October 7, 2013 By Rebekah Radice 21 Comments

4 Effective Ways to Stop Sabotaging Your Success Today

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Are you sabotaging your success?

While self-sabotage can take on a variety of forms, for business owners and entrepreneurs, many of the traits remain the same. One constant is the fear of failure.

As the driving emotion behind self-sabotage, fear can be a very powerful motivator.

Whether it is the fear of learning something new, the fear of taking on “one more thing,” or the overwhelming fear of failure, the result is always the same. It is a sabotage to your business, productivity, efficiency, peace of mind and overall success.

What is fear costing you?

Without a way to step out of the fear and work through the ties binding you to those beliefs, you will never know your true potential.

Fear is a self-sabotage battle that, if left alone, can keep you in a constant internal “tug-of-war.” It is a state that cements you in inactivity, stealing away opportunity and keeping you from truly embracing all of the possibility in and around your business.

1. Diagnose Your Fear

The first duty of man is to conquer fear; he must get rid of it, he cannot act till then. Thomas Carlyle

If you find yourself in the self-sabotage boat, you are not alone. Fear is a very real emotion that either pushes you forward or holds you back within business and life.

The bad news is that fear, if allowed to fester and grow, will only strangle and eventually squelch your efforts altogether.

So how can you avoid the ugly consequence of debilitating fear? Know what you are dealing with!

Do you fear:

The unknown?
Making a mistake?
Losing money or time?
Making the wrong decision?
Letting others down?
Losing out to your competition?
Embarrassment?
Hard work and no payoff?
Learning something new?
Being rejected?
Losing someone’s respect if you fail?

Putting a name and a face to your fear will allow you to begin working through it.

2. Embrace the Fear

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure. Paulo Coelho

As a business owner or entrepreneur interested in building a successful business and strong personal brand, taking a risk can be downright scary.

There is no doubt that making a bold or as Erika Napoletano calls it, an “unpopular” decision is not for the weak of heart. It takes resolve and a desire to stop wasting time within your business.

As you sit back and worry about your next decision, consider this.

Only those who never take a risk avoid failure. Do you want to be the person sitting on the sidelines, idly watching as opportunity passes you by?

Running a business, marketing a business and promoting a business are scary propositions, but not knowing what could have been if you had simply made that risky (read: scary) decision is far worse in my opinion than any fear of failure might be.

Watch the best motivation I have ever seen to embrace the fear and make the decision to move forward in success!

3. Remember: What You Focus on Expands

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become. Guatama Buddha.

Our thoughts and our actions (or lack-thereof) determine our reality.

Would you prefer to never try and live a safe, comfortable, albeit fearful life or would you rather spread your wings, face your fear and soar your business to new heights?

That answer would seem simple, but often times complacency is simpler to accept than you think.

4. Give Up on the Word “Can’t”

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. Michael Jordan

Stop saying you can’t and start saying you will.

Find your passion, find your focus, find your niche, and determine what it is that makes you unique. Stop dwelling on what might happen and instead focus on what you will make happen. Sound simplistic? It’s not. Its all about mindset.

Once you change your mindset and recognize your value, doors of opportunity begin to open.

Begin today by knowing what it is that is holding you back. Understand the consequences in moving forward, but most of all understand what you’re losing in not moving forward.