This school of thought led the athletes of the time to believe that a sub four-minute mile was impossible.

This school of thought placed a mental and physical restriction on the human body.

They said that the goal of running a mile in less than 4 min was completely unachievable and unrealistic.

Apart, that is, from one person – Roger Bannister.

He refused to accept this physical and mental restriction.

He refused to accept that the goal of running a mile in less than 4 min was unachievable or unrealistic. So after planning, training and refusing to listen to what the world said on 6th May 1954, with his heart pounding furiously in his chest, he set out on the track to prove them all wrong.

On that day Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3 min 59.4 seconds, the first man alive to run a sub four-minute mile.

Suddenly the goal was achievable, it was realistic and your heart wouldn’t explode in your chest if you put it through his torture. And with these limiting belief removed, two months later during the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games  John Landy and Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than 4 min again.

The sub four-minute mile is now a standard amongst world-class athletes with the current record held by Hicham El Guerrouj, who ran a time of 3:43.13 in Rome in 1999.

So what happened? Did the physiology of all human beings change after that date?

I suggest not, but what did change was the limiting belief!

SMART Goals

So let’s look at Smart goals then:

• Specific.
• Measurable.
• Achievable.
• Realistic.
• Time bound.

Specific and measurable – these are both admirable qualities in a goal, these should absolutely be in any goal that you set yourself. You need to be absolutely specific about what you want to achieve and you need to know a way of measuring your success. In my role as a coach I often work with clients who want more confidence. When asked the question ” How will you specifically know you are as confident as you want to be, what will you be doing?” they often have no way of answering! This is then part of the problem, they simply don’t know when they are confident, and so it becomes a goal with constantly moving goalposts and they will spend their lives feeling that they are not confident.

Achievable and Realistic – OK, so now the problems start. Roger Bannister was told that running a sub 4 minute mile was neither achievable or realistic. If he had decided to listen to the prevailing wisdom and set himself a SMART goal then his target would probably to have run the mile on that day in 1954 in about 4 min and 10 seconds.

He didn’t do this, he set an unachievable and unrealistic goal.

This pushed him to a place that he’d never been before, in fact it pushed a human being to a place that we have never been before-only to find that it actually was both achievable and realistic!

Setting goals which are achievable and realistic places into your unconscious mind a limiting belief. If we have a limiting belief that we can only run a mile in 4 min and 10 seconds, then that is exactly what we’ll do. If we have a limiting belief that we can only generate £X of turnover in year one then that is what we’ll do. If we have a limiting belief that we can only lose 1lb of weight on a weight loss program in a week then that is what we’ll do.

Our beliefs about ourselves not true, however we act as if they are true. If those beliefs are positive and are affirmations then it is fine that we act as if they are true. However if those beliefs about ourselves are  negative, then we will act as if they are true until they become our own reality.

I’ll say that again. Our beliefs about ourselves are not true, however we act as if they are true and so they become our own reality.

Time bound – yep, I’m good with that part two is all goals need to have a specific time when you will achieve them.

Each time we set ourselves a goal which is achievable and realistic with create a boundary around that goal in order to make sense of it. We could even then define that goal as ‘the problem’

Once we have created a limiting belief about what we can achieve in our goal we have created a problem with the boundary. And guess where the solution to the problem lie? Yet, it’s outside the boundary.

If you really truly want to excel, if you really and truly want to become the most excellent human being that you know you are then never set SMART goals!

For further advice on how to set proper goals that will remove any of these limiting beliefs and allow you to reach your full potential please take a look at my goalsetting page. 

Do you say this kind of thing? Do you know others that say it?

What I would say to you is that surely you are more than this? How much more than just a housewife, nurse, builder or anything else are you? Is that all you are?

Many of us have habits of giving ourselves, and indeed others, labels. And often these labels are rather restrictive, using the word ‘just’ is an example of one of these restrictive labels. There is not one person in the world who is just a housewife, nurse, builder or anything else. Every single person in the world is so much more than that and so are you!

So here is my challenge to you today. Listen out for the word ‘just’ in your language, then question yourself and ask if that is all you really are? And if you hear someone else say I am just XYZ then challenge them, and ask them if that is all they really are?

This is a really simple NLP technique which can make a huge change in people’s lives if they understand that they give themselves labels which hold them back.

So watch your language, speak with precision and be aware of limiting labels everyday.

MySuccessfulLife is a life and business coaching company which enables individuals to resolve those internal conflicts which hold them back in life… You know the ones!

If you're dreams don't scare you...

There are lots of these motivational images going around on Facebook at the moment, and here is another one that I feel has more potential for harm. As with many of the other motivational phrases the intention is good – we all need to be pushed sometimes… but since when is fear good?

