Myths of Change
A Myth of Change is an unfounded belief whether conscious or unconscious, which is preventing you from maximising your potential.
Examples of personal Myths of Change might be:
- I do not deserve to be happy/ successful/ in a positive relationship
- I am too old to make a major change in my life
- You need an outgoing personality to set up a business successfully and I haven’t got one
- It is wrong to earn too much money
- I am not attractive enough to be in a good relationship
- I should always put other people’s needs before my own
Myths of Change tend to be over-definitive statements, which say that something must be the case or that you should act in a certain way or that something is always or never the case. They are quite pernicious because once you start believing that something must be the case you rarely try to do anything to change it. Different people have different kinds of Myths of Change.
Please do the following exercise:
1. Identify your Myths of Change
Write down those statements which you say to yourself that have impeded you from taking steps to change. One way of recognising such statements is to think of the change that you would like to achieve and then see what first comes in to your head when you complete the sentence below:
‘I cannot achieve...... [Specify here the change you want] ..... ....because [Complete the sentence with what first comes into your head] ........................................................’
2. Think of an Example when you allowed the Myth of Change to dominate
Think of a situation when, whether consciously or not, you allowed the thought that you have indicated in 1. above to stop you taking a positive step, even a small one, towards change.
(a) Write down what the negative consequences of not taking that positive step were.
(b) Now write down what you can say to yourself every time that thought occurs again, to encourage you to challenge its correctness or to explore alternative possibilities.
3. Try saying something different from the Myth of Change
When a similar situation to that described in 2 next occurs, try saying to yourself the statement or statements that you identified in 2 (b) and see if they help you to do something different or to feel differently about the situation.
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