The Biggest Obstacle To Your Success
Before you read this article, take a minute and quickly jot down the things that you believe are barriers to success.
My brother recently started his own business, The Handy Man. He has been talking about it for years but always felt he had a good reason for not starting up. He ran through the list of usual reasons that many of us use and that prevent us from catching our dreams: I need more money, I need to do more research into the market, I might fail. This last reason is a classic response and really means, “I’m scared to give up the security of my existing job. Sure it’s boring and mundane, even soul destroying at times, but hey, it pays the rent!”
I always responded to his fear of failure/need for security by asking, “What price your soul?” (Not very empathetic but I am his big sister after all. Big sisters are always bossy – but in a very loving way.)
Before I launched into my first business in South Africa I attended a ‘How to start a business’ course at the local university. I always remember how we all raised the ‘What do we do if we fail?’ issue with the lecturer. He said that this was an interesting question that everybody posed when starting up their own businesses but what he found even more interesting was that very few people considered what they would do if their businesses were to succeed. He asked us, ‘How would you cope if you’re business was to suddenly take off in a big way, beyond your expectations?’ A stunned silence was the response he drew. He then went on to explain that a lack of consideration to managing success was very often a cause for failure in start up businesses.
I believe that the single biggest obstacle to your success and happiness is your limiting thoughts. Let me explain…
How much of your potential are you fulfilling? Can you honestly say you've claimed and achieved anywhere near your full potential? NO?
Have you ever wondered why that is so? Why some doubt still lurks in the deep recesses of your mind -- in spite of the fact that you are COMMITTED to making your life (or business) totally successful and satisfying?
Scientific studies have shown that negative thoughts have a tremendous limiting impact on peoples’ lives. They most certainly do damage your ability to achieve your goals!
You are not limited to the life you now live. You have accepted it as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you're ready to go beyond the current limitations in your life, you're capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts.
You can set goals until you're blue in the face but in the end it's your thoughts and beliefs that determine what you will (or will not) actually achieve. We each earn the income we do today because that is the amount we have limited ourselves to earn. We could easily earn 5, 10, or 20 times more if we did not limit ourselves through the thoughts we maintain. You don't believe that's true? Surely you know people who earn much more than you who don't have your education, or your skills, or your intelligence, or your talent. So why do they earn more than you?
I love the story of George Dantzig that Cynthia Kersey wrote about in Unstoppable. As a college student, George studied very hard and always late into the night. So late that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several days to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk the next day.
Later, on a Sunday morning, his excited professor awakened George at 6 a.m. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two equations on the board were unsolvable mathematical mind teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer. But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.
Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't – he didn’t have any limiting thoughts about them or his ability to solve them.
Most of your limiting thoughts are based on childhood ‘programming’. Many of us followed career paths that our parents directed us towards because they believed they offered security. A large number of our values and beliefs are inherited from our parents and other parent figures in our young lives. My parents never had the opportunity to go to university, nor would they ever have considered starting up their own businesses, much too risky! Our parents’ strongest desire is to keep us safe and many of our limiting thoughts derive from this need. Unfortunately this desire frequently keeps us safe but small and we never fully live or achieve our potential.
From my personal experience I have found that anytime I have overcome my limiting thoughts, and decided to take a risk and change my life, the universe sends all kinds of help my way. People who can help and advise me, magazine and newspaper articles that direct me towards the resources I need, etc.
Bob Proctor tells us to "keep reminding yourself that you have tremendous reservoirs of potential within you, and therefore you are quite capable of doing anything you set your mind to. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it's amazing how your mind begins to figure out how."
Many years ago I read about one of the great Spanish bullfighters who had this to say about life: "To face a bull when you know you'll win is nothing. BUT ... to face a bull when you know you're taking a chance ... now THAT is something! That is putting a lion in your heart!"
How about installing a lion in YOUR heart ... and unleashing your true natural genius, incredible creativity, unstoppable self confidence, focused drive ... and a whole new level of passion! Start to manage your limiting thoughts and put a lion in your heart today.
Now that's worth thinking about!
