I almost didn't write this post.
I wasn't sure if I could do it justice. But after seeing how this concept has transformed not just my business but every area of my life, I knew I had to share it with you.
If you've been in the personal development space for a while—reading the books, listening to the podcasts, attending the seminars—you know there's no shortage of opinions on mindset. I've been immersed in this world for over two decades now. My name is Jeremiah Krakowski, and I've spent 23 years building businesses in the online marketing and coaching space. During that time, I've scaled my own business past $160,000 a month and into consistent seven figures.
But here's what I want you to understand: the strategy I'm about to share with you works better than anything else I've learned in all those years. And I've learned a lot.
The Hidden Equation Running Your Life
Let me start with a fundamental truth I used to talk about constantly on my podcast:
Your decisions determine your outcomes.
Whatever you're experiencing right now—in your business, your relationships, your bank account—is the result of decisions you've made. But here's where it gets interesting: those decisions come from beliefs. A belief creates a decision. How we show up in life and business is based on how those beliefs string together.
So if you're finding yourself struggling—getting overwhelmed, triggered, procrastinating on the things you know you need to do—it's tied to beliefs operating beneath the surface. Beliefs you may not even be aware of. And those beliefs are impacting your nervous system in powerful ways.
Your Nervous System Is Running the Show
If you've ever studied polyvagal theory, you know that we essentially operate in three states:
Fight or flight – the reactive, stressed, anxious state
Freeze – the shut-down, paralyzed, avoidant state
Thriving – the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state
Here's what most people don't realize: your creativity, your best ideas, your ability to show up powerfully in your business and impact the world around you—all of that comes from the thriving state. When you're stuck in fight, flight, or freeze, you simply cannot access your full potential.
Now, we all move between these states. That's normal. You don't want to turn off your stress responses entirely—they exist for a reason. Somebody cuts you off in traffic, and you feel that immediate spike of anger or fear. That's your nervous system doing its job.
But here's the key insight: based on our beliefs and decisions, we can control how these states affect us. We can learn to move from fight/flight/freeze back into thriving. And that's where everything changes.
My Personal Battle with Perfectionism
I need to be honest with you about where this comes from for me.
I was raised in an environment that created the perfect storm for someone who drank too much, ran from their feelings, and lived by performance. I felt like I was never good enough. On one hand, this drove me to build businesses and achieve success. On the other hand, if things weren't perfect, I would crumble.
I'm married now with two kids. And I discovered that these old patterns were literally hurting my life, my marriage, and my business. I'd have automatic responses—shutting down or getting angry—that came from childhood experiences. And even after years of therapy, I wasn't finding that those responses were actually changing.
Until I discovered this framework.
Why Traditional Approaches Often Fall Short
Don't get me wrong—I love therapy. I think there's tremendous value in understanding the root causes of our issues and processing past experiences.
But here's the problem with affirmations and a lot of traditional mindset work: it often feels like you're lying to yourself.
You stand in front of the mirror and say, "I'm a great leader. I'm a powerful husband. I'm successful." And then the next day, you fail. Nothing changes. The disconnect between what you're saying and what you actually believe creates cognitive dissonance that your brain rejects.
What I'm about to show you is different.
The 6-Step Belief Reframing Framework
This framework has been a game-changer for me. I want to walk you through each step, and then I'll give you some real examples of how to apply it.
Step 1: Identify the Outcome You Want
Start with what's happening right now. You have a trigger—some kind of nervous system response, a behavior you don't like, a pattern that keeps showing up. Now ask yourself: What's the outcome I actually want instead?
Be specific. Don't just say "I want to be successful." What does that look like? How would you be showing up differently?
Step 2: Uncover the Limiting Belief
Behind every unwanted behavior is a belief leading to a decision. Ask yourself: What belief is creating this trigger? What decision am I making that's causing this response?
This takes some digging. The belief isn't always obvious. Sometimes it takes hours—or even sleeping on it—to surface what's really going on beneath.
Step 3: Create the Opposite Belief
Once you've identified the limiting belief, create a new belief that's the opposite.
Here's the thing: this is going to feel like you're lying to yourself at first. That's okay. That's actually part of the process. You're not done yet.
Step 4: Find Evidence for the New Belief
This is where the magic happens.
Your brain is calling BS on your new belief. It's telling you, "That's not true." So now your job is to find evidence—in your own life or in someone else's—that this new belief actually can be true.
