I was 9 years old when I discovered this.
We were having a school play and they were having tryouts for singing parts.
I decided to try out. I never sang in front of anyone before.
My teacher called me to go up in front of the class to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
The moment I started singing, “OHHH sayyy Can You See…”
My voice started to crack and all of my classmates screamed
with Laughter!
A girl named Shaniqwa yelled out,
“Boy you are the worst singer!”
And at that very moment,
I created a belief that I have a terrible voice.
From then on, I NEVER sang out loud again.
Even when I got older and drove in the car,
my friends would sing out loud,
But I would just stay quiet.
It wasn’t until I majored in Psychology and discovered the concept
of limiting beliefs and boy did it change my life!
I began to question if my beliefs about myself were true?
I then started a process of validating all of my limitations.
First, I decided to practice my singing voice.
Every day I would play the instrumentals of popular songs on
YouTube and perform my heart out!
I would close my bedroom door.
There alone in my room,
I would sing secretly for hours.
In time, I noticed that my voice began to improve!
After 3 months of consistent practice, I mustered up the courage
get up in front of my friends and sing!
We would often meet at my place before we went out.
I invited all of them to come into my room for a bit.
I closed the door.
They all looked at me in a weird way
not expecting what was to happen.
As soon as I started singing…
My friend Justin yelled out,
“MAN, YOU SUCK”!
My other friends fell on the floor laughing!
It confirmed that I was Still a shitty singer.
However, I used the same process of validating my limitations
and question all of my other beliefs.
I held on to these beliefs for decades and after some deep self-evaluation
I came to realize that I was NOT.
Shy
Poor
Diet phobic
Allergic to exercise
A bad son
Hot tempered
Fat & Lazy
Terrible at relationships
Bad at business
Enough
The list goes on… (man was I insecure back then)
In about six hours,
One by one I began to shatter limiting beliefs that I held on for years!
Byron Katie’s “The Work” was an extremely beneficial framework
that got to the core of WHY I had the belief in the first place and if it was Really TRUE?
I remember that day turned my life around.
After destroying decades of beliefs, I felt like a New Man!
I formed a new identity: AJ 2.0 was born.
I walked out of my room with my head held high, full of energy,
confident and happy like I just won the 100-million-dollar lottery!
Shortly after I created a list of new belief challenges that I would do
in public to validate, confirm and solidify my new identity!
Things like:
Go to Times Square and talk to 100 random people.
Write a book.
Post a video of myself dancing on Facebook
Host my own seminar.
Get down to 8% bodyfat.
Freestyle rap for 5 minutes straight.
Maintain a relationship for more than 1 year.
Achieve a net worth of 1 Million.
Perform stand-up comedy.
Get married
Know that I am enough!
Over the next ten years, I literally did EVERYTHING on the list!
I’m not going to tell you that they were easy.
Each one of them was quite challenging, but after I accomplished each one,
it’s as if it unlocked a new Superpower!
I totally feel that Joseph Campbell’s quote is true;
“The cave that you fear to enter, holds the treasure that you seek”.
Also, the list never ends.
As I gained new superpowers, they also came with their own
limiting beliefs that needed to be questioned and validated.
After all of this self-experimentation and 20 years of coaching thousands of people
I came to realize that our beliefs are not set in stone.
At any moment we can shatter a limiting belief and create a new Breakthrough!
It breaks my heart to see people that live their entire life holding on to a limiting belief so tightly
that you would have to pry their fingers off with a crowbar for them to finally let it go.
Most people don’t even Question their own beliefs or take the time to even test them to see if they are even true?
I personally would much rather have a mind opened by curiosity than a mind closed by belief.
My philosophy is to Question Everything and to Constantly change your beliefs like underwear.
I would love to share my limiting belief shattering strategy in detail if that’s something you would like to learn?
Also, please share a limiting belief that you overcame and
how much it changed your life? 
AJ Mihrzad is the author of the best selling book, “The Mind Body Solution: Train your Brain for Permanent Weight Loss.”
