{"id":41875,"date":"2018-05-29T04:45:57","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T09:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=41875"},"modified":"2018-05-29T04:45:57","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T09:45:57","slug":"words-as-self-sabotage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/words-as-self-sabotage\/","title":{"rendered":"Words as Self-Sabotage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You are often your own worst enemy. It starts with the words out of your mouth and the voices in your head. From telling yourself that you aren\u2019t knowledgeable enough to take on a new challenge to the nagging doubts about important career moves, the negative words in your mind are obstacles to the success you want to achieve.<\/p>\n<p>A little self-doubt is normal because life is filled with uncertainty. The risks that you take to stretch yourself and succeed are real ones, accompanied by the possibility of failure. But when you speak ill to yourself, you are hurting your chances for success.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t have to be this way. There are three simple steps you can take right now to stop sabotaging yourself\u2014and affirm your capacity for success.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"tweetable tweetalign_center\" style=\"width:100%\">\n\t\t\t<blockquote>\n\t\t\t\tThe words in your mind are obstacles to the success you want to achieve.<cite>Rishawn Biddle<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\t\t\t<ul class=\"actions\">\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"icon-arrow\"><a class=\"icon-twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?source=tweetbutton&text=The%20words%20in%20your%20mind%20are%20obstacles%20to%20the%20success%20you%20want%20to%20achieve.%20https%3A%2F%2Ffullfocus.co%2F%3Fp%3D41875&via=michaelhyatt\" title=\"Share Quote on Twitter\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<span> Quote<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/aside>\n<h3>1. Change the words in your mind<\/h3>\n<p>Gospel singer Hezekiah Walker once sang, \u201cI won\u2019t harm you with words from my mouth.\u201d But each and every day, people sabotage themselves with the <em>I can\u2019ts<\/em> and <em>I\u2019m not good enoughs<\/em> in their minds. Not only do these words cause career-limiting procrastination and indecision, they even contribute to physical ailments and untimely deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Simply ignoring these words of doubt isn\u2019t enough. You must combat them with affirmations of your capacity to take on challenges and succeed. This starts at the end of the day by listing and reciting <em>I cans<\/em>, <em>I ams<\/em>, and even <em>I wills<\/em>, affirming your ability to achieve. By affirming yourself before going to bed, you organize and focus your mind on achievement.<\/p>\n<p>Another strategy lies in recalling your past successes\u2014and writing them down so you can reference them every now and then. Even the simplest signposted achievement can cause you to feel positive about your ability to succeed in the future. More importantly, those thoughts, along with the positive words, crowd out the negative words stuck on repeat in your head.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Deal with the fears inside<\/h3>\n<p>William Shakespeare wrote in <em>Measure for Measure<\/em> that \u201cOur doubts are traitors.\u201d They make us \u201close the good we oft might win.\u201d Those doubts, and the words of self-sabotage that emerge from them, result from the fears of failure. Too often, these fears are allowed to fester.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41946\" src=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2120\" height=\"1414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162.jpg 2120w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-1400x934.jpg 1400w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GettyImages-692103162-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2120px) 100vw, 2120px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You must realize that fear is not a sign that you are incapable, but merely the signal that you must take on the next challenge. By understanding fear as a positive signal, you can then take action instead of wallowing in indecision and procrastination. That fear can even help you find ways to avoid pitfalls on the way to progress.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, you should accept fear as a healthy way of driving your own self-improvement. You may not know everything you need to take on the next challenge. So read books on the areas you are about to undertake, and seek advice from sponsors, mentors, and others whom you trust.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Embrace the fact that you are enough.<\/h3>\n<p>Once you embrace words of affirmation and leverage your fear for success, you will stop engaging in self-sabotage\u2014and see yourself as more than capable of achieving what you set out to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards,\u201d said the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. This means looking at your past successes and moments of overcoming adversity, then using those lessons to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead.<\/p>\n\t\t<aside class=\"tweetable tweetalign_center\" style=\"width:100%\">\n\t\t\t<blockquote>\n\t\t\t\tOnce you embrace words of affirmation and leverage your fear for success, you will stop engaging in self-sabotage\u2014and see yourself as more than capable of achieving what you set out to do.<cite>Rishawn Biddle<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\t\t\t<ul class=\"actions\">\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"icon-arrow\"><a class=\"icon-twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?source=tweetbutton&text=Once%20you%20embrace%20words%20of%20affirmation%20and%20leverage%20your%20fear%20for%20success%2C%20you%20will%20stop%20engaging%20in%20self-sabotage%E2%80%94and%20see%20yourself%20as%20more%20than%20capable%20of%20achieving%20what%20you%20set%20out%20to%20do.%20https%3A%2F%2Ffullfocus.co%2F%3Fp%3D41875&via=michaelhyatt\" title=\"Share Quote on Twitter\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<span> Quote<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/aside>\n<p>Another step lies in realizing that you are smarter and talented than you think you are. If you have achieved in the past, you can succeed in the future. By remembering this, you are engaging in what author Margie Warrell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/margiewarrell\/2017\/12\/09\/doubt-your-doubts\/#509871a0151a\">describes<\/a> as calling out the critic, dissecting the doubts and words of self-sabotage that keep you from seeing your full potential.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, you should stay true to yourself. This is critical in pushing back against words of self-doubt and the self-sabotage that results from them. Steve Jobs once said that you shouldn\u2019t let the noise of other people\u2019s opinions drown out your inner voice. Knowledge that you are being true to your best self is a great way of shutting out the inner critic as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You are often your own worst enemy. It starts with the words out of your mouth and the voices in your head. From telling yourself that you aren\u2019t knowledgeable enough to take on a new challenge to the nagging doubts about important career moves, the negative words in your mind are obstacles to the success [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":41937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,16],"tags":[41,33,38,469,241],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Words as Self-Sabotage | Full Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/words-as-self-sabotage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Words as Self-Sabotage | Full Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You are often your own worst enemy. 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