Many people carry a quiet but persistent inner belief that whispers,“I’m not good enough.” It may surface in the workplace, in relationships, or simply in your day-to-day thoughts. This feeling doesn’t always shout — often it hums in the background like an annoying tune you can’t switch off.

As a Rapid Transformational Therapist (RTT) and clinical hypnotherapist, I see this belief come up again and again. Clients come in with a range of issues ranging from anxiety, depression, weight struggles, confidence issues to procrastination, but at the core of nearly all of these challenges is the same false belief: “I’m not enough.”

The subconscious mind: Where the real beliefs live

In order to understand why this belief is so powerful, we need to look at how the mind works. On a day-to-day basis, only about 5% of our thoughts and actions are driven by the conscious mind. The part that makes logical decisions and sets intentions.

The other 95% is governed by the subconscious, which operates automatically based on past experiences and deep-rooted beliefs. This is where our beliefs and behaviours are stored which become the foundation for how we navigate through our lives. This explains that even though we logically know that something we’re doing such as smoking, may be bad for us, we do it regardless. That’s the work of the subconscious mind!

A helpful analogy that I use when I explain how the mind works to my clients is comparing the conscious mind as a passenger on a bus looking out of the window and just enjoying the view. The subconscious mind is the actual driver of that bus— quietly directing your emotions, reactions, and behaviours, even when you’re not aware of it. This is why someone can know they are intelligent, capable, or lovable on a conscious level, yet still feel like a fraud or undeserving deep down.

The thought-feeling-behaviour loop

Now that we’ve explored how the subconscious mind shapes our beliefs, it’s important to understand how these beliefs continue to impact our day-to-day life — often without us realising it.

On average, we have approximately 65,000 thoughts each day. What’s even more striking is that 95% of those thoughts are the same ones we had the day before. This means that we’re not just thinking—we’re repeating. And if many of those repeated thoughts are rooted in a belief like “I’m not good enough,” it becomes a mental habit loop that keeps us stuck.

Here’s how it works: A negative thought (“I’m going to mess this up”) triggers a feeling (anxiety, dread, self-doubt), which then drives behaviour/action (procrastination, withdrawal, perfectionism). Consequently, that behaviour/action then reinforces the original thought (“See? I knew I couldn’t do it”), and the cycle then continues.

These loops can run silently in the background, shaped by subconscious beliefs formed years ago. What happens is that over time, these loops become our default way of thinking, feeling, and behaving—that is until we consciously interrupt the pattern and create something new.

But where does the “not good enough” belief come from?

This belief doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It usually begins in childhood. This is when our minds are highly impressionable and we’re trying to make sense of the world. As children, we’re sensitive to tone, emotion, and patterns of attention and from a young age, we start forming beliefs based on our experiences. So, this is where our programming starts.

It could be a parent who was emotionally unavailable, a teacher who was overly critical, or a sibling who seemed to outshine them. Sometimes, it’s not about what was said or done, but what wasn’t — not feeling heard, not being comforted, or not receiving enough affirmation.

Even if the intention wasn’t harmful, the child’s mind may interpret these moments as, “I’m not lovable unless I perform,” or “There must be something wrong with me". These beliefs then settle into the subconscious, which then goes on to shape self-perception and behaviour well into adulthood.

How “I’m not enough” affects adult life

The issue is that the belief that you’re not good enough doesn’t simply stay tucked away in childhood. It shows up in all kinds of ways. It could be:

• Perfectionism – trying to earn worth through flawless performance
• People-pleasing – seeking approval to feel accepted
• Fear of failure – avoiding risk to prevent being “exposed”
• Imposter syndrome – believing your success is luck, and you don’t deserve it
• Overworking or burnout – trying to prove your value through achievement
• Procrastination – putting things off because you fear you won’t do them well enough

The belief affects how we feel (anxious, inadequate, overwhelmed), which affects how we behave (withdrawing, overcompensating, or sabotaging). And so, the cycle continues — unless we find a way to interrupt it.

Why logic isn’t enough to break the cycle

Many clients come to therapy saying, “I know I should feel confident, but I don’t,” or “I understand where my issues come from, but I can’t seem to change them.” That’s because, as I explained earlier, the belief isn’t just stored in your thinking mind, it lives deeper, in your subconscious programming. A simple analogy for this is the popular iceberg analogy, where the tip of the iceberg represents the conscious/logical mind, but the subconscious is hidden under the surface. 

You can’t reason your way out of a belief that wasn’t formed through logic in the first place.

That’s why approaches like RTT, which work directly with the subconscious, can be so effective. Instead of just talking about the problem with your conscious mind, we work to identify and shift the belief that’s feeding it.

How does rapid transformational therapy and hypnosis work?

In RTT, we use a relaxed state (hypnosis) to bypass the critical, analytical mind and connect with the subconscious mind. Hypnosis is a method of pausing that little voice in our head in the same the way it does when you’re absorbed in a book or a film. As a side note here, there’s no magic in hypnosis so you’re in full control and can stop at any time!

During hypnosis, we can trace back to the origin of the belief which is often a childhood event or moment and then help you understand the meaning your mind attached to it. For instance, a client may realise that their fear of being seen stems from a school experience where they were humiliated in front of the class. That memory may have been buried, but the belief it created “It’s not safe to be seen” has continued to run silently ever since.

Once that belief is brought into awareness, we work to reframe it. Using powerful language and imagery, we reprogram the subconscious with new, empowering beliefs. A personalised recording is then given to the client to listen to for 30 days which is a crucial step in forming new neural pathways and reinforcing the updated self-concept.

Real-life change: Rewriting the internal script

One client I worked with, let’s call her Susan, came in for chronic procrastination. On the surface, she was bright, creative, and ambitious. But she didn’t seem to be able to motivate herself enough to complete her course so that she could retrain to change her career where she was unhappy.

We discovered that despite having a happy home life, Susan had internalised a belief from childhood from when she was in school: “I’m not smart enough.” The a-ha moment was when she was looking out of her window while in class because she didn’t understand the work and the teacher was busy with the ‘smart’ pupils. Beneath the procrastination wasn’t laziness, but fear. A fear of failing which is why she would make excuses for not completing it.  

Once we were able to locate the source of the belief, we were able to reframe it and reinforce a new narrative, that trying is brave, and failure is not a reflection of worth, Susan’s confidence grew. She was able to complete her training and successfully change careers.

You were always enough — You just didn’t always feel it

If you’ve ever wondered why, you constantly feel like you’re not good enough, remember that you’re not broken. What’s happening is that you’re running an outdated belief system. And the good news is, is that beliefs can be changed.

Working with the subconscious mind allows us to update the emotional “software” that drives our habits, thoughts, and self-worth. When we change what we believe at the core, we flip the script. Everything changes. How we feel. How we behave. And how we show up in the world. It all begins to shift.

You don’t need to keep living under the weight of “I’m not enough.” Even if that false belief may have started a long ago, it doesn’t mean that it needs to define your future.