How to Stop sabotaging Yourself to Success
Posted on October 28, 2014 by Katie Leimkuehler, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
We’ve all had moments when we don’t want to do what we are suppose to do, but when you do them when don't feel like it is when we reach success.
Recognize your self-sabotaging behaviors. The first step is to recognize what you do when you don’t want to be doing your work. Do you surf the web? Do you watch TV or chat with friends? What are your distractions? Make a list of the things you do when you don’t want to be working. Once you know what these distractions are, try limiting them. Go to a coffee shop without internet if you surf the web or reward yourself with an episode of your favorite TV show, but only after you’ve completed the work you need to get done. Want to track where you are really spending your time? Download the app Rescue Time that tracks your time and sends you a report where you spend the most time each week. It also allows you to set personal productivity goals.
1. Know the most important thing you need to accomplish every day. You don’t need a list of 10 things, it’s more important to recognize one task that you can do that will move you towards your goals. Maybe this is writing 500 words towards a book or studying for an hour in a foreign language. If you don’t know what you need to work on to get to where you want to go, it will never happen. Ask yourself: what is the most significant action I can take today that will have a long term impact on the goal I’m working on?
2. Work with an accountability partner. It’s easy to let yourself off the hook for not working out or spending time on that new business plan, but if you schedule a weekly check in with a friend to hold you accountable for what you’re trying to do, you’ll be much further ahead. This is the person who can make sure you’re actually completing the goals you set out for yourself. If you can’t find someone who’ll hold you accountable hire a coach who will definitely keep you on track. Either way, have someone you have to check in with. Remember when your parents looked over your homework and made sure you did it before you played outside? It’s the same concept. You need someone to make sure you’re following through with your action plan.
3. Schedules set periods of time to focus on your work. Even if it’s just an hour a day focusing on one task whether that’s research, outlining, developing an action plan or working on a project, schedule that specific time everyday and do only that. The key is to do one thing and one thing only. Don’t stop until you’ve completed the task at hand. Some good times might be early in the morning before work or later in the evening when you have free time. Either way stick to this schedule, the more consistent you are the bigger your results will be. There is no such thing as an overnight success just people who work hard every day and slow chip away at their goals.
So to recap, in order to stop sabotaging yourself and reach your goals you need to first recognize the self sabotaging behaviors you have, then work with an accountability partner or coach and finally schedule periods of time to focus on one thing and one thing only. These three key approaches will ensure you are on your way to achieving goals.
