Mental barriers definition

Breaking Mental Barriers - Player Development Project

How do we break down self-imposed barriers? How do our own limiting beliefs affect coaching performance? Founder of Fit Across Cultures & cultural intelligence expert, Susan Salzbrenner examines just how you can navigate around your own invisible rope.

I recently read a short story about how elephants are trained that I would like to share:

“As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.” (excerpt from theunboundedspirit.com)

How many of us are tied by an invisible rope that limits are belief in what we are able to accomplish? As a coach, how many times have you worked with players that limited themselves mentally in what they are able to accomplish.

What are mental barriers?

Very simply put, a mental barrier is a limiting belief or assumption that we have about ourselves in regards to our ability, potential, self-worth, etc. It keeps us from doing something or acting on something, as for example asking for a promotion, public speaking, financial investing, losing weight, etc.

Mental barriers are incorrect or unhealthy thought patterns that limit us in reaching our full potential.

A few examples of unhealthy thought patterns:

Denial of ability (“I could never get up in front of the whole team and take the lead.”)
A perceived lack of social support (“Nobody believes in my ability to become a professional athlete. I might as well put that idea back in the drawer”)
A lack of knowledge (“What do I have to offer? I know so little about this subject. Why don’t they ask someone else?”)
A dysfunctional attitude towards the situation (“Oh coach seems too busy to ask him this question. I’ll try to figure it out myself.”)

Three types of mental barriers

As you work with athletes of different ages, there are many situations where we are exposed to their self-limiting thought patterns However; it’s not just the barriers in their head but also your view as a coach about the world that surrounds you and the people in it that can affect performance. Overall, we can differentiate between three types of mental barriers:

1. Beliefs about myself

Mental barriers about yourself can stop you in your tracks, whether it is your career, a relationship you deeply care about, or a personal goal and development opportunity. Many times when we feel stuck, we are stuck because of a limiting self-belief and not because of external circumstances.

We, as human beings, compare ourselves at every occasion we get. Athletes are particularly used to getting judged and evaluated. But this means that they are quick to spin stories in their head that become subjective reality. Go ahead, I dare you to fact-check some of the assumptions your players have about themselves and then compare them with your viewpoint.

Any of these sounds familiar?

“I would never be able to compete at that level. I am just not that good.”
“I guess I am not that smart. I really think I should just focus on working out and not on tactics.”
“I am just too small, I’ll never be able to keep up with the others. ”
“When will they find out that I don’t really belong here?” (also coined Impostor-Syndrome)

2. Beliefs about others

When we lack information about a situation or a person, we are proven guilty as charged to fill the missing information with assumptions. Interestingly enough, this “filling-in phenomenon” exists in our vision as well. Because our eyes have physiological blind spots, information has to be filled to build a complete pictures (read more here).

In the absence of information in a situation, e.g. having asked a player for feedback and not hearing back, we fill-in with assumptions based on experiences, hearsay, and advice. All of these are based on our belief system and are deeply rooted in our culture.

A few examples of limiting beliefs about others:

“I don’t want to pass him the ball. He’s just not confident enough to handle this situation.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask him to be my mentor. He has no interest in such things.”
“He is so quiet and shy. What a loner. I don’t want him on my team.”

“She always smiles, so friendly. She wouldn’t be a great leader. She doesn’t seem to be someone that can make tough decisions.”
“She is way out of my league. I would never ask her out.” (to give a social example)

3. Beliefs about the world around you

We are born and raised with certain cultural values that are shared through our parents, our peers, school, the city and country we live in, and the media we consume. In a world that is more inter-connected than ever, we are now experiencing (some almost daily) the clash of perspectives and values. If we don’t open up to the possibility of different ways and approaches to a solution or a goal, we are limiting our potential for innovation, creativity, and finding alternative answers to global questions like climate change. The mental barriers we have about “how things should be done” and “what is normal” limit our thinking process and how we respect and value a differing opinion. These unconscious barriers of generalised unhealthy thought patterns about the world or groups of people around us have tremendous opportunity costs.

