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I used to be proud of my panic attacks.

Sounds insane, right? But for years, I genuinely believed that suffering was the price of growth. Every anxiety spiral, every sleepless night wrestling with impostor syndrome, every moment of crushing overwhelm; I wore them like badges of honor. Clear evidence that I was pushing myself, evolving, becoming more.

This belief ran so deep that when I finally started addressing my mental health, part of me was terrified. If I wasn't suffering, was I even growing anymore?

It took me years to realize this wasn't just a "mindset issue." This was a core energetic pattern, a limiting belief so embedded in my nervous system, my biofield, my cellular memory, that no amount of positive thinking could change it. And I'm not alone in this realization.

The education advantage is real: people raised with fewer limiting beliefs can scale faster because they fight less against ego-imposed limitations. They don't carry the energetic weight of beliefs like "struggle equals worthiness" or "I have to prove myself through suffering." Meanwhile, those of us programmed with these patterns find ourselves hitting invisible ceilings that have nothing to do with our skills, strategy, or work ethic.

A clear example of this for me is now arising from my interviews with younger (GenZ) founders for the Founder Bible podcast. I often notice they learn much quicker and stop doing overly demeaning activities if they realize they don’t serve their wellbeing. Many older generations make fun of them, saying they don’t know anymore what it takes to work hard. The reality is, they simply have a much less rotten belief system about “suffering” and they don’t suffer for causes they don’t believe in. And since working in a traditional old style office, with a merely monetary reward, is a worthless cause for them. They quit and move on to the next, more meaningful thing. As simple as that.

Here's what makes this particularly relevant for founders: 73% of us are neurodivergent, which means most of us carry deeper energetic patterns that require conscious attention. Our brains work differently, we process the world differently, and we often experience childhood differently. These differences create specific energetic signatures that, when unaddressed, become the invisible limitations that sabotage our growth.

The problem isn't that we have limiting beliefs. The problem is that we've been trying to solve them at the wrong level. Let me explain!

I spent years ruminating about my beliefs around suffering and growth. I could intellectually understand that this pattern wasn't serving me. I could even create new, healthier thoughts about what growth could look like. But somehow, when stress was at its highest, I'd find myself right back in the same patterns.

The reason? Limiting beliefs aren't just mental constructs. They're energetic patterns stored throughout your entire system—in your nervous system, your biofield, your cellular memory. When trauma or early programming creates these patterns, they become embedded at a level much deeper than conscious thought. (We already introduced this topic in the article “The body keeps the score”)

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk's groundbreaking research in "The Body Keeps the Score" shows us that traumatic experiences don't just create psychological wounds; they create physical, energetic imprints that live in the body. These imprints continue to influence our behavior, our decisions, our stress responses, long after the original events.

For founders, this plays out in predictable ways. You might intellectually know you're capable of scaling your business, but some part of your system still broadcasts the energy of "I'm not good enough" or "Success isn't safe." Others unconsciously sense this energetic contradiction, investors pick up on your hidden self-doubt, team members mirror your internal chaos. And yes, that’s why strong, confident, masculine founders often end up raising way more than you, even if they have much smaller numbers. They are confident, and their belief system has zero room for the possibility of failure. This of course is the other extreme of the problem, but that’s not the point.

This is why traditional business coaching is so fundamental but often fails. You can learn all the strategies in the world, but if your energetic foundation is broadcasting limitation, you'll find ways to sabotage your own success. (BTW we work exactly on these limiting beliefs and trapped energies in our Founders-only retreats. Check here for the upcoming ones!)

My breakthrough came not through more analysis, but through breathwork. As we discussed in our article about meditation and finding peace within your mind, conscious breathing is one of our most powerful tools for accessing and transforming stored patterns.

During an intense breathwork session, something unexpected happened. About twenty minutes in, as my nervous system began to shift states, a memory surfaced that I hadn't thought about in decades. I was eight years old, struggling with a math problem, and my father—well-intentioned but stressed—had said, "Nothing worthwhile comes easy. If it's not hard, you're not trying hard enough." This seemingly innocent advice sowed a seed. And soon after, reiterated confirmations from the environment (a grandfather commenting on the value of his hard work during WWII or a teacher giving you a high grade and a note “you are such a hard worker”!) ingrained that belief into the subconscious.

Years later, during that breathwork meditation, I felt the exact energetic pattern that had been running my life for thirty years crystallize in my body. The belief wasn't just intellectual; it was a full-body energetic signature that equated ease with failure, struggle with virtue, and suffering with growth.

Research by Dr. Stanislav Grof on holotropic breathwork shows that these non-ordinary states of consciousness can access traumatic imprints stored at the cellular level. Unlike talk therapy, which works primarily with the prefrontal cortex, breathwork engages the entire nervous system, allowing us to process and release patterns that live below the threshold of conscious awareness.

The transformation wasn't immediate, but it was profound. As I continued working with breathwork and other somatic practices, I began to notice that my relationship to challenge fundamentally shifted. I could pursue growth without the underlying current of suffering. I could take on ambitious projects without the familiar anxiety that "proved" I was pushing myself hard enough.

