Yes, you're an elite performer. True you want
to walk with the lions—not play with the sheep. Absolutely, you're all
about getting to your personal Everest—and elevating The World along the
climb. [Success without Significance is an empty win, no?].
We all want to do work that matters, achieve magnificent goals and know that our days make a difference in the lives around us.
"If
you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to
not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you've
done and whoever you were and throw them away."
-Steve Jobs
-Steve Jobs
So then why do so many intelligent people on the path to Mastery reach a
plateau--a place where they seem to automatically tear down all the
results that they've worked so very hard to build up?
In two pristine words: Self-Sabotage.
These
two words may provide you with a rich stream of answers...to why,
despite early success, you never seem to get traction on your new
habits, big projects and best dreams.
They
speak to the fact that over 90% of our daily behaviors are driven by
our subconscious programs. They reveal the reality that we truly do not
know what we do not know. And that every single one of us is completely
unaware of why we do so much of what we do.
Some ideas I invite you to wrap your brain around:
#1: IT'S ALL SO HIDDEN.
Talk
to anyone who knows even the basics of exceptional performance and
modern psychology and they'll tell you that many of the beliefs that run
your life today were installed when you were a kid. [I call this
phenomenon "The 1st 5 Years Factor"].
Well
intentioned parents/teachers/peers spoke phrases like "don't think like
that" or "that would never work" or "you're not smart enough to become
this" or "what would people think?". This messaging stifled our spark.
And diminished our Genius.
Even deeper, all of this early programming created the very context (our
"Stained Glass Window") through which we now see the world [the old
idea: "we see the world NOT as it is but as WE are" speaks volumes to
the point I'm offering here].
And rather
than knowing ourselves and getting clear on these faulty beliefs, we
blame the world for our less than superb business and personal lives.
Instead of cleaning up our own patterns of thought, we give away our
power.
#2: IT'S HOW WE DEFEND OURSELVES.
Another
insight about self-sabotage is that it's an awesomely effective defense
mechanism scared people use to avoid having to confront their
greatness.
[Breathe that line in for 60 seconds so the insight stays
sticky].
By making all these excuses that we then convince ourselves are real, we
don't have to leave our comfy couches--and do the work that needs to be
done--to have the lives we've always wanted.
By
blaming others, we get to betray ourselves. And not have to face the
messiness that all progress towards our best selves requires us to wade
through.
And by cursing our conditions, we
never have to feel the fear of letting go of the historical limiting
beliefs that we've run for so long we actually think they're Truth.
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