A few examples of mental barriers about the world:

“Oh these millennials. Always on their phone, not ready to roll up their sleeves and do the work. They just want to live the high life.”
“Of course we want a more diverse coaching staff. We simply can’t find qualified minorities to do the job.”
“I never trust club management. They are only out to make stakeholders happy. They have no interest in me as a player.”

Breaking down mental barriers

I want to leave you with three things to ask yourself every time you notice one of those limiting beliefs about yourself, others and the world around you to creep into your thought process. If you notice your players having self-limited thought patterns, call them out and coach them through the process.

What am I afraid of? Mental barriers about yourself are often a good excuse to not push forward or step out of your comfort zone.
Who told me that? Many of our assumptions about ourselves and others are based on second-hand stories, one-off events, or media coverage, and less grounded in the daily grind or repeated interactions with the people that we assume something about.
Why is different a bad thing? We favour people that agree with us, share the same background or opinions and attitudes about life. Working on our own limiting beliefs also includes believing in the positive intention of others. No one is out to harm us or attack us personally. It’s a coping mechanism when the world we live in doesn’t fit our mental models. Help each other break our mental barriers. Many young players can develop into strong, capable leaders with unique abilities, when we release them from the pressure to conform and build up realistic thought patterns about their skills. Let’s not be the elephant that is tied down by an invisible rope anymore. Let’s stride with pride and empower each other.

Image Credits: Deposit Photos

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Susan Salzbrenner Susan is the Founder of Fit Across Cultures and an organizational psychologist (M.A.) and a certified intercultural trainer and consultant. She supports teams, (future) global leaders and organizations to navigate complex environment and change.

Definition, Examples, and 5 Tips for Overcoming Them

Mental barriers are beliefs that hold you back. We look at how they can affect your life, plus tips for overcoming them.

Often, the most difficult challenges to overcome are the ones within us.

Limiting beliefs — known as mental barriers — are internal assumptions that we develop about ourselves that can affect how we see and feel about who we are, our abilities, and how we fit into the world.

Attachment to these ideas about ourselves can hold us back from making progress, taking action, and living our fullest lives. That said, a variety of tools can help you move beyond the barriers.

Mental barriers are a set of limiting beliefs we have about ourselves. If we attach ourselves to these thoughts, they can prevent us from taking action or moving forward. For example, a mental barrier might keep you from writing that book, taking that promotion, or pursuing that relationship.

Even though you want to do these things, paying too much attention to limiting beliefs may make you feel as though you aren’t capable or talented enough to pursue them.

Also referred to as emotional or psychological barriers, mental barriers can manifest in our thoughts or opinions, feelings, or attitude toward others. They’re often driven by fear, for example:

fear of failure
fear of the unknown
fear of not being good enough

In addition to your actions (or inability to take action), they can also affect your ability to communicate or interact with others — or even with yourself.

Most people find themselves confronting their mental barriers at some time or another. While some can easily push past mental obstacles, others may find it more difficult to overcome them.

Every person’s situation is unique, and you may face different psychological barriers than someone else. However, some affect many folks to varying degrees.

Common mental barriers include:

Self-doubt and negative thinking

We all have a doubting mind from time to time. Self-doubt can become problematic if we start believing what our mind tells us about ourselves.

Self-doubt can prevent us from making progress or doing the things we want to do because we begin to believe that we don’t possess the skills, abilities, or talent to go after that promotion or forge that relationship. However, this is often far from the truth.

Fear

We all experience fear from time to time: fear of the unknown, of failing, of not being good enough. In fact, fear has an important evolutionary role in helping to keep us safe from danger.

Regardless of what drives our fear, it’s a powerful emotion that can dictate what our next steps may be — or whether we move forward at all.

Discomfort

Most of us have established a “comfort zone,” where we feel safe, secure, and confident. Like fear, our aversion to discomfort is partly explained by evolution and it can help keep us safe.

