I’m sure I’m not the only one, who sabotages their self from time to time. It could be I stop myself from saying or doing something that could help me in my career or in my relationships. Or it could be that I didn’t stop myself from saying or doing something and paid the price.
Regardless, all those things should lead to lessons learned. I’ve had to repeatedly learn some lessons. Most times, I just need to get out of my own way.
Five ways to get out of your own way:
- Let go – I am not a quitter by nature so it’s hard for me to know when to let go. When I’ve given someone or something my “all”, and things don’t work out like I may have hoped, I remind myself that I cannot control others or circumstances. I can only control how I let myself react to them.
- Move Through It – It never seems to work if I try to ignore an uncomfortable situation. It just prolongs the stress of the situation. In the long run, it’s always better to deal with things head on and move through them – not around them.
- Talk Yourself Into Things (not out of them) – We think we are being prudent to talk ourselves out of those “crazy” and risky ideas that we have, so we do. That’s not prudent, it’s succumbing to resistance and it’s the kiss of death for someone in a creative career.
- Don’t Expect Perfection – If you wait for things to be perfect, they usually don’t get done. Nothing really is perfect – there is always room for improvement. And, there never is a perfect time. Don’t let perfectionism stop you.
- Stop Over Thinking It – when what life throws at me overwhelms me, I need to remember to stop, breathe and try to just be in that one moment. Whenever I begin to over think a situation, I tend to make more out of it than it really is, which only stresses me out more. I remind myself to focus on the now and it puts things into a manageable perspective.
Orson Welles once said “If you want a happy ending, it depends on where you stop the story”. Life is a journey – let it play out.
Journeys of a Hybrid 