The power of challenging your self-limiting beliefs

Seasonal viewing

One of my daughters and I recently worked our way through watching Clarkson’s Farm. I’m always a bit late to the party with these kinds of popular and much-talked about shows – Bridgerton, Tiger King and Squid Game for example. I can’t remember what sparked my interest with Clarkson’s Farm, but my daughter, recovering from COVID and needing to self-isolate, was feeling bored and frustrated, so I really wanted to find something we could watch and enjoy together.

I’ve always been a bit love him/loathe him with Jeremy Clarkson – he can be a bit of a prat in my opinion, but I did love the ridiculous things he, Richard Hammond and James May got up to in Top Gear back in the day.

So, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Clarkson’s Farm. I hadn’t read any reviews and all I knew about was Diddly Squat Farm Shop because a friend in the village where I live, had made a hilarious scarecrow display of said Farm Shop, for the Scarecrow Hunt.

Ruby and I sat down to watch the first episode, chocolate and popcorn at the ready – well, it’s got to be done, hasn’t it.

Farming Diary

As the show opened, I did start to wonder what a teenager might possibly find interesting about a) Jeremy Clarkson and b) farming. But do you know what, we were both hooked from the start. I’m not sure if it was Clarkson’s purchase of the ridiculously sized Lamborghini tractor (apparently, they are known for their ‘bold style, their performance, design and exclusive appeal which sets them apart’. I think Jeremy Clarkson just wanted a hybrid of Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour!). The size of the tractor meant that everyone who encountered the vehicle commented that it was ‘too big’. Or maybe we loved the show from the outset because of the team of people who Clarkson worked with which piqued mine and Ruby’s interest. There was ‘cheerful’ Charlie – who advises Jeremy on farm management (much needed!); Gerald, who’s helped at every harvest on the farm for the past 50 years but speaks with such a strong accent, you don’t really have much of a clue what he’s saying, Lisa – Jeremy’s long-suffering partner, and Kaleb – or ‘foetus’ as Jeremy calls him due to the fact Kaleb is 21 years old – so much younger than Jeremy, he could name each of the fields on Clarkson’s 1,000 acre farm, has vast farming knowledge and already has several established businesses under his belt.

Clarkson relied quite heavily on Kaleb’s knowledge and experience and the banter between the two was hilarious. One of my favourite scenes was when Jeremy failed to listen to Kaleb’s advice when drilling the land ready for the seeds to be planted. It meant there were no tramlines thus throwing Kaleb off when it came to spraying and fertilising (I’ve learnt so much!), and Clarkson had completely ‘messed up’ according to Kaleb. An exchange which had Ruby and I in hysterics.

As the season went on, we found out that despite his farming acumen and wisdom, Kaleb had never travelled further than 12 miles away. Except for a school art trip to London but he refused to leave the coach because the place scared him.

Cue someone needing to go to the fancy pants restaurants in London to flog rather expensive Wasabi plants, which Jeremy had grown himself. Jeremy felt there was some money to be had here but the trouble was, he had some rather pressing issues on the farm to deal with and so, Kaleb was dispatched to the capital.

Success in all its flavours

So, in episode seven, we see Kaleb drive to London. The Satnav firing off all its instructions whilst trying to navigate his way around the Big Smoke was enough to send poor Kaleb into despair, let alone rejection after rejection from each of the Japanese restaurants. He got a call from his Mum while he was in The Shard – apparently, the family app had sent her a notification that he was in London – no wonder she called to check on him!

I hugely admired Kaleb. Apart from that one school trip, he had never left the county. He had no interest to. As the saying goes: ‘I know what I like and like what I know.’ Yet he’d given it a go. Yes, I expect it was all part of the TV ratings but it’s still a huge endeavour to leave the parameters of what you’ve known all your life, to travel to the complete unknown.

At the start of The Winning Edge course we ask attendees to define what success is for them. I think in life, in general, when people don’t think too deeply, it’s thought money, bling, cars and fame equal success. As Sir Richard Branson said: “Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.”  Spoken by a billionaire yes, but someone who has built his fortune and has known many failures en route. He has tried things and failed, learning how not to do things and growing his knowledge in the process.

Money, cars, holidays etc bring pleasure but not happiness. Get as much pleasure as you can because it’s a great feeling, but pleasure is like a piece of cake, it’s gratifying whilst you’re eating it, but it doesn’t last. Pleasure is short-lived. Happiness is knowing what success is for you and striving for and achieving it.

When our course attendees are encouraged to dedicate time to think about what success means to them, intrinsic values are always at the forefront – happiness, fulfilment, family, fun, love, challenge, adventure, personal growth etc.

Kaleb went to London, he discovered what it was like to drive around the capital, he visited some of the top restaurants and gave the sales patter a go, and he saw some of the sights as he travelled around, but it wasn’t for him. He was way way out of his comfort zone, and he didn’t like it. So, back to Chipping Norton. Back to tell Jeremy he was a prat and getting him out of some scrapes - always being there to pick up the pieces every time Jeremy announced he ‘had a plan’…  Back to building his own business empire.

This for me was a great example of someone willing to give it a go, willing to feel the fear and do it anyway, willing to challenge any limiting self-beliefs.

I suggest you push yourself out of your comfort zone to find out what success is for you, because if you don’t try new experiences, or face challenges head on, how do you know what you are or are not capable of? How do you know whether you will like something or not? You can then make a much more informed decision.

Walk the walk

I talked about this recently when I challenged myself to give Go Ape a go because my youngest daughter and her 11-year-old friends were all prepared to take on the challenge. I really really didn’t want to do it. But I wanted to do it more than I didn’t because I wanted to question the belief I had about myself, I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. So, I did it and I hated every single minute of it. I sounded like I was puffing in labour for the entire way round! BUT, I felt the fear and did it anyway. I challenged the self-belief that I wasn’t able to do it – I questioned that narrative I had been telling myself.

And afterwards? Well, I now know I can do something like that if I want to – I have the ability, I just know I don’t have the desire to. And that’s OK because that’s where the difference lies – I will no longer say I can’t do it, I know I don’t want to.

Kaleb knows he can go to London – he is more than capable of doing it, that narrative can change from not being able to do it.

So, I challenge you – I challenge you to hold a mirror up to yourself and to question the self-doubt, to question the self-propaganda which perpetuates a narrative which might be keeping your world small, when in fact you are hiding behind this façade and might learn something new about yourself if you branched out and faced it all head on.

You may well realise you should pay diddly-squat attention to all that self-doubt and can actually reinvent yourself. Or, through some self-discovery, you realise you do know your talents and that you’re the best in that area of expertise, so you’re going to keep doing what you do, but maybe you can do it even better.

Clarkson’s Farm might not be your cup of cider but apparently, it’s done more for farming with that one series, than BBC’s Countryfile has done in 30 years. Now, I don’t know about that, but I do know that my daughter and I have a new-found respect for farmers and living in the crunchyside as we do, I think from now on, we’ll be so much more appreciative of what goes into farming, and aware of the effect the sun and rain has… In the final episode of season one, Jeremy Clarkson says: “The next time you hear a farmer moan about the weather, put your arm around him and buy him a pint.” Quite right.

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Do you allow self-doubt to hold you back? Are self-limiting beliefs preventing you from facing challenges head on? 

The Mindset Coaching Membership can help you understand the tools and strategies needed to be the best version of you. With Masterclass Teachings + Coaching + Accountability, we will help you to create the future you want. Find out more here. 

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