Staying within our comfort zone can be problematic if we consistently make decisions based on avoiding discomfort or fears to the extent that it disrupts or limits our lives.

Much like fearing the unknown, it’s natural to hesitate before stepping outside of these parameters, as it can feel uncomfortable or even unsafe. For many people, the potential for discomfort stops them from leaving the comfort zone they’ve created.

Overcoming any obstacle takes time and dedication, but it is possible. Breaking down your mental barriers is no exception.

There are several strategies that you can use to change your mindset and move past your limiting beliefs, including the following:

1. Psychotherapy

Talk therapy can help you work through your limiting beliefs by discussing them with a mental health professional. They can recommend strategies and techniques to overcome them based on your unique situation.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy where a therapist helps you challenge and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT uses a variety of different strategies to help recognize and alter certain patterns in behavior, including journaling, role play, and cognitive restructuring.

Looking for a therapist, but not sure where to start? Psych Central’s How to Find Mental Health Support resource can help.

2. Journaling

Writing about your thoughts and feelings can help you identify what barriers are standing in your way — and why they exist. Journaling can have many mental health benefits, such as helping you process emotions, relieve anxiety, and work out your true feelings about situations.

If you’re finding it difficult to get started, consider using journal prompts to help you get started.

3. Venturing outside your comfort zone

It can be scary to move beyond our own “safe space,” or comfort zone. But progress doesn’t have to be large. Taking small actions can help you move forward one step at a time.

For example, maybe you want to take on more duties at work, but you’re afraid that you won’t succeed or will become overwhelmed.

You may want to consider adding one new task to your workload rather than several at once. After you’re comfortable, you can then consider adding another.

4. Practicing self-compassion

Self-compassion is all about treating yourself with kindness, care, and understanding.

While our limiting beliefs may make us more prone to self-judgment rather than self-care, engaging in self-compassion exercises can help flip our mindset.

Dr. Kristin Neff, co-founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, recommends exploring self-compassion through writing, supportive touch, or acknowledging and changing critical self-talk.

5. Using digital tools

In a 2020 study, researchers developed an app for promoting a growth mindset and overcoming self-limiting beliefs. Using digital tools like apps can provide real-time support when you need it — all from the comfort and ease of your phone or tablet.

While more research is needed, mental health apps might be effective in identifying your mental barriers and developing techniques to overcome them in real-time.

Mental barriers are a set of limiting beliefs that can prevent you from taking action or moving toward what is important or meaningful to you — no matter how much you may want or need to.

Mental barriers can affect all aspects of our lives, including our professional lives, our social interactions, and our relationships with both ourselves and others.

While mental barriers can hold you back, it’s often possible to overcome them. By engaging in strategies such as therapy, journaling, or self-compassion, you can begin to move past your limiting beliefs.

If you find it challenging to overcome your mental barriers on your own, a mental health professional can help. They can help you identify the unique barriers and beliefs that are holding you back and work with you to develop coping techniques tailored to your needs.

Mental barriers and limiting beliefs: let go of them

Mental barriers are our negative attitudes that rob us of confidence, willpower, love of life and luck. It's time to learn about the most common limiting beliefs that prevent us from living a normal life.

Earlier we talked about how complaining rewires our consciousness to negativity. Incorrect toxic installations also work in this direction. The most dangerous of them are described below.

"I must be successful"

A person does not have to be rich or hold high positions. The person must be happy. If it brings you happiness, go for it. If you are not sure about the need to be rich and successful, then this is definitely not for you. Focus on spiritual development or finding something to inspire you. Success is a very loose concept, and sometimes it has nothing to do with money and status.

“Something is wrong with me”

When a person thinks that something is wrong with him, that he is different from the rest for the worse, this deprives him of strength. Over time, it may happen that a person really becomes somehow different. He may lose the desire to develop. This is very dangerous, because you can be left without hope for the best.

