How To Stop Holding Yourself Back

The beliefs you have are holding you back from achieving your goals.  Henry Ford said, whether you think you can, or you think you can’t - you’re right.  What you think and believe matters.  Whether you believe in yourself or not, you’re right.  You have the ability to change the beliefs you tell yourself in order to move forward and achieve your goals.  Here are three areas you can control so that you stop holding yourself back from achieving your goals.

Thoughts

Start by noticing your thoughts.  Catch the thoughts that aren’t serving you.  Commonly, these thoughts are fear, worry, and self doubt.  You begin to believe these thoughts are true.  When in fact, these thoughts are just limiting beliefs that are holding you back.  Take back control by deciding what you want to believe instead.  Perhaps a new belief is that you can do anything you set your mind to.  Choose to think new thoughts that better serve you.  Then, look for evidence to support these new beliefs so that you can prove to your mind that this new thought is true.

Feelings

Next, tap into your feelings.  Maybe you’re feeling afraid because you’re doing something you’ve never done before.  Often your fears are worse than what actually happens.  Do not let these fears, worries, and doubts hold you back from going after your goals.  Return to the thoughts that inspire, motivate, and encourage you to keep going.  These positive thoughts will bring about positive feelings that will make you more likely to take the actions necessary to achieve your goals.  Think positive thoughts and watch as your feelings shift to a happier and more optimistic demeanor.  This will help you get motivated to take action to achieve your goals.

Actions

Lastly, focus on what actions you can take to achieve your goals if you knew that you would not fail.  Maybe you’d try things that scare you and test the boundaries of your comfort zone.  You could decide to make it fun and just enjoy doing something new.  Take the pressure off yourself and go into things with the belief that yes, you might look silly or make a mistake.  But, that’s okay because you’re learning and getting better with each attempt you make.  Do not let the fear, worry, and self doubt hold you back from achieving your goals.  Have fun with it and just enjoy the process. 

Remember what you can control, which are your thoughts, feelings, and actions.  Choose to think positive thoughts.  Believe that your success is inevitable.  Believe that you are more than capable of achieving your goals and dreams in life.  Feel that excitement and energy when you believe those thoughts.  Don’t get sucked into believing your worst case scenario because it very rarely becomes your reality.  Choose to be courageous and take action to move forward so that you can achieve your goals.  Have fun in the process and don’t be too hard on yourself if you mess up.  The journey to achieving your goals is messy, it’s not perfect.  Stop holding yourself back from achieving your goals.  Just go for it!