How to Overcome Self-Sabotage. For Good.

Self-sabotage is a form of resistance that can stand in the way of your success in life and business. It can take many forms; self-doubt, procrastination, perfectionism, social fears – and has some form of fear at its root or a limiting belief that we may not even be aware of.  This lack of awareness that we are even doing it can impede us from our success by distracting us from our goals or blocking us from doing the most needle-moving things for ourselves or our business. It can cause us to waste our time and energy on things that are not as important or as urgent.  Do you know it when you see it?

Here are some ways it can show up in your business:

• You are planning your launch and keep adding one more thing, one more thing, one more thing and this pattern has delayed you by weeks. (Procrastination, perfectionism)
• You are crafting your offer and feel like you need to keep researching it or you need to create one more piece of content. (Over-planning, perfectionism)
• You know you need to reach out to your contacts to pitch yourself as a podcast guest but can’t seem to make yourself do it. (Resistance)
• You made a business goal for the year to increase your email list size and it’s second quarter with no action taken to do so. (Resistance)
• You feel like you MUST take one more training, get one more certification, or read one more book before you can DO THE THING. (Perfectionism)

Steven Pressfield is the preeminent authority on the resistance people encounter as they push the envelope of their own comfort zones in trying to achieve success in their life or creative expression. In his book “The War of Art” and blog post “Resistance Doesn’t Go Away on the Artist’s Journey,” he points out that the artist (or athlete, or CEO) must slay this enemy anew every morning. His readers agree that it shows up in a different mask every time they think they have it conquered.  These artists are tolerating, and stuck in a belief they cannot change their inