Overcoming Limiting Beliefs: Insights from Patrick Bet-David on How to Unlock Your Potential
If you’ve ever felt like invisible barriers were holding you back—whether it’s self-doubt, fear, or limiting beliefs—you’re not alone. Limiting beliefs can absolutely wreck your potential, and you don’t always see them, but they’re there, shaping how you think and what you believe you’re capable of.
And trust me, I know this firsthand.
For years, I walked around thinking I wasn’t smart enough, gifted enough, or good enough to achieve anything significant. That’s what limiting beliefs do—they become the invisible walls that feel like just another fact of life.
Patrick Bet-David, an entrepreneur I’ve followed for years, has a way of getting people to confront these mental blocks head-on. In his video, “How To Break the Curse of Your Limiting Beliefs“, he talks about the power of identifying and overcoming these beliefs so they no longer hold you back. He helped me realize that those beliefs aren’t facts—they’re just stories we tell ourselves. And if you don’t rewrite those stories, they’ll hold you back forever.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through seven steps inspired by Patrick Bet-David that helped me break my own limiting beliefs. These steps won’t just help you see where you’ve been held back—they’ll push you to finally break through those invisible walls and unlock your true potential.
Tip 1: Identify Limiting Beliefs in Key Areas of Life
Patrick Bet-David often talks about how limiting beliefs sneak into all areas of life—whether it’s health, relationships, money, or career. The thing is, most of the time, you don’t even realize they’re there. You think these beliefs are facts about who you are, but really, they’re just stories you’ve been telling yourself for years.
For me, one of the biggest limiting beliefs I carried around for most of my life was the idea that I wasn’t smart or gifted. Why? Because, like Patrick Bet-David, I barely graduated high school with a 1.8 GPA. At the time, I didn’t know I had ADHD, so school felt like this impossible wall I could never climb. I figured, If I can’t even handle high school, how the hell am I going to make anything of myself? That belief became such a deep part of me that I didn’t even bother trying to apply myself in anything else. I stayed in “safe” jobs like working in restaurants because, deep down, I believed that was all I was capable of.
But here’s the truth: that belief wasn’t real. It was just a story I accepted. When I finally got diagnosed with ADHD and started to understand how my brain works, I realized I wasn’t dumb. In fact, I’m more gifted than I ever gave myself credit for. But for years, that limiting belief kept me from pushing myself to chase bigger opportunities.
Even after I had success at Park Mazda—helping them go from the second-worst dealership for new car sales in Western Canada to the top—I still struggled with imposter syndrome. It didn’t matter that I had proof I was capable. I still felt like I didn’t belong, like someone would eventually figure out I wasn’t as good as I appeared. That’s the crazy thing about limiting beliefs: they don’t go away just because you achieve something. You have to confront them head-on.
That’s why self-awareness is key. If you can’t figure out what your limiting beliefs are, sometimes it helps to use tools that give you a clearer picture of who you are and what drives you. Two tools that have helped me are Jordan Peterson’s Understand Myself personality assessment and the Personal Values Assessment.
- The Understand Myself assessment breaks down your personality into traits like conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism. This gives you insight into where your strengths lie and where limiting beliefs might be holding you back. For example, if the test shows you’re low in conscientiousness, you might struggle with discipline and follow-through, which could fuel a belief that you’re not capable of achieving long-term success.
- The Personal Values Assessment is another powerful tool that helps you clarify what really matters to you. Sometimes our limiting beliefs stem from a conflict between our values and the life we’re living. This test helps you identify your core values and see if the way you’re living aligns with them. For example, if you value freedom but feel trapped in your job, that mismatch can create frustration and reinforce the belief that you’re not living up to your potential.
Tip 2: Separate “Your Truth” from “The Truth”
One of the most challenging parts of breaking limiting beliefs is recognizing that the “truths” you’ve been telling yourself aren’t necessarily true. Patrick Bet-David is clear about this: the stories you’ve told yourself, based on past experiences or what others have said, aren’t facts—they’re just your version of reality. And more often than not, they’re holding you back.
For years, I told myself a story about my intelligence—that I wasn’t smart, that I didn’t have the ability to succeed academically or professionally. That was my truth. I had a 1.8 GPA in high school, I couldn’t focus, I struggled to keep up. I thought that was just who I was—a guy who wasn’t cut out for more. But that wasn’t the real truth. The truth was, I had undiagnosed ADHD, and once I understood that, I realized I wasn’t stupid at all. I was capable of much more than I’d been telling myself.
Even after I had success at Park Mazda, helping the dealership rise to the top of its market, I still wrestled with imposter syndrome. I felt like I had lucked into success, like maybe I had just fooled everyone into thinking I knew what I was doing. That belief wasn’t the truth either—it was another limiting belief I had created. The real truth was that I did know what I was doing, and the results proved it. But if you don’t stop to separate your truth from the real truth, you’ll keep holding yourself back.
Patrick teaches that when you start digging into your beliefs, you have to be willing to challenge them. You have to ask, Is this really true, or is it just something I’ve convinced myself of over time? When you repeat a lie long enough, it starts to feel like reality. But just because you believe it, doesn’t make it true.
