As a business leader, you are expected to navigate chaos, make quick decisions, and stay ahead of constant change. And that’s just responding to what happens in your outer world. Amidst the external chaos, your inner world often dictates the way you handle roadblocks and spot growth opportunities within your business.
Perhaps you’ve caught yourself feeling behind your peers, despite countless logical proof points to the contrary. Or maybe you fear not living up to your full potential, even when you’ve clearly achieved several success milestones. These fears are not just intrusive thoughts—they have roots that live in your subconscious mind.
Spotting the Source: How to Identify Hidden Belief Patterns
When we talk about subconscious beliefs, we’re referring to assumptions about life that are stored so deeply in the back corners of your mind that you are often unaware of their existence. This makes it easy to assume they don’t apply to you or that you are immune to their influence.
In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks explains how beliefs can subtly make their way into the lives of every business leader. He identifies four core beliefs that hold entrepreneurs back: feeling like something is wrong with you, fear of abandoning people as you rise, belief that success is burdensome, and the fear of outshining others.
In our work with leaders, we’ve uncovered additional belief patterns that can be even more surprising. As you learn to navigate your own internal narratives, these insights can help you spot erroneous assumptions that directly affect your decision-making—and create the exact upper limits you’re trying to break through.
As you read through these, remember: you won’t think they apply to you. You don’t go about your day saying these things to yourself. Zoom out and follow the feelings. If something in this list pings in a way that seems deeply illogical, you’re onto new insight.
- “I don’t feel safe.” This belief is unconsciously triggered by change. It may surface in response to shifts in the market, team dynamics, or personal events. What makes this tricky is that it often manifests as a feeling without words and can be accompanied by physical discomfort like stomach pain, sleeplessness or sudden anger.
If you have this belief, you may cling to consistency or close off to opportunities that foster growth—especially personal growth—that could benefit your business. - “I can’t change (it works for everyone but not me).”
Leaders with this belief might surprise you—they’re often the first to embrace new ideas. They champion innovation, exciting new hires, and ambitious targets. They are willing to try anything to succeed. However, they start strong and often lack follow-through. Inevitably, friction arises that unconsciously reinforces the feeling that they’re constantly running in circles. These leaders often find themselves stuck despite a genuine desire for growth. They become ‘terminally unique’—continuing to search for the ‘next best thing’ that never seems to work.
- Fear of not being liked (or loved). This is a big one. It builds on the common belief of “I’m not good enough” or “there’s something wrong with me.” Leaders driven by this fear prioritize being liked over the business’s daily needs, often disconnecting from the day-to-day needs of the business. This can result in people-pleasing behaviors, avoiding difficult conversations, or compromising values. This unknowingly undermines their respect and credibility—exactly the thing the leader is trying to avoid.
- “I don’t want to be cliché.” Rooted in a rebellious mindset, leaders with this belief have a fear of being seen as ordinary or inauthentic. Often misunderstood in childhood, these leaders make decisions based on comparison (and ego) rather than what’s genuinely best for the business. This need to stand out derails focus, creates procrastination, and can label growth decisions for the business as ‘saturated,’ ‘obvious’ or ‘overdone.’
- “I can’t catch a break.” This belief, tied to fear of not reaching one’s potential, often results in impulsive decisions to prove success. Leaders may take on high-risk projects without sufficient research or avoid risks altogether, waiting for the perfect opportunity to find them. Both extremes derail progress, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of missed opportunities and unrealized potential.
The Good News Is, You’re Not Stuck with These Beliefs Forever
Awareness of these beliefs offers powerful growth opportunities, and there are effective methodologies for transforming them. Resources like John DeMartini’s Limiting Belief Training can help you recognize and reshape these beliefs.
We always tell leaders that rewriting these narratives doesn’t need to feel like surgery. It can be quick and painless. Often, conclusions we’ve drawn about life are rooted in simple judgment errors, formed during moments when we couldn’t see the full picture. Examining these stories, we see logic and common sense often quickly dismantle them.
Growing Up and Moving Forward
Your business can only grow to the extent that you do. Leadership requires recognizing the inner work needed to become your most present and effective self. When you take time to uncover, understand, and repattern your personal belief patterns, you cultivate an inner strength that transforms your business from the inside out.
Next time you feel friction, ask: “What assumptions are driving this decision?” “Is what I believe always true?” “Can I choose to believe something more growth-oriented?”
These answers may not only bring personal relief—they can transform your leadership and the direction of your entire business.