Eliminate Self-Sabotage — 6 Ways You Might Be Sabotaging Your Success

In coaching a wide range of entrepreneurs I frequently, see ways that people hold themselves back from their success and have experienced many myself. I’m sure we’ve all heard the phrase of “getting out of our own way”, well, here are 6 ways that you might be sabotaging your success. 

Do you find yourself thinking or saying, “I know that”? Next time, catch yourself and then do a reality check to see if you are actually “doing  that”.  You see, you can’t really say you “know it” unless you’re actually “doing it”. When we say we “know something” we tend to shut down the learning.  It’s true, there are a lot of things we know but just don’t do.  So start DOING!

This one has been a past favorite of mine – doing it all myself. So whether you’re the lone ranger because you feel no one can do it as well as you or you see some pride (or safety)  in being self sufficient I encourage you to think a bigger. There’s power in having a team or leveraging your network. Ask yourself who can I collaborative with or what can I get help with and then seek it out. Difficult? Yes. But absolutely worth it.

Do your days fly by? Feel that you’re ‘busy’ all the time but often it seems like nothing much is getting done. Is your to-do list growing to an impossible length? Perhaps organization isn’t your strength – if so, get help. If you tend to over commit then learn to say “NO”.  Being in constant overload, overwhelm and scattered is a sure-fire guarantee for not reaching your potential.

Where do you hold yourself back from moving forward? We all do at one time or another.  Do you tend to think too small or procrastinate too much? Fear can disguise itself in many forms of limiting behavior – what’s yours?  I find that to overcome fear I need to “hook with possibility” or have a big enough “why”. When I connect with the bigger dream or vision there just isn’t any room for fear.

If perfectionism is a way of life or a badge of honor you proudly wear, I want to share a phrase I heard while at a marketing conference in San Francisco. Alex Mandossian our host and presenter coined the phrase “sloppy success” which has changed the way I look at things.

Don’t let perfectionism hold you back – consider everything as a sloppy success. Try coming from the position that just doing something is success enough – even if it isn’t “perfect”.

Embracing sloppy success has allowed me to try more, do more and be more.  Give it a whirl and let me know how you make out.

Another way of saying this is poor ‘self care’. Do you find it easy to take care of things or others but not yourself? Do you work crazy long hours, sleep and eat at odd intervals, skip vacations, or never have time to take care of yourself?

Remember, you are your best asset! You need to invest in yourself – get enough sleep, exercise, eat healthy meals, expand your mind, attend programs or courses, develop new skills, get expert help, hire a coach. It’s important to invest in your ability to succeed. After all how can you contribute to others if you’re not in top form?

If you see yourself in any of the above I encourage you to work on it.  Changing any one of these will have a huge impact on yourself and your business!