Are you going head first into your life? Absolutely! We all are, whether we realize it or not. The question is, what's in your head?

What do you think about how your life is playing out? What challenges do you expect to encounter? What level of education and professional achievements do you expect to reach? What kind of friends do you expect to have – fun, reliable, interesting and trustworthy, or flaky, irresponsible and unmotivated? What's inside your head and where is it leading you?

I recently heard this quote from Joel Osteen, the pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, TX. He said, 

"You will never rise higher than the image you have of yourself."

Think about that for a minute. What does your image of yourself look like? What limits are you placing on yourself? Is there something you secretly "wish" you could do that you've convinced yourself isn't possible? Do you find yourself saying things like, "I'm just not that bold" or " I could never do that..." Let's face it. We can be pretty creative when it comes to making up excuses, right? 

Everyone has a set of beliefs in their head about what they can and can't do – and many are setting the bar way too low. We can accomplish way more than we may realize and usually the biggest obstacle we face is the one that's between our ears. 

When you've grown up hearing philosophical gems like "life's a bitch," "don't get your hopes up," and (one of my personal favorites) "you gotta take what you can get when you can get it," ideas begin to take root. With enough reinforcement, these ideas become your beliefs about what you can't have, what you can't do, and what you shouldn't expect out of life and other people. These types of limiting beliefs are positively toxic, and are responsible for millions of un-lived lives all around the world. 

So what can you do to change your image of yourself?

The first step is to start catching your excuses. You have to understand the false limitations you are setting before you can break them down and overcome their stronghold on you. Once you start to see them, start to question them. "Why CAN'T I do that?" "Why couldn't I pull that off?" "What really IS standing in my way?" Once you start challenging the assumptions you're making, you'll find that there really isn't as much in your way as you might have thought.

So keep going head first into life but take steps today to make sure your head is expanding your possibilities, not limiting them.

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