I always wondered how to remove success blockers. You know, those inner conflicts, beliefs and ideas which stop you from achieving success. Success blockers are like inner “gremlins” in your mind and no matter how hard you push for success in the physical world, something stops you from getting there, wherever “there” is! Knowing where “there” is is a good idea for starters. You can’t hit a target you can’t see! If you don’t have a solid idea of where you want to go, it’s very difficult to get there!
But there are other things which hold you back too. Things like subconscious mental “agreements” you have made, perhaps years ago. Ideas of lack, struggle and limitation; of unworthiness and undeserving. Perhaps you have some negative beliefs around money, wealth and those who are rich. How do you feel about the rich? Are they “filthy” rich? Are you holding any negative vibes in your mind about those you consider rich? If so, this is very likely to stand in your path to attaining wealth and success. How can you consolidate becoming wealthy if you consider those kinds of people to be “bad”? You won’t allow it if you consider yourself to be “good”, for example!
To remove these hidden “success blockers”, you first need to become aware enough to know they are stopping you from living the life you really want.
How To Remove Success Blockers – Awareness
Before we discuss how to remove success blockers, we need to become aware of the ideas, thoughts and beliefs which we are giving energy to in the first place. Then we can stop giving energy to the ideas that are holding us where we are, so we can change our trajectory.
Imagine your mind like a oil tanker, sailing across the sea. You can’t simply stop it dead. It will take some time to slow it down and shift course. Your mind is the same, and the beliefs and ideas which you hold in your mind will likely have been driving your life for some time already.
To become aware of your ideas about success, money, love and wealth, you can ask yourself questions. For example, why are you reading this article in the first place? What’s your reasons for wanting to remove a success blocker? Why haven’t you got the success you want yet? Your answers will likely reveal some of your limiting beliefs/ideas.
Go through the questions in this post and answer them as truthfully as possible.
How To Remove Success Blockers – Thoughts Are Seeds
“The subconscious mind is a fertile garden in which weeds will grow in abundance if the seeds of a more desirable crop are not sewn therein.” – Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.
To get clear on what some of your success blockers are, you need to start paying attention to the seeds you’re growing which you don’t actually want. By this, I mean thoughts, since the thoughts are the “seeds” which grow into the things in your life circumstances.
If you’re new to this concept, take a look around you. Everything you see was once a thought! Buildings, cars, and pavements.
Start noticing how you talk about the things you want and don’t want. Are you giving more energy to the pains and struggles, or the things you want/love in life? Are you cynical and frustrated, or grateful and happy?
Thoughts become things, so watch your thoughts when alone and your words when with others.
How To Remove Success Blockers – Your “Tribe”
Have you heard the expression your vibe attracts your tribe? The energy you give off attracts those of a like mind. “Birds of a feather flock together” is another saying meaning the same thing. One of the best ways to discover how you think is to listen to your tribe. How do they talk about money, success and wealth? Do they have the life you desire, or do they attract poverty and struggle?
Jim Rohn was a motivational speaker who said “You are the average of the 5 people you spend most time with”.
It’s difficult not to pick up the ideas, thoughts and beliefs of your “tribe”. For a few months just spend some time observing your closest friends/family members. How do they relate to the things you say you want more of? Are they positive towards success, or do they hold some resentment/blockages to it?
It’s difficult to thrive if you surround yourself with naysayers who talk only of lack and limitation and doubt anything can be done about it.
Your Self Image & Expectation
How you see yourself is intricately tied up with the level of success you expect and allow yourself to achieve. Do you really expect greater levels of success than you are currently achieving? Expectation is a strong attractive force and it isn’t just desire which will help you achieve your goals and dreams. So if you are not working on changing your self image, alongside pursuing your goals, you’ll ultimately come up against a glass ceiling of your own making!
That glass ceiling is your self image, or identity. Your identity is how you see and perceive yourself. It has a lot to say about whether you are deserving of the things you say you want. If you tell yourself you’re unworthy, or don’t believe you are capable of something, guess what, it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
As Henry Ford said: “Whether a man believes he can or he can’t, he’s right”.
You might even believe that you are capable of doing something. But if you don’t believe you are worthy of success, this can act as a huge success blocker. If this is you, checkout Maxwell Maltz’s book Psycho-cybernetics.
Maltz was a plastic surgeon who discovered his patents were unhappy after their surgery. He started working with them on their self image and after treatment they realised that they didn’t need the surgery after all.
Your History
You inherited a number of ideas about wealth and success before you were even 10 years old. Most of this came from your environment and your parents while growing up. Think about what your parents believed about money, getting rich and success? Did they encourage it, or were there some negative connotations around the subject of money? Was money a form of control?
Most people will have picked up at least some negative ideas about this topic:
- Money is evil
- Rich people are greedy
- You should only want “enough”
- Wanting too much makes you corrupt
- It’s more virtuous to be poor
Go through the questions in this article if you haven’t already done so. They will help you uncover some of your hidden beliefs around the subject of money and success. They will help in the overcoming of limiting beliefs about money and success.
Relationships
How would your parents feel when you start earning considerably more money than them? What about a sibling? Are there any self imposed restraints on your earning potential which would affect a close relationship? Would you be ok making money if a sibling is struggling, for example? How about your spouse or partner. How do they feel about your success? Would they be supportive or would it cause a conflict?
Although more money and success can be a good thing, you may associate it with a form of danger or conflict in a relationship which is important to you. Unless you uncover these internal hangups over money and success, you’ll continue to sabotage yourself and limit your potential.
Imagine yourself having all the success you desire. Think about how this will affect your closest relationships. Do you notice any conflict here?
Other Success Conflicts – Feeling Good
How do you feel about yourself when you envision yourself having the success you desire? Are you still working the same job, or have you switched to building a business? Is the success you desire possible with only a job, or will you need another source of income? If you have some conflicts with your current situation and success, you may need to switch careers in order to be fully aligned with your integrity. If something is off, and you’re not loving the career you’re currently in, it’s going to be much harder working towards the success you say you want.
Get very clear on what you want. A good exercise for this is to think about what your perfect day looks like. This takes money out of the equation a little, which allows you get clear on how you would actually like to live, after you are successful. If your current course of action is not aligned with your “perfect day”, you might be off target. Aligning yourself with your perfect day and your goals and vision for the future can help you feel good about working towards your success. If working doesn’t feel good, you may be on the wrong track.
Align With Success
So hopefully you have picked up some of your less than helpful ideas and beliefs around money and success. To remove these “success blockers” you first need to become aware of them and then stop giving them energy. Aligning yourself with a path you want to tread which makes you happy and leads to success is a major key to success. If work doesn’t feel good, you’re less likely to want to push on to achieve your idea of success. Get yourself into the right vocation which lights you up, rather than makes you sad!
The story you tell yourself says a lot about your self image. Notice this and create a new story for yourself. Talk about what you want to happen and make that your story, not the one where you’re a victim. Notice any self talk which is derogatory and stop it. Change the way you talk to yourself and the things you talk about with others.
Hang out with people who want the same as you, and notice who your tribe currently are. Do they want the same as you? Are they holding you back? Find people who have achieved what you want and connect with them.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Notice where your attention goes and become aware of where your mind dwells. What you focus on expands. Remember this when you’re worrying or thinking about something in a negative way. Change takes time and this doesn’t happen overnight. Make this a regular, steady practice if you’re serious about success.