Why do you need to be scared of your dreams?

Can dreams be big enough without being scared?

If dreams are small are they any less scary?

People seem to accept these little images without question, but my challenge to you is that FEAR is NOT an emotion that we need. EVER.

We do not need fear in our lives, remove it (with Time Line Therapy) and ensure it stays gone. I want to live my life without fear and have my dreams to be really compelling and lovely so that I want to achieve them… don’t you? If you set a dream to be scary… why would you ever want to achieve it?

So, please do think carefully before clicking the ‘like’ button next to these images on Facebook… do you really ‘like’ the idea of scary dreams?

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I just wanted to give my thoughts on the concept of using a coach. As you may know I’ve run my own dental laboratory for 16 years using the best Dental Office Space for Lease for this, I now run a marketing company helping dentists with online marketing plus I have an MBA… I guess I’m pretty qualified to run a decent business…

However I have a business coach (and am a coach myself) – this is where my coach helps me:

1) To remove negative emotions. Anger, Fear and Guilt can be BIG hurdles and restrictions in business – think back to things you’ve done in the past… often anger is there, fear and other negative emotions. Most people then self sabotage their current and future successes by not removing these old negative emotions, being fearful of mistakes, angry at situations or guilty about what might happen .

2) To remove limiting beliefs. Typically people have restrictive beliefs about themselves – things like ‘I’m not worth it’ ‘I don’t deserve success’ ‘I’ll always be a failure’. If a person holds these beliefs to be true.. then they are true and that person will NEVER achieve what they want. Once again a suitably trained coach can help you remove these limiting beliefs.

3) Conflicting personality parts. Many people have internal conflicts that they are not at first aware of. e.g. “part of me wants security and part of me wants freedom” or “Part of me wants to be a business owner and do what I want and part of me wants the security of an employer” this type of conflict will again prevent a business owner from achieving and a coach can help that person overcome this.

This type of coach works with business owners but most often does not get involved with the day to day business activities… this is where the wonderful Chris Barrow (CB) and Kevin Rose (KR) some in to play (These are top UK coaches for dentists).

This coaching style (and indeed why I have my own coach) is to ensure that my head is in the right place, with no unconscious sabotage, with every part of my personality aligned to reach my business goal free of negative emotions and limiting self belief. In my opinion there’d be a whole load more successful businesses if more business owners sorted out the negative and limiting ‘shit’ going on in their head!

You can then work on your business, either on your own or with the likes of CB, KR or other ‘implementation business coach’ to ensure that the business itself is working efficiently and effectively.

Does that help answer the question “why do you need a business coach?”

This is often a difficult thing for people to grasp and leads to the question “How can NLP, Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy  help with so many things?” – this truly is a great question as it seems that many people make wild claims that NLP etc are the panacea to all ills.

Well, I’m not going to make any such claims here, but what I am going to do is explain how NLP, Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy can be so applicable in so many ways and applications and also so very, VERY effective.

Let me introduce my Hierarchy of Problems

The hierarchy of problems

Take a look at the list of presenting problems at the bottom… yep weight is in there next to all the others (of course this is an example), this is common in many people’s lives – people will have a whole range of presenting problems that are seemingly not linked . These are often started by the next level up ‘Limiting Decisions’.

Limiting decisions are decisions that you have made sometime in your life to have a limiting belief about yourself. Now this is key, so pay attention. You Made That Decision.

You were not born believing you were a failure, or not worth it, or not deserving… so at some point in your life your unconscious took that decision and you opted to do the relevant behaviour. Accepting this can be tough, I know I’ve been through it, but taking responsibility for the decisions you’ve made is important in the process of letting them go.

Letting go of your limiting decisions

These limiting decisions can result in a variety of problems, so taking them out it a great way to fix lots of problems in life as everything underneath falls apart once the decision is removed, however…

Above those limiting decisions are often deep rooted Negative Emotions, so as you can see, if these are taken away a whole load of problems are likely to disappear.

It makes sense to accept that the best way to solve the most problems is to go back to the root cause and deal with that.. then BOOM everything else negative goes too!

I’ve seen it and experienced it, a client comes in feeling like a failure at work – this is dealt with and they loose weight and start exercising…. now you know why!

The links are now clear

This is of course an example, but you can see the power of removing those limiting decisions and negative emotions to destroy a whole load of presenting problems – this is the power of a Master NLP Coach that is also a Master of Time Line Therapy, we are able to work at this deep level and get to the bottom of so many problems in life, business and weight loss… you see, they are all connected!