“It's too late for me”

Many people are accustomed to thinking that their whole life has passed them by and that nothing good awaits them. It's never too late to start doing something new or looking for love. There are people who got rich in old age or found their love not at thirty, but at seventy. The road spreads under the feet of the walking one. The one who stopped runs the risk of actually staying in place.

"I should/should be more restrained"

Of course, you need to control yourself in many situations. On the other hand, it is impossible to keep negative emotions in oneself. Many people tolerate being treated with disdain because they think it's the right thing to do, but it's not. It is right to tell others that their actions bring pain and suffering. If such people do not listen, you need to leave them, and not continue to endure their mockery.

"I can change him/her"

This is the biggest misconception possible. No one can ever change another person. It can only be done by himself. You should not waste your time on those who do not suit you in some way as a soulmate, friend or business partner.

"I must not show my weakness"

Everyone can be weak. No one succeeds in being forever strong and persistent. Everyone breaks sooner or later. It is important to find time to rest and to accept someone else's help, care, love. Man is not a robot. It is also worth noting another dangerous installation: "Asking for help is a sign of weakness." Someone else's support is not a sign that you are weak. This is a sign that you are good enough for people to help you and protect you.

Many people have a logical question about how to deal with such attitudes. To do this, it is important to understand where they come from. They are mainly formed due to the negative influence of society and stereotypes. That is why psychologists strongly recommend listening to yourself and your inner voice more often. Earlier, dailyhoro.ru website experts talked about how to learn to hear yourself.

Your life will change if you overcome these 20 mental barriers

How to go through life in a state of peace of mind? Agree that our mental barriers create mostly negative vibrations around us. We cling too much to unnecessary things that just need to be let go. Take the risk of “rebooting” your own life!

1. Let go of attachments. Attachment is one of the causes of all suffering. Do not be proud of your property of any kind, which is only temporary.

2. Let go of guilt. This feeling is not positive. What can cause guilt? And why do you think so? Release it immediately.

3. Get rid of self-criticism. Self-criticism tends to turn over time into a feeling of impotence and even mental agony. This is nothing but your own incorrect self-esteem, by the way, very destructive.

4. Let go of prejudice. Prejudice is a serious obstacle that gives rise to wrong reactions and resentment, and then turns into a barrier to any healthy relationship.

5. Get rid of compulsive (obsessive) thinking. Emphasize the value, utility, and productivity of your thoughts and actions.

6. Give up negative thinking. It powerfully kills any sprouts and manifestations of optimism. Such people always have a skeptical and caustic view of the world, and this is destructive.

7. Do not seek the approval and praise of others. This destroys initiative and enthusiasm, and you begin to underestimate yourself more and more. This is how an inferiority complex is born.

8. Let go of grudges. Constant dissatisfaction in the soul is not just a bad habit. The heart and brain are closely connected, and all the “stones in the bosom” can cause tangible health problems.

9. Let go of limiting gazes. We create them ourselves, and then we impose them on ourselves. Pay attention to their possible benefits and progressiveness, if not, get rid of them.

10. Stop putting everything off until tomorrow. Time waits for no one. Do it today! Well, at least start doing it.

11. Let go of worrying thoughts. They feed on inner fears and anxiety. Choose your goals and go to them, forgetting about anxiety.

12. Forget about emotional wounds. A broken heart often creates a spiritual vacuum. Let go of all the bad cases in the past and go towards the future.

13. Let go of bad memories. They must be kept at bay. Learn from them, but don't keep them to yourself so they don't eat away at you from the inside.

14. Let go of useless things. Master the art of throwing away everything that brings you no benefit and no joy.

15. Get rid of toxic people. Communication with them can be compared to rotten fruit in a basket of good fruits. Everything in the basket will rot very quickly. Throw out all the negative people, no matter how hard it is.

16. Let go of your past. Learn to forget bad experiences and gain useful experience from mistakes made and experienced events.

Learn more