Three ways to Unlock Your Potential: Achieving Goals Continued

Do you ever say you can’t do that, or that I am not good enough? You may think you can’t do something, but why do you believe that? Often, our unhealthy beliefs cripple our ability to achieve great goals. I had a goal of being a Data Processing Instructor. When I told my mother I wanted to go to college, she said I was too stupid. That could have ended my teaching ambitions.

What Prevents You From Achieving Your Goals?

In my previous post, “Twelve Ways to Achieve Healthy Goals,” I explained how to write a mission statement and the goals to achieve your mission in life. In this post, I aim to help you overcome the unhealthy beliefs that hinder your ability to achieve your desired goals. The following three statements outline how we often get stuck and fail to achieve goals, and how to think differently.

1. I will use my unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience to examine old scripts and write new ones.
2. I will live out of my imagination instead of my memory.
3. I will tie myself to my limitless potential, rather than my limiting past.

What keeps us from achieving our goals? Living out of old scripts from memories where people limited your abilities. When you were a child, you may not remember exactly what people said  or how they limited you, but the actions created an unhealthy belief that you internalized. These unhealthy beliefs dictate scripts that control your thoughts and ultimately your destiny.

How I Overcame My Limiting Past.

I grew up in an abusive, dysfunctional home and in poverty. The house was built in 1890 and was full of lead and asbestos. All these factors limited my brain’s ability to grow in intelligence. I knew I could be smart because both my parents were very intelligent. I strongly believed my environment restricted my ability to achieve and be mentally healthy. I dissociated for several years to cope with the abuse. I struggled to learn and had to take remedial reading classes in 7^th and 8^th grade.

It is a good thing I am goal oriented because I could have believed my mother’s words and adopted that mentality, but I didn’t. In my post called HOW TO BE PROACTIVE: cont. I explained why I pursued an education degree to become a Computer Science teacher.

About 30 years later, God put it in my heart to continue my education. I didn’t know what subject. He led me to pursue a master’s degree in Adult Education and developing distance education courses. I loved designing curriculum, so I felt that it was a good fit. But I still had the unhealthy belief that I was stupid and couldn’t learn, and it had been 30 years since I was in school. God led me to read the book “Switching on Your Brain” by Dr. Caroline Leaf. In that book, she explained neuroplasticity and how the brain can grow, and how we limit our potential. She stated that we have the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16). If I possess the mind of Christ, I am exceptionally intelligent as He created the Universe and everything known and unknown in our world. I changed my unhealthy belief to the truth of God’s word. I used my unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience to examine old scripts and write new ones. I applied to graduate school, was accepted, and got straight As. I completed a post-baccalaureate certificate in distance education because my university’s layoff removed my tuition benefit.

How to Change Old Scripts and Unleash Limitless Potential.

I asked God what He wanted me to do after I am laid off, and He said, “Write a book.” I thought, “No way. I can’t write. I have no idea what to write. Who would read something I would write?” These and many other unhealthy beliefs kept me from obeying God. When I shared what God told me and my thoughts with a godly old man, he said, “Be like Gideon.” Those words were so powerful and life-giving. If you haven’t read the story about Gideon or it’s been a while, I encourage you to read it (Judges 6-7). Words have power, which I explain in the posts WORDS HAVE POWER—Part I: Overcoming The Destruction of Offensive Words and WORDS HAVE POWER—PART II: Words Produce Death or Life Energy.

I discovered later why God wanted me to take writing-intensive graduate classes. These classes forced me to learn how to write, and in the process, I read many grammar books. I also discovered Grammarly.com. When I asked God what He wanted me to write about, and He said, “You already wrote it.” I was like “What?” He showed me that He wanted me to turn my prison Bible Study notes and my testimony of Complete Healing into a published book. I ended up writing two books, which I list at the end of this post. That was when God told me to create a website to write blogs and share my testimony book “Hope for Complete Healing” with anyone who wanted to read it. Take inventory of what you believe about your abilities, then look for scriptures to rewrite those scripts.

Conclusion

Many people have taken their limits and turned them around when they believed in God’s ability to help them, and having people around who encouraged them. Check out Joni Eareckson Tada’s story and marvel at how she allowed God to use her paraplegic body. You can read about her in Joni Eareckson Tada Shares Her New Resolve After 55 Years in a Wheelchair. Also research the achievements of Helen Keller, who was born blind and deaf. You may have physical limits, but you don’t have to live according to old scripts and unhealthy beliefs.

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website. 

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.  

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts. 

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.  

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.