How to Find Hidden Limitations

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that one of my new commitments was to invest at least 30 minutes each day to my own personal development.

While I will admit that I may have missed a day or two, the time I’ve invested is already paying off handsomely.  In fact, I found some self-worth issues I didn’t realize were there.

Here’s how you can find such ‘hidden’ issues.

First, pick an area of life you want to improve. It could be finances, relationships, health, whatever.  As an example, let’s say you picked finances.

Now, ask yourself how much you deserve to be paid for what you do.

• $20 per hour?
• $100 per hour?
• $1,000 per hour?
• $10,000 per hour?

At what point do you start to feel uncomfortable with the number?

In my case, since I’ve done photography jobs which paid up to $1000 for each hour of photography, it was easy for me to say I’m worth that much. $10,000 per hour wasn’t.

BTW – for those interested in how a photographer could make $1000 per hour, it was when I did school portraits, in which I took about 50 portraits per hour with an average order of $20 per package.

Now, here’s where you can find any hidden issues.

Imagine that you’re being interviewed, and this ONE person will pay for the entire job. And also imagine that there aren’t any physical products involved. The entire fee is for your time, and maybe a digital downloadable product.

What you do expect THEY will pay?  Do you expect them to value your time as much as you do?  If not, why?

Again, in my case, because I’m now targeting business headshots for promotional purposes instead of school portraits, and the only deliverables are digital files, I found myself hesitating to quote $1000 per hour fees when approaching offices in which several folks would need headshots.

While I was completely comfortable quoting a fee of $100 for a single headshot coming out of an hour-long photo session, when faced with a situation where I would photograph 10 or more people per hour, I found myself expecting the office manager to reject my offer.

In the back of my mind, I expected them to compare the $1000 per hour fee to one of their salaried employees, or worse yet, to a cheapie photographer who charges next to nothing.

I also found myself devaluing the final images because less time would be spent in creating them.

I eventually overcame this, and here’s how.

I realized that the images themselves had a particular value regardless of how much time was spent creating them.

For a business person wanting to make more sales, a good headshot showing them as a confident and approachable person would mean they would get more people contacting them, and thus more sales as a result.

If such an image could be created in less time, that would actually be MORE valuable, since there is less interruption to their work.  In many businesses, speed = value.

The lesson that EVERYONE should take from this is that what you think makes your work less valuable could actually make it MORE valuable to the right person.

Okay, so let’s consider relationships.  How can you measure your value in a relationship?

• How fun are you to be around?
• Are you a good listener?
• Do you make the other person feel important?
• Are you honest, trustworthy, reliable?

All basic stuff you’ll find in the classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

After asking yourself what you deserve in relationships, imagine what someone else would say about what you deserve.  That should help you find any hidden self-worth issues.

Also consider that while many people enjoy being around fun people, some folks prefer those who are more serious.  And while most folks want you to listen to them, some folks get bored with themselves and want to be entertained.

In the area of health, perhaps the questions should center around whether you deserve to be radiantly, vibrantly healthy and full of energy and zest every day.

Do you expect to be immune to viruses and other health hazards?  Do you expect to live forever?  How long do you expect to live?

• To 60?
• To 80?
• To 100?
• To 200?

At what point do you start to feel uncomfortable with the number?  How long would your doctor expect you to live?

These are the types of questions you can use to help identify limiting beliefs.  Once you’ve identified them, use any technique you like to change them to more positive, supporting beliefs.