Have you ever wondered why sometimes eliminating a belief creates massive, life-changing results… while other times you eliminate a belief and barely notice any difference at all?
I used to think this was some kind of mystery. But after years of working with beliefs – both my own and thousands of clients’ – I’ve discovered there’s actually a completely rational explanation for why this happens.
Understanding these patterns can save you months or even years of working on beliefs that won’t actually change your life. More importantly, it can help you identify the beliefs that WILL create the transformation you’re looking for.
When I Eliminated “I’m Not Capable” – Everything Changed
Let me start with my own experience. For years, I carried the belief “I’m not capable.” This belief affected me constantly. When I didn’t know how to do something, I often wouldn’t even try. I’d just assume I couldn’t figure it out.
When I finally eliminated that belief, the change was dramatic and immediate. Suddenly, when I encountered something new, my first thought wasn’t “I can’t do this.” Instead, I’d think “I can figure this out” or “I can learn this.”
But here’s what’s interesting: I could have worked on a related belief like “It’s hard for me to do things I don’t already know how to do.” That belief elimination wouldn’t have helped at all, because it’s not the belief causing the problem – that belief just describes the issue.
The Four Factors That Determine Impact
Through working with thousands of people, I’ve identified four key factors that determine whether eliminating a belief will create big changes or small ones:
1. How Many Beliefs Are Causing the Problem
If you have ten beliefs all contributing to the same issue and you eliminate just one of them, you may not see much difference. It’s like removing one support beam when nine others are still holding up the same structure.
But if only two beliefs are causing a problem and you eliminate one of them, you’ll likely notice a much bigger change.
2. Broad vs. Narrow Beliefs
Some beliefs are incredibly broad and affect you in countless situations. Others are much more specific.
I had one client who had already eliminated many beliefs and experienced huge changes in his confidence and relationships. But he still struggled with one specific area: presenting in front of people.
We discovered he still held the belief “If you make a mistake in front of people, you’ll be ridiculed.” Once we eliminated that belief, presenting was no longer an issue for him. This was a narrow change – it only affected presenting situations – but it completely resolved that specific problem.
Compare that to a broad belief like “People are dangerous,” which would affect you around ALL people in countless situations throughout your day.
3. Self vs. Non-Self Beliefs
Your self is with you all the time. If you change how you feel about yourself, you’ll experience that difference in hundreds of situations every single day.
This is why eliminating a belief like “I’m not capable” (a self-belief) had such a massive impact on my life. Every time I encountered a challenge – which was multiple times daily – I experienced a completely different response.
4. On-Target vs. Off-Target Beliefs (This Is The Big One)
This might be the most important factor of all, because working on off-target beliefs wastes enormous amounts of time and energy.
Here’s what I mean: Often people work on beliefs that seem related to their problem but actually don’t cause the problem at all. These beliefs usually formed AFTER the problematic pattern was already established.
For example, people who struggle with weight loss often want to work on beliefs like “I can’t lose weight” or “It’s too hard for me to lose weight.” But these beliefs formed because they struggled with weight loss in the past. They’re not what’s causing the struggle.
Instead, we need to look at the actual behavior patterns: “As soon as the diet gets hard, I quit” or “I constantly cheat on my diet” or “I start exercising with enthusiasm, then lose motivation and stop.” Then find the beliefs causing those specific patterns.
I had one client who couldn’t stick to any diet because she would gorge on sweets no matter what eating plan she tried. One of the key beliefs we found was “Sweets are my best friend.”
When we eliminated that belief, and other beliefs were eliminated, the compulsive eating stopped because the emotional need was gone.
If we had worked on “I can’t lose weight” instead, we would have completely missed the real issues.
Why This Matters So Much
The biggest difference for people comes from knowing when they have an on-target belief versus an off-target one. I’ve seen people spend months working on beliefs that have zero impact on their actual problems.
When you know how to identify the beliefs that are actually causing your issues – the broad ones, the self-beliefs, the on-target ones – you can create changes that seemed impossible before.
The Beautiful Truth About This Work
Here’s what I want you to know: These are not unanswerable mysteries. There’s a rational explanation for why we achieve big changes sometimes and not others.
One of the beauties of belief work is that we can produce changes that have been blocked in the past because beliefs were in the way. By understanding these patterns and engaging in this work strategically, you can achieve lasting changes in your life even if other approaches have failed you before.
The transformation you’re looking for isn’t a mystery. It’s just a matter of finding and eliminating the right beliefs – the ones that are actually running the show behind the scenes.
Want help figuring out which beliefs are keeping you stuck? I offer free strategy sessions where we can identify the patterns holding you back and explore whether working together is the right next step. If you’re curious about what’s possible when you eliminate the right beliefs, you’re welcome to book a free strategy session.
