Five things that can hold you back in business or your career
Hi! I'm Bec Sands, and I help you pivot to a career or business you love.
The sky is the limit but, in my experience, the biggest limitation in our business or careers that we face is ourselves.
Some of the self-imposed limitations that I see most often in my clients, and have experienced (and still do experience) myself, include:
The way we have been taught to think about the world.
Most of us have learnt to be ‘good students’ or employees, follow the rules, work hard, and that this will ensure success. In business, and in our careers, it’s not like this at all. Some of the skills that lend to success include problem solving, having courage and getting out of your comfort zone, starting before you feel ready, taking action no matter what, empathy (being able to understand where your customers are at and how you can best serve them), being a self-starter, and creative thinking. These can all be learnt (if you WANT to learn them). They are not always innate skills.Self-doubt and self-criticism
We all have the voice inside our head that tells us we’re not enough… We’re not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, old enough, young enough, [insert word here] enough. Or, we’re too much of something. Too loud, too quiet, too slow… Whatever it may be. It’s not about silencing the voice, because it’s always going to be there, but it’s about quietening it so that you can move forward regardless. It’s about acknowledging the thought and/or belief and gently closing the door on it, knowing that it’s a story based on perception and not the truth. Then choosing a new belief, and moving forward anyway.
Comparing ourselves with others
This is a natural human trait because we’re community creatures. We make sense of the world by looking around at where others similar to us are at, and judging ourselves accordingly. This type of comparison can make us feel crappy about ourselves and prevent us from moving forward at all. However, it doesn’t serve. I like to think about it this way when I find myself comparing myself with others: it’s pointing me in a direction that I might like to go in myself. Then asking myself what’s holding me back from taking a step in that direction?Past experiences / stories
We tend to make our experiences mean something, and often these past experiences inform the way we think, feel and act today. But these stories can be hard to remember, let alone unravel. Particularly when they were from childhood so your mind remembers them as fact rather than story. Examples could be if a teacher told you that you weren’t good at sport when you were young. That may have cemented into a belief that you have about yourself, which informs the decision today that you won’t play sport because you’re not good at it. See how that’s a story and not necessarily true? The way to move past these old stories is to question them when they come up. As yourself is that really true, or is it a result of a memory that you’ve made mean something more than it is?Perfectionism
This one gets me every time. I feel like everything has to be perfect before releasing it into the world. Particularly when it comes to creative projects. Which means that often, they don’t get released at all, or perhaps I don’t even start. Can you relate? Let go of perfectionism. Done is better than perfect.