More importantly, others began responding to me differently. My team felt more relaxed around me. Investors seemed more confident in my vision. The energetic field I was broadcasting had changed, and that change rippled out into every area of my life and business.

(To add on the different methods you can use to access your subconscious mind and rewire your belief systems from the inside out, I already discussed my opinion on psychedelics here. If done correctly, they are currently one of the most effective tools to boost your neuroplasticity and build new healthier habits, with little to no friction from your past limiting routines.

The 73% statistic isn't just interesting trivia; it's a roadmap for understanding why so many of us struggle with invisible limitations. Neurodivergent brains often exhibit enhanced sensitivity, improved pattern recognition, and more creative problem-solving abilities. But they also come with specific energetic signatures that, when misunderstood, become sources of shame and limitation.

ADHD founders often carry energetic patterns around being "too much"—too intense, too scattered, too different. Autistic founders might have patterns around being "wrong" for needing different environments or communication styles. Highly sensitive founders often struggle with energetic boundaries, taking on the emotional states of everyone around them.

These patterns don't just affect our internal experience, they shape our external reality. When you're unconsciously broadcasting "I'm too much," you attract situations and people who reinforce that belief. When your energetic field carries the signature of "I don't belong," you'll find yourself consistently feeling like an outsider, even in your own company.

The paradox is that these same neurodivergent traits that created painful patterns in childhood are often our greatest assets as entrepreneurs. The intensity that made us "too much" in school becomes the passion that drives innovation. The sensitivity that felt overwhelming becomes the emotional intelligence that creates extraordinary company culture. The pattern recognition that made us seem scattered becomes the systems thinking that revolutionizes industries.

But to access these gifts fully, we need to address the energetic patterns that keep us stuck in limitation.

I see this pattern constantly in the founders I work with. They've achieved tremendous external success, but at the cost of constant internal struggle. They've learned to function despite their energetic misalignment, not because of their energetic gifts.

Take Daniel, a founder I interviewed for the Founder Bible podcast. His company was growing rapidly, but he was burning through team members, struggling with anxiety, and finding himself increasingly isolated. He was operating from what he called "survival mode"—pushing through stress, ignoring his body's signals, treating his sensitivity as a weakness to overcome rather than a strength to leverage.

When Daniel began addressing his energetic patterns through therapy, breathwork, and somatic practices, something remarkable happened. Not only did his personal wellbeing improve, but his company culture transformed. Team retention improved dramatically. Decision-making became more intuitive and effective. Revenue growth accelerated.

This isn't just correlation—it's causation. When leaders address their core energetic patterns, it creates a ripple effect throughout their entire organization. The energy they broadcast changes, which changes how others respond to them, which changes the entire dynamic of the business.

Traditional therapy has its place, don’t get me wrong! But for deep energetic patterns, we need approaches that work with the whole system. Talk therapy engages the prefrontal cortex—the thinking brain. But limiting beliefs are often stored in the limbic system, the nervous system, the biofield itself.

This is why so many high-achieving founders find themselves frustrated with conventional therapeutic approaches. You can understand your patterns intellectually, but if they're not shifting energetically, you'll keep running into the same walls.

Ready to start mapping your own energetic patterns? Here are some practical approaches to begin this work:

Body Scanning for Belief Patterns: Set aside 20 minutes in a quiet space. Close your eyes and slowly scan through your body from head to toe. When you encounter areas of tension, restriction, or numbness, pause and ask: "What belief might be stored here?" Notice what arises without judgment.

Breath Work for Pattern Recognition: Use a simple breathwork technique: Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 6, hold for 2. Repeat for 10-15 minutes. As your nervous system shifts, notice what thoughts, memories, or sensations arise. These often point to underlying patterns.

Environmental Feedback: Pay attention to how different environments, people, and situations affect your energy. Do certain spaces make you feel contracted? Do specific types of people trigger defensive responses? Your energetic field is constantly giving you feedback about your internal patterns.

Stress Response Mapping: The next time you encounter a challenging situation, notice not just what you're thinking, but what you're feeling in your body. Where does the stress live? What does it remind you of? Often, present-moment triggers connect to much older patterns.

Remember! The goal isn't to eliminate all limiting beliefs—it's to become conscious of them so you can choose which patterns serve your growth and which ones keep you stuck.

It explains why willpower fails, why some people seem to effortlessly achieve what others struggle with, and why addressing the whole system—not just the mind—is essential for breakthrough.

But breath is just the beginning. Your entire body generates electromagnetic fields that store these patterns in ways that ancient healers could actually see and modern science can now measure. These bioelectrical signatures don't just influence your internal experience, they broadcast to everyone around you, shaping how others respond to you and what opportunities flow your way.

In our next article, we'll explore this invisible architecture of limitation and possibility, and discover how to consciously reshape the energetic field that determines your reality.

For now, start with breath. Start with awareness. Start with the recognition that the patterns keeping you stuck aren't character flaws—they're energetic configurations that can be transformed through the right approaches.

Your growth isn't limited by your past. It's only limited by your willingness to work with the energetic patterns that past created. And that work? It's not just personal development—it's the foundation for the kind of leadership that changes the world.