Stop Sabotaging Your Efforts

The way you think and the thoughts you have will greatly affect your actions and how you approach changing your career.

I am not talking about getting all hyped up with positive thinking. What I am talking about is understanding what’s going on inside your head and about finding appropriate strategies to deal with this.

Without mastering your inner world, you are held hostage by your fears, worries, self doubt, and limiting beliefs. However, being aware of what these are gives you choices.

It is important to do the deeper, inner work first, and then the outer results, such as interviewing effectively, will surely follow.

Self sabotage

You may have a number of thoughts and feelings about changing career.

Can you relate to some of these statements?

“Am I doing the right thing?”

“What if I make another mistake?”

“I’ve got to start all over again.”

“What if I fail?”

“I can’’t figure out what it is I want to do, so I’m going to delay making a change until I find something I really like.”

It is natural to have some self doubt, to feel anxious, worried or scared. You are doing something, which is outside of your comfort zone. This may create a conflict between what you say you want (conscious thoughts) and what your subconscious wants (which is to keep you safe).

It’s your subconscious thoughts that tend to win out. This may mean that you are not getting the results you most wanted.

How would it be for you if you were doing work that made you happy, was meaningful, played to your talents, and provided for the lifestyle you wanted? What would that do for you?

Letting your fears and concerns take hold of you can lead you to unintentionally sabotage your attempts to make changes. Perhaps you’re telling yourself that, “It’s hopeless to try and change career in this economy.” Or, you say to yourself, “Why should I bother to make a change — it’s too risky”?

It’s understandable to have these feelings because we have a survival instinct of wanting to feel safe and secure. However, if this is the case, you could be operating from a place of fear.

From time to time, you may hear another voice speaking to you.

Perhaps you can barely hear it as it’s a faint whisper being drowned out by your inner critic.

When it does break through, it may be the force that urges you to make the change and shift career. Possible messages that it may be trying to tell you include:

“When am I going to use my vast array of gifts?”

“How about having some fun?”

“It’s normal to have some doubts, but I’ll find a way around them.”

Noticing how these two voices play out is the first step you can take to quiet the critic that makes you fearful

Consider spending 10 minutes each day to gain a sense of what messages are being conveyed by your inner critic. When you have an idea, you can start to take steps to quiet them.

You may find it useful to work with a coach who will support you to raise your awareness of any issues that may be holding you back and support you to find your own strategies to tackle them.