with an excellent strategy to move forward. When you are writing down the activities under each goal, if you get stuck, simply think, ‘what would the next best step be towards completion.’

After defining the next best steps under each goal, the next challenge is how you can keep momentum through to goal attainment. For each goal, identify your top three motivators or reasons for achieving the goal. This will help you stay motivated through to completion. Remember, any action you make is better than making none at all.

If you are interested in learning about how professional development or executive coaching can help support your leadership or your leadership team, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com to schedule a convenient time for a complimentary strategy session.

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