As we move into the second half of the year, it is worth pausing to reflect. A mid-year review usually focuses on goals, achievements, progress and plans for the months ahead.

But there is another question worth considering:

Which beliefs have influenced the way you have approached your professional life this year?

The impact of our belief system is often greater than we realise. So why not include a review of your beliefs in your mid-year reflection?

The origins of our belief system can be diverse. Some beliefs may have developed through our upbringing, culture or early environment. Others may have emerged from our personal and professional experiences.

They may include beliefs such as:

“Hard work will always be rewarded.”

“I need to feel completely ready before taking the next step.”

“Good work should speak for itself.”

Some beliefs may appear positive, responsible or even admirable. Yet when they become rigid, they can prevent us from making our contribution visible, asking for support, taking a new step or reconsidering a direction that no longer feels right.

Beliefs do not determine our professional future. But they can influence how we interpret situations, respond to challenges and recognise the possibilities available to us.

A sentence I recently heard in a podcast has stayed at the back of my mind:

“There are beliefs we have and beliefs that have us.”

It made me reflect on the beliefs we carry about success, work, leadership, security, age, change and our own abilities.

Looking more closely at “beliefs we have and beliefs that have us”:

The distinction is not simply between positive and negative beliefs. The more important question is whether we can recognise and examine a belief or whether it operates automatically and takes the lead.

A belief we have is one we can name, question and reconsider. We recognise that it reflects an interpretation rather than an established fact.

A belief that has us operates largely in the background. We begin to treat it as a fact and allow it to define what is possible before consciously considering the alternatives.

Including your beliefs in your mid-year reflection

With this blog, I would like to encourage you to include a review of your beliefs in your mid-year reflection.

The purpose is not to question every belief you hold. It is to recognise the beliefs that may be influencing your professional choices without your full awareness, particularly those that repeatedly cause you to hesitate, hold back or remain within familiar boundaries.

The reflection follows a simple pattern:

Notice situations that did not develop as you had hoped or in which you felt stuck.

Identify the belief or assumption that may have shaped your response.

Consider how that belief influenced what you did or did not do.

Then decide whether it still supports you or whether a more helpful belief might be worth testing.

Begin by thinking of three to five professional situations that did not develop as you had hoped. Perhaps you hesitated to take a step, avoided a conversation, held back an idea or remained in a situation that no longer felt right.

Looking across these situations, do different beliefs show up? Or does the same belief seem to appear again and again?

Whether one belief or several are involved, take each one in turn and reflect on the following questions:

What did you believe had to be true in that situation?

How did that belief shape the way you responded?

What did the belief lead you to assume about yourself, other people or the situation?

What did it encourage you to do—and what did it prevent you from doing?

Going forward, is this belief still useful?

A belief may once have protected or motivated you but no longer serve your present professional situation.

The key question is whether this belief still deserves the influence it has today.

What might be a more helpful and realistic belief?

This is not about replacing a difficult belief with an unrealistic positive statement.

For example, instead of believing:

“I need to feel completely ready before taking the next step,”

a more helpful and realistic belief might be:

“I can prepare carefully and still take a first step without knowing everything.”

The new belief needs to feel credible enough for you to act on it.

What small action could help you test this new belief?

Choose one or two manageable actions through which you can put the new belief into practice.

Afterwards, reflect on what happened.

What did you do differently?

How did it feel?

What did you learn from the experience?

Over time, small actions can provide new evidence.

A more useful belief can gradually become not only something you would like to believe, but something you have begun to experience.

What do you want to carry forward?

As you look towards the second half of 2026, ask yourself:

Which belief do I want to carry forward?

Which belief deserves to be questioned?

And what small step could help me respond differently?

Making our beliefs visible allows us to choose more consciously which ones should continue to guide us and which ones should no longer take the lead.

So take the courage to make your belief system more visible to recognise the beliefs you have and those that may have you.

Changing an unhelpful belief can be challenging. But becoming aware of it gives you the opportunity to decide more consciously whether it still serves you or whether something needs to change.

And if you are unsure where to begin, let’s talk.

 

#beliefs #careerreflection #professionaldevelopment #careerdevelopment #selfawareness #professionalgrowth #takecourage#careercoaching #executivecoaching