Removing Negative Emotions with Time Therapy with Mark

External reading on Time Line Therapy

You don't need struggles to be strong!

I’ve just seen this on Facebook on one of those motivational images:

“The Struggle’s  Make You Stronger…”

This implies that you need struggles to make you strong and that when you have struggles they are good because they make you stronger. This is a flawed argument to me and one runs the risk of installing a limiting belief if one adopts this as true.

The risk is that the limiting belief of ‘I need to have struggles to make me strong‘ is then installed at the unconscious level – if this happens your unconscious mind will look for struggles for you as you believe it will make you stronger, then guess what happens… all  you get is struggling!

Struggles can make you stronger, but be mindful to think now of the positive aspects of your life.

• The good times make you even stronger.
• The happy days are the best days

This is a positive reframe of that same message.

So, be careful of what limiting beliefs you install in yourself unknowingly, your unconscious mind is VERY powerful and will ensure you get what you focus on… so do you really want to focus on struggles?

1. Aren’t worth it
2. Don’t deserve it
3. Will never make it
4. Are a failure
5. Are a loser
6. Are not a success
7. What you want will never happen
8. Are unloveable
9. Are fat
10. Are a smoker

None of these things describes you, none of them is what you actually ARE… all they do is describe behaviours & beliefs… and the totally brilliant news is that behaviours & beliefs can be changed.

The problem with these limiting beliefs is that they often have ‘secondary gain’ so if you believe ‘I am fat’ then it’s  a great excuse to not have to do anything and slob around the whole time isn’t it! So, we need to ensure there is no secondary gain from having this belief, or if there is, then the gain from changing must be more.

Try this little exercise, think of something that you used to believe was true, but no longer is.

hmm, that’s challenging isn’t it.

Do it again, think of something that you used to believe was true, but no longer is.

If you find this hard, how about this – when you were 16 did you believe you were 16? Do you still believe that? – OK, so now you got it.

When you think of no longer believing you are 16 do you have a picture right now? Is it big or small, bright or dim, near or far, focused or defocused, with or without sound, moving or still? Just write down what you experience of the picture.

Now do the same with your limiting belief, perhaps you smoke… so, when you think of believing you are a smoker do you have a picture right now? Is it big or small, bright or dim, near or far, focused or defocused, with or without sound, moving or still? Just write down what you experience of the picture.

Notice the differences in these 2 pictures – you see the differences are often quite marked, when you picture these 2 different beliefs you will store them in your mind differently.

Now, this is why I asked you to do this – NLP is a way to change those beliefs in to positive ones and to allow the new behaviours to develop by modifying how we picture those beliefs- ‘totes amazeballs’ as my kids would say!

So if you do have a limiting belief such as the ones listed above, please do seek out a certified NLP practitioner near you to help you overcome them… it really is possible!

I watched part of a fascinating program last night about the British Empire and it’s hold upon India. Jeremy Paxman was presenting the program and commented that there were a mere 6,000 people governing over 200,000,000 people – an interesting comment was that at the time an official of the British Empire said that:

“If all the people that we rule in India picked up but one single handful of sand and threw it at us, we would surely be totally buried”

Such was the possible collective strength of the Empire’s subjects.

So how did such a potentially weak nation such as Great Britain manage to dominate such a large nation?

The British pretended they were great. They acted great and so the people believed they were great.

It was all an act really!

Now, the question is what could you achieve if you acted great? If you removed those limiting beliefs that many of us hold:

• I can’t do it
• It’s destined to fail
• I’m not good enough
• I don’t deserve success

These are all limiting beliefs that many people hold true about themselves, and yet there is no need – truly there isn’t

There are 4 steps to overcoming this:

STEP 1

Identify what your negative belief is that is holding you back and you no longer wish to have.

STEP 2

Identify a belief that you had but is no longer true.

Is there something that you used to believe was true? Perhaps you use to believe you were a smoker, but now you don’t? Or… when you were 16 did you believe that you were a teenager? Do you still believe that? Good, so you DO have things that you used to believe were true, but don’t any more.

STEP 3

Cool, now is there something that you KNOW will happen? Perhaps the sun coming up tomorrow, you know this will happen don’t you.

STEP 4

Identify what you DO want to believe instead

Now, using NLP it’s possible to do the following:

1. Have your mind view your negative belief from step 1 EXACTLY the same way that you view the belief you once had but is no longer true in Step 2. In other words we remove the way you see and feel about the limiting belief and replace it with the way you see and feel about the belief you had that is no longer true
2. We take what you DO want to believe and help your mind see it and feel it the same way it knows that the sun is going to come up tomorrow