I just finished writing an article for this great new magazine called Going Bonkers (available in all major bookstores) called: Ending Self Sabotage: How to Get from Where You Are Now to Where You Need to Be.
Self sabotage is when you hold yourself back (consciously or unconsciously) from what's truly important to you. Several years ago Joe Vitale asked me to do an ebook with him on this topic (What's Stopping You? How to End Self Sabotage for Aspiring Ebook Authors) because he found that tons of people bought his information products but didn't use them. His goal was not to simply sell products, but to help people actually use them to achieve their goals.
Self sabotage interferes with translating knowledge into action.
We often know what we need to do but don't do it.
Here are some of the key components to self sabotage which can hold you back- ask yourself if you do any of these things...
- Tell yourself that you're ready to change, but really you aren't. This is too bad when it happens because your simply using the wrong strategies. If you aren't yet ready to take action, that is FINE, but you need to be honest with yourself and instead focus on getting yourself ready to take action.
- Get frozen by the fear of failure. The fear of failure is the number one thing that holds most people back. It's much easier to not try something than to try and fail. The flipside of the fear of failure is the fear of success-- we worry about the changes and problems that would occur if we were successful.
- Difficulty getting and staying self-motivated. Self motivation is tough- we need to get ourselves going and keep ourselves going when the rewards may not be immediately evident. The key is building in some short term rewards for your accomplishment.
- Procrastination and perfectionism. If you have rigid or overly high standards for yourself, you're likely to put things off until you can do them perfectly. As you can imagine or already know, this doesn't help you to get things done.
What else holds you back?
There are dozens of things. When you think of what else holds you back, be vigilant for excuses- we often fool ourselves by blaming things like time and money, which keeps us from taking responsibility and getting where we really want to be. I love to tell myself that I don't have time to exercise- that's one of my favorite excuses. But I know that we make time for what we prioritize so I need to prioritize exercise!
The key for change in any of these areas is self awareness. You must first be aware of what you do- take an honest inventory.
Then you can work on creating new habits and steps to go after your biggest goals.
Until next time...
Larina Kase
Comments