7 Ways to Stop Limiting Yourself in the New Year

When it comes to achieving New Year’s resolutions, overcoming limiting beliefs is even more powerful than motivation.

Writing down your goals helps to transform them into concrete plans. Okrasiuk/Shutterstock

As the new year dawns, millions of people around the world will declare their ambitious resolutions—get fit, start a business, master a new skill—only to abandon them by February. The dreams are there, but the action required to fulfill them rarely follows. Why? Because most of us unknowingly sabotage ourselves with invisible limits we place on our own potential.

As Henry Ford once put it, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t—you’re right.” Our beliefs can shape our reality. If you are aiming at a specific goal in the new year, free yourself from the self-imposed limitations that are holding you back. Here are seven practical ways to stop limiting yourself.

Find Examples

Seek out examples of success and identify proof that what you’re aiming for is possible. Read biographies, watch interviews, or follow people who have achieved similar results. When you can bear witness to the stories, challenges, and triumphs of other people accomplishing extraordinary things, it allows you to believe that the same is possible for you. Take that evidence and let it propel you into action.

Expand Your Circle

Your social environment can shape your standards and thinking. If everyone around you thinks small, you probably will, too. Expand your social circle to get around those whose interests and ambitions match yours. New connections can introduce new possibilities.

Become a Reader

Books can open you up to the best wisdom and experiences of the world’s greatest thinkers and doers. Reading expands your sense of what’s achievable and equips you with strategies you might never have come up with on your own. Make reading a daily habit, even if it’s just 15 minutes per day.

Clear the Clutter

A messy environment can drain energy and focus. A cluttered space both reflects and reinforces a cluttered mind. Start small and begin to clean your physical space, your digital files, and your calendar. Create order externally to expand your bandwidth internally.

Write It Down

Goals need to be clearly written down on paper. Vague dreams remain just that: dreams. Specific, written goals become plans. Write down, in detail, precisely what you’re trying to accomplish: what outcome you’re working toward, when you’ll accomplish this goal, when you’ll work on your goal, and how you’ll celebrate accomplishing it.