Tip 3: Break Free from Generational Patterns
Patrick Bet-David often talks about “generational curses”—patterns or beliefs that are passed down through family lines. These could be related to money, relationships, health, or personal worth. Many people go through life unknowingly carrying these inherited beliefs, assuming they’re just part of who they are. But Patrick emphasizes that you have the power to break free from these patterns and create a new path, not just for yourself, but for future generations.
In my own life, I’ve battled with feelings of rejection and paranoia that seemed to follow me for years. When I was sixteen, I even tried to take my own life. I believed nobody liked me, and it felt like there was no way out of that darkness. That’s when my mom gave me The Feeling Good Handbook by Dr. David Burns, and it completely shifted my thinking. Burns talks about how we often magnify the negative in our lives while disqualifying the positive—like looking through a telescope the wrong way. If we look through one end, the negative becomes huge and overwhelming; if we look through the other, the positive things in our lives feel insignificant.
For me, paranoia played a huge part in those negative beliefs. I used to think that whenever I went out in public, people were watching me, judging me, or laughing at me behind my back. It was this constant, overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t shake. Burns taught me that I didn’t have to listen to those thoughts—that they were just lies my mind was telling me. One of the exercises he suggested was to do something by myself, like going to a movie, to break that belief.
So I did it. I went to a movie by myself, and you know what? Nobody cared. Nobody was watching me. Nobody gave a crap that I was there alone. It was freeing in a way that’s hard to describe. The belief that I was constantly being judged was just that—a belief. It wasn’t the truth. And that experience helped me realize how much power we give to these false ideas we carry around.
Breaking generational patterns and limiting beliefs, whether they’re related to self-worth, rejection, or paranoia, is about recognizing that those thoughts aren’t the truth. Just because you’ve carried them for years—or because they’ve been passed down from family—doesn’t mean they have to define you.
Tip 4: Be Honest About Your Personal Vices
Patrick Bet-David emphasizes that vices—whether they’re visible to others or hidden—are often the unseen barriers that hold us back from reaching our full potential. These vices can be anything from laziness and procrastination to more destructive habits that we keep private. No matter what form they take, if we don’t address them head-on, they can sabotage our progress and keep us stuck in cycles of self-sabotage.
For me, one of the most personal and challenging vices I’ve battled with throughout my life has been an addiction to pornography. I was exposed to it at a very young age—around five years old—and it’s been a struggle that has followed me into adulthood. When I turned 18, I even subscribed to Playboy magazine, and renting videos became a habit. Then, with the rise of the internet, the accessibility of adult content made the struggle even more difficult.
This addiction felt like a weight I couldn’t shake off. No matter how much progress I made in other areas of my life, it was something that constantly pulled me back. It was isolating, shame-inducing, and a constant battle with my own willpower.
But here’s the thing: acknowledging this vice was the first step toward healing. I had to be brutally honest with myself about the hold it had over me. Pretending it wasn’t a problem didn’t make it go away. What finally helped me turn the corner was turning to my higher power—for me, that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. Through my faith, I found the strength to begin breaking the chains of addiction. I also took practical steps, like getting an accountability partner and installing software from accountable2you.com on all of my devices, including my computer, laptop, and mobile phone. The software monitors my activity, providing a layer of accountability that has been crucial in curbing the addiction.
Being open about this struggle and putting safeguards in place has made a huge difference. But the biggest change came from recognizing that I couldn’t overcome this on my own. The combination of faith, accountability, and taking actionable steps toward recovery has been transformative.
Tip 5: Embrace Responsibility and Stop Blaming Others
When life deals you setbacks—whether it’s personal, financial, or professional—it’s easy to fall into the trap of blaming others or external circumstances. The truth is, while there are things we can’t control, we always have the power to control how we respond. Patrick Bet-David emphasizes that taking responsibility is one of the most important steps toward regaining control of your life. Blaming others, the system, or circumstances only keeps you stuck, while taking ownership of your actions allows you to move forward.
For me, the COVID-19 pandemic was a breaking point. I had spent ten years building a marketing business, but I only managed to secure two major clients—a car dealership and a power sports dealer. When the pandemic hit, nobody was buying cars, and the car dealership had no choice but to let me go. The power sports dealer followed, and suddenly, my entire business collapsed. It felt like I had lost everything, and I ended up having to move into my parents’ basement.
At first, it was easy to blame the pandemic, the clients for letting me go, or even the school system for not diagnosing me with ADHD earlier. But after a period of self-pity, I realized that none of that was going to change my situation. I had to stop blaming others and take responsibility for what I could do from that point forward.
Instead of focusing on what I had lost, I started thinking about what I could build. I did research into new business ideas and discovered a competitor brand called Approval Nation, which inspired me to create my own brand—Approval Heroes. I checked if the domain name was available, and when I saw that it was, I registered multiple domains for future expansion.
I realized that even though my previous business had failed, I had developed valuable skills in marketing, branding, and website creation. I used those skills to start building the Approval Heroes website from the ground up. Around the same time, ChatGPT was released, and I jumped into learning about prompt engineering. Over the course of a few months, I created more than 200 prompts and over 100 custom GPTs, which became essential tools for launching my new business.