What moments have you experienced where this new belief was real? When has this happened for you, even in a small way?
Sometimes this takes all day. Sometimes you have to sleep on it and let your subconscious go to work. But when you find that evidence, something shifts. Your brain starts to believe the new belief because now it has proof.
Step 5: Attach Gratitude
Express genuine gratitude for this new belief and the evidence you've found.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to experience this new way of doing things."
"I'm grateful for the evidence that this is possible."
"I'm grateful for the situation that's allowing me to grow."
Gratitude anchors the new belief emotionally.
Step 6: Anchor It to Faith (or Higher Purpose)
This is where I like to wrap a bow around the whole process. I believe I'm guided and called by God to experience this new belief and to live from this new place.
If you don't share my faith, that's okay—connect it to whatever sense of higher purpose or calling resonates with you. The point is to elevate this beyond just a mental exercise and tie it to something meaningful.
Real-World Examples
Let me show you how this works in practice.
Example 1: The "Perfect Email" Paralysis
One of my clients—and honestly, I've experienced this myself—sits down to write a marketing email and immediately starts feeling tired and exhausted. "This is so hard. I don't want to write it wrong."
What's happening? There's a belief operating beneath the surface: "The email has to be perfect to produce the result I want." Which connects to a deeper belief: "I only get the results I want when I do everything perfectly."
And because we don't know if something is perfect or not—especially in marketing—we procrastinate. We put off the very things we need to do to grow.
The reframe: "Things actually work out well even when they're imperfect."
Evidence: Think about times you sent an imperfect email that still got results. Times you showed up imperfectly and people still responded positively. The video I made for the original training this post is based on? Definitely not perfect. Probably has mistakes. But I have a belief that it's okay—and here you are reading about it.
Example 2: Being Trusted Despite Imperfection
This one was huge for me. I had a belief that for other people to trust me, I had to be perfect in how I showed up. If I wasn't perfect, nobody would trust me enough to do business with me.
This created a scenario where I literally wasn't showing up in my business the way I needed to. The pressure to be perfect was paralyzing me.
The reframe: "People can trust me even if I'm not perfect. Even if I show up authentically, make mistakes, or have a typo in an email."
Finding the evidence for this took me all day. But when I started looking for moments when people trusted me despite my imperfections, I found them. And everything shifted.
Example 3: Confidence with New People
Maybe you struggle to feel confident when talking to people you've never met before—especially on sales calls.
The reframe: "I'm confident and excited when I talk to new people."
Evidence: When were moments in your life when you felt confident talking to someone new? They exist. Find them. Feel gratitude for that confidence. And if you're a person of faith, recognize that you're called to connect with new people as part of your purpose.
How to Start Implementing Today
Here's something practical: I've started using ChatGPT to help me identify limiting beliefs and create reframes. I'll describe what I'm experiencing, and my AI assistant helps me identify what the underlying beliefs might be, what the replacement beliefs could look like, and even suggests evidence I might look for.
You don't have to figure all of this out alone.
I've applied this framework to literally everything—my business, my marriage, my parenting, my self-image. And I'll tell you: it works. It goes beyond what I've experienced with therapy or traditional personal development. When you combine this six-step process with everything else you've learned over the years, it catalyzes everything.
Why This Works: Creating Internal Safety
Here's what's really happening when you go through this process: you're creating safety in your nervous system.
That new evidence, that new belief, the gratitude, the faith—it all signals to your nervous system that it's safe to move forward. Safe to take risks. Safe to show up imperfectly. Safe to write the email, make the call, launch the offer.
Your whole system feels safe to do the things you want to do. And when you feel safe, you can operate from that thriving state where creativity flows and your best ideas emerge.
Final Thoughts
I want to give credit where it's due: I didn't invent this framework. I learned it primarily from David Bayer's book, A Changed Mind: Go Beyond Self-Awareness, Rewire Your Brain, and Re-Engineer Your Reality. If this resonates with you, I'd highly recommend picking it up.
But here's what I know for certain: if you start applying this in your life—to your business, your family, your relationships—it will change everything.
The beliefs running in the background of your mind are either propelling you forward or holding you back. You get to choose which beliefs you operate from. And now you have a framework to make that choice intentionally.
If you're a business owner who wants to accomplish greater things, this mindset shift will change everything for you.
This blog post was generated using A.I. but is based on the content of the following video training: