Yesterday, I was talking with some friends in an accountability group and they pointed out to me that I had some limiting beliefs about writing. I am absolutely not a fan of hanging on to beliefs that set limits on our capabilities. These beliefs aren’t always easy to recognize, so it’s really helpful to have good people around who will call them out when they see them. (Thanks Scott!)
Okay, so I’ve identified a limiting belief, so what do I do about it? Another good friend challenged me to do a write-and-burn about my belief that “I’m not a writer”, then write a post about it. (Thanks Justin!)
Here’s how I do it in 3 easy steps:
- Identify the limiting belief.
- Start writing all of the negative feelings and thoughts that you have had that support this belief.
- Burn the paper to send a clear message to your subconscious that belief is gone.
It’s a pretty straightforward process, and wow does it feel good to let go of the garbage beliefs.
Some people might argue that doing a write-and-burn isn’t going to instantly make me a great writer. I would absolutely agree, however, that isn’t really the point. The point is that my brain can now approach writing, which may still be a difficult task, with a whole new perspective. I can absolutely say that today’s blog post was far easier to write than yesterday’s. Yesterday’s post took me an agonizing hour and a half to write. Compare that to today’s post which is currently about the same length as my post yesterday but I’m only into it 20 minutes. Numbers aside, there is a night and day difference in how it felt to write each post.
I could wrap this up now, but I think it would be helpful to you to see some of the additional benefits of write-and-burns.
They make it easy to dig up the additional negativity you are carrying. For example: When Scott said that he recognized a limiting belief about writing, I said something like, “Your right Scott, I need to change my perspective about writing.” Another friend, Gregor, even reminded me that it takes writing to become a writer. I used Gregor’s words to challenge my limiting beliefs about writing, which was helpful, but there were a lot of deeper emotions tied to my beliefs about writing. (Thanks Gregor!) They were still lingering below and were obviously still having a significant impact on my ability to write. I would not have found them without the write and burn.
I don’t recommend that you keep your write and burns because we want to release the garbage. However, I have decided that actually seeing what mine looked like may be helpful for you, so I took a picture of mine before burning it.
Before burning it, I will sometimes re-read it so that I can find new affirmations to use. I spent some time yesterday trying to identify new affirmations about writing but was having a difficult time. I look at the recurring themes I see in what I’ve written and reverse them. It’s pretty cool because I’m able to find affirmations that directly speak to the parts of the limiting beliefs that carry the most weight.
Here are some affirmations I was able to create simply by reversing the words that “stung” the most.
I am Josh Hansen, and I will never give up! I am an efficient writer with a powerful story. I gladly invest time to improve my writing. I embrace the growth that comes from failure. I fail fast and I fail often!
I hope this was helpful for you. I’d love for you to try it and let me know what you learn from it.
Thanks for showing up for me today and letting me be vulnerable. You’re a good person!