The turning point was when I took full responsibility for my situation. I stopped blaming my circumstances and started focusing on what I could control. I incorporated a new company, built the foundation of a business that will create value for both consumers and businesses, and made the conscious decision to take ownership of my future. While I did spend some time in self-pity, I refused to stay there. I realized that no one was going to change my situation but me.
Tip 6: Make Time for Self-Reflection
In the fast pace of everyday life, it’s easy to get caught up in the chaos and forget to take time to reflect. But self-reflection is essential for growth. Patrick Bet-David stresses the importance of taking a “time out” to step away from the noise and really assess where you are in life. It’s about looking at your past decisions, your current situation, and your future goals with a clear mind, and asking yourself what needs to change.
For me, one of the most effective tools for self-reflection has been the Self-Authoring Program by Dr. Jordan Peterson. The program breaks reflection into three parts: the past, present, and future. It guided me through a deep dive into my past, helping me analyze the mistakes I’d made and the things that had gone wrong in my life—not just to dwell on them, but to understand why they happened. I also reflected on the good things I had done, the qualities that helped me achieve success, and where my strengths lie.
The present authoring phase helped me assess my current situation, identifying my faults and strengths. This part was crucial because it forced me to confront my shortcomings while recognizing the areas where I had real potential. But the most transformative part was the future authoring section. It pushed me to make a concrete plan for how I wanted to change my life moving forward. After losing my business during COVID-19 and struggling with self-worth, this reflective process gave me the clarity I needed to set new goals and develop a strategy to achieve them.
Self-reflection isn’t just about thinking—it’s about action. It’s about taking the time to evaluate where you are and where you want to go, then making a plan to get there. Without that period of reflection, I wouldn’t have been able to develop the clarity and direction I needed to rebuild my life and start my new business.
Tip 7: Make a Bold Move to Reinvent Yourself
One of the most transformative lessons Patrick Bet-David teaches is that, at some point, you need to make a bold move to reinvent yourself. Reinvention isn’t just about changing careers or starting a new project—it’s about stepping into a new version of yourself that leaves behind the limiting beliefs and negative identities you once carried. It’s about embracing who you truly are and committing to living out that potential.
For me, the bold move was launching Approval Heroes. After losing my marketing business during the COVID-19 pandemic and going through a period of self-reflection, I realized that the biggest reinvention I needed wasn’t just in my professional life—it was in how I saw myself. For years, I had carried around labels like “Matt the imposter” and “Matt the pervert,” believing that these defined who I was. But I’ve come to understand that those labels were never the truth—they were limiting beliefs I had imposed on myself.
The real truth is that I’m a person of integrity and value. I’ve discovered that I’m not stupid or incapable—in fact, I have an IQ in the 98th percentile. For many years, it felt like I was living as Clark Kent, unaware of the Superman within me. I didn’t realize that I had superpowers—strengths, intelligence, and a unique set of skills that set me apart. Once I started to embrace who I truly am, everything changed.
Launching Approval Heroes was my way of stepping into this new identity and creating a business that reflects the person I’ve become. I’ve set goals not just for my business, but also for my personal life. I’ve committed to working out, losing weight, and eventually running a marathon—because I believe in becoming the best version of myself, both physically and mentally. My past no longer defines me; my future is shaped by the goals and values I’ve chosen to embrace.
Making a bold move to reinvent yourself doesn’t mean denying your past—it means recognizing that your past doesn’t determine your future. You have the power to create a new narrative for your life, and the first step is deciding to leave behind the old versions of yourself that no longer serve you.
Conclusion: Moving Forward by Breaking Free
Breaking free from limiting beliefs isn’t easy, but it’s the most important step you can take toward becoming the person you’re meant to be. Whether it’s identifying the patterns holding you back, breaking free from generational curses, or making bold moves to reinvent yourself, each step forward brings you closer to the life you truly want.
In my own journey, I’ve battled feelings of rejection, insecurity, and self-doubt. I’ve faced struggles that left me feeling powerless, but through self-reflection, accountability, and embracing responsibility, I’ve learned that my past doesn’t define my future. The turning point came when I made the decision to stop blaming my circumstances and start taking control of what I could do.
Launching Approval Heroes was my bold move toward creating the life and business I’ve always wanted. And along the way, I’ve realized that the limiting beliefs I once held were just that—beliefs, not truths. Today, I’m no longer held back by those old labels. I know who I am, and I’m focused on moving forward, step by step, toward the goals I’ve set for myself.
The same is true for you. Whatever challenges you’ve faced, whatever limiting beliefs have held you back, you have the power to break free from them. The key is to start small—whether it’s through self-reflection, taking responsibility for your actions, or making a bold move in your personal or professional life.
Your past doesn’t define you—your actions moving forward do.
Take some time to reflect on the areas of your life where you’re holding back, and make a plan to overcome those barriers. The path to success starts with recognizing your own worth and taking the first step toward the future you want to create.
You’ve got this. Now, go make your bold move.
