My Ex-Coworker Had This Intense Limiting Belief

That led him down the wrong path

During college, I spent a summer working at Foot Locker.

I thought it would be my dream job because I was into sneakers at the time.

The reality of it wasn’t nearly as glamorous as I would’ve expected. The 40% discount was pretty sweet though.

One day, while talking to a coworker, I was shocked by something he said.

The limiting belief

This was several years back, so I doubt the person is still working there.

Let’s call him John.

While talking to John, we came upon the subject of money and status.

I can’t remember exactly how it came up.

But anyway, he shared something along the lines of the following ideas:

• All rich people must have cheated to get to where they are at
• People high up on the corporate ladder must have stabbed people in the back on their way up

I carried on and wasn’t going to start a debate with John.

But I remember being shocked in the moment. What detrimental beliefs to have.

Let’s take the first idea into account.

This thought would indicate that John could either:

• Cheat to get rich
• Not be rich

Neither of those options are that great in my opinion.

The second idea similarly left John with a couple of options:

• Stab people in the back to get high up on the corporate ladder
• Stay where he is in the management chain

These options are also pretty terrible. Hurt others and gain status. Or don’t gain status.

It’s hard to see someone carry such limiting beliefs.

John was oversimplifying things in a way that would only hold him back. But his lived experience led him to believe these things.

Here are the more nuanced alternatives:

• Some rich people cheated to get rich
• Some rich people didn’t cheat to get rich
• Some poor people cheat to get money
• Some poor people don’t cheat to get money

With regard to the second idea, here are some more realistic perspectives:

• Some senior leaders stab people in the back on their way up the ladder
• Some senior leaders don’t
• Some low-level employees stab others in the back
• Some low-level employees don’t

You can get the idea here. By oversimplifying things, he narrowed things down and gave himself a more limited set of actions.

Later in the summer

I worked with another woman that summer. We can call her Amy.

We were working in retail, so we operated on commissions.

Amy and I were talking and she started complaining about John.

Apparently, John had been cutting into her sales.

There would be times when she would help a customer, go find them shoes, help them try them on, and then send them over to John to check them out at the register.

This was more efficient when things got busy. We always had to have people on the sales floor.

Rather than doing the honest thing and giving the sales commission to Amy, John was counting the sales as his when he rang them up at the register.

It was dishonest and wrong. He was essentially stealing from his coworker.

They got into some big arguments and I’m not sure how things panned out. It was towards the end of that summer.

There are a few lessons we can learn here:

• Don’t accept limiting beliefs that will lead you down the wrong path.
• Question some of your deeply held beliefs. Be curious.
• Don’t do immoral things to get ahead.
• It’s possible to achieve your goals in an honest way.

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