Limiting Beliefs and Social Status

“I haven’t published anywhere really good, so that must mean I’m not funny.”

Short & specific writing tip: Identify a limiting belief

Today’s tip is psychological. Have you thought about your limiting beliefs when it comes to writing?

A limiting belief is a mental state that restricts your ability to achieve your goals, see opportunities, or reach your potential.

Limiting beliefs often arise from past experiences (even childhood experiences), social influences, or just the weird, inherent self-doubts that come with being human.

Limiting beliefs hold us back. And we all have them.

Most limiting beliefs are sub-conscious—we’re not even aware we harbor them. Here are some hypothetical limiting beliefs:

• “I haven’t published anywhere really good, so that must mean I’m not funny (yet).”
  

• “I’m too old to be a funny writer. People (readers) will think I’m not with the times. I’m past the point of being able to write something funny or good.”
  

• “The type of writing that I’m accustomed to and good at is X (copywriting, poetry, personal essays) and so I could never be good at writing of type Y (comedy writing, sad literary fiction, narrative nonfiction).” (And you can fill in anything for X and Y!)