What’s stopping you from being your best self?
Are you happy with your life? Are you happy with who you are? Are you setting your life goals or is society dictating them for you? Are you giving in your best? For the last couple of weeks if you guys have been following me you would have noticed that I’m writing about self-awareness and reflection. Fact is, being aware of who you are is the first step towards self-improvement. Once you are in tune with your inner self, life choices become more evident and clear.
Self-discovery is a beautiful journey and its rewards you in numerous ways. When you are clear about who you are, it sets the ground for what you want and enables you in being the best version of yourself. And coincidently what better time to start this process then the holy month of Ramadan when everyone is trying to put on their A game. However, it’s important to consider that right now we are all charged with a very powerful spiritual fuel that we only make use of in this month and are unable to reap benefits of, all year round.
Everyone wants to be the best version of themselves, but when it comes to living a life filled with purpose and passion, chasing our dreams and achieving success, we are our own worst enemies. So let’s start by trying to eliminate 5 main habits that stop us from being the best version of yourself.
1. Fear of Failure
“Fear will do one thing and one thing only: hold you back.” — Kya Aliana
Are you afraid of what other people might think about you if you fail? Are you afraid of being considered stupid and incompetent? Do you tell people beforehand that you don’t expect to succeed or thrive in order to lower their expectations? If yes, then you most likely have a fear of failure.
Fear is a natural part of life and does not mean the end of the world. In fact failure helps you learn valuable insights that can drive you towards success. So overcome your fears by analyzing all potential outcomes, draw a worst case scenario to plan for it and ease your worries, practice goal setting and positive thinking. So the next time you hear yourself thinking what if I fail… Just force yourself into saying: So what!
2. Fear of Success
Fear of success hides in the subconscious and displays itself in many ways. For example, do you get nervous when everything seems to be going well and you start expecting something to go wrong? People are afraid of success because it can also mean increased expectations, added responsibility and the fear of not being able to handle the success. So the next time, things seem to be going well for you, just remember that success is a good thing and everyone deserves to live their dream and have a positive impact on the world. And handle success by staying true to yourself and being comfortable with every decision you make.
3. People pleasing
I want everyone to like me. I try to avoid disagreements. I never say no. Im afraid to speak my mind. Does this sound like you? If yes, then no more! People pleasers are prone to stress, developing resentment towards people, depression and most importantly are often taken advantage of. So stop being a doormat and speak for yourself. Regain your sense of self and build up your confidence by accepting that you come first, you cannot make anyone happy if you’re not happy yourself and that you can’t please everyone.
4. Procrastination
Procrastination is another form of laziness. Most of us, I feel, are not just procrastinators but master procrastinators, but that’s not how we like to say it — we often reword it as “I work well under high stress” so let’s also add “denial” to that list! If you have a week to finish an assignment and you stall it till the last possible minute and then frantically and hastily attempt to finish it off — then you are a procrastinator.
Another form of procrastination is perfectionism. Procrastinators are easily distracted by insignificant factors and ultimately derailed from their goals. So to stop procrastinating, keep your actions calculated and precise, establish some form of accountability and set small, manageable and easily achievable goals.
5. Negative self-talk
I can never do. I’m so stupid. I don’t think I have it in me. Self-talk is a normal thing that we all do, but when this talk is filled with irrational and negative ideas, then it becomes self-destructive. Most of the times, these are not facts but just our own low self-opinion.
So silence the inner critic and put a positive spin on things. Start by eliminating negative vocabulary like always, cant, wont, and never and substitute with I CAN!