Before you read this article, take a minute and quickly jot down the things that you believe are barriers to success.
My brother recently started his own business, The Handy Man. He has been talking about it for years but always felt he had a good reason for not starting up. He ran through the list of usual reasons that many of us use and that prevent us from catching our dreams: I need more money, I need to do more research into the market, I might fail. This last reason is a classic response and really means, “I’m scared to give up the security of my existing job. Sure it’s boring and mundane, even soul destroying at times, but hey, it pays the rent!”
I always responded to his fear of failure/need for security by asking, “What price your soul?” (Not very empathetic but I am his big sister after all. Big sisters are always bossy – but in a very loving way.)
Before I launched into my first business in South Africa I attended a ‘How to start a business’ course at the local university. I always remember how we all raised the ‘What do we do if we fail?’ issue with the lecturer. He said that this was an interesting question that everybody posed when starting up their own businesses but what he found even more interesting was that very few people considered what they would do if their businesses were to succeed. He asked us, ‘How would you cope if you’re business was to suddenly take off in a big way, beyond your expectations?’ A stunned silence was the response he drew. He then went on to explain that a lack of consideration to managing success was very often a cause for failure in start up businesses.
I believe that the single biggest obstacle to your success and happiness is your limiting thoughts. Let me explain…
How much of your potential are you fulfilling? Can you honestly say you've claimed and achieved anywhere near your full potential? NO?
Have you ever wondered why that is so? Why some doubt still lurks in the deep recesses of your mind -- in spite of the fact that you are COMMITTED to making your life (or business) totally successful and satisfying?
Scientific studies have shown that negative thoughts have a tremendous limiting impact on peoples’ lives. They most certainly do damage your ability to achieve your goals!
You are not limited to the life you now live. You have accepted it as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you're ready to go beyond the current limitations in your life, you're capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts.
You can set goals until you're blue in the face but in the end it's your thoughts and beliefs that determine what you will (or will not) actually achieve. We each earn the income we do today because that is the amount we have limited ourselves to earn. We could easily earn 5, 10, or 20 times more if we did not limit ourselves through the thoughts we maintain. You don't believe that's true? Surely you know people who earn much more than you who don't have your education, or your skills, or your intelligence, or your talent. So why do they earn more than you?
I love the story of George Dantzig that Cynthia Kersey wrote about in Unstoppable. As a college student, George studied very hard and always late into the night. So late that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment. It took him several days to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk the next day.
Later, on a Sunday morning, his excited professor awakened George at 6 a.m. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two equations on the board were unsolvable mathematical mind teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer. But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.
Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't – he didn’t have any limiting thoughts about them or his ability to solve them.
Most of your limiting thoughts are based on childhood ‘programming’. Many of us followed career paths that our parents directed us towards because they believed they offered security. A large number of our values and beliefs are inherited from our parents and other parent figures in our young lives. My parents never had the opportunity to go to university, nor would they ever have considered starting up their own businesses, much too risky! Our parents’ strongest desire is to keep us safe and many of our limiting thoughts derive from this need. Unfortunately this desire frequently keeps us safe but small and we never fully live or achieve our potential.
From my personal experience I have found that anytime I have overcome my limiting thoughts, and decided to take a risk and change my life, the universe sends all kinds of help my way. People who can help and advise me, magazine and newspaper articles that direct me towards the resources I need, etc.
Bob Proctor tells us to "keep reminding yourself that you have tremendous reservoirs of potential within you, and therefore you are quite capable of doing anything you set your mind to. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it's amazing how your mind begins to figure out how."
Many years ago I read about one of the great Spanish bullfighters who had this to say about life: "To face a bull when you know you'll win is nothing. BUT ... to face a bull when you know you're taking a chance ... now THAT is something! That is putting a lion in your heart!"
How about installing a lion in YOUR heart ... and unleashing your true natural genius, incredible creativity, unstoppable self confidence, focused drive ... and a whole new level of passion! Start to manage your limiting thoughts and put a lion in your heart today.
Now that's worth thinking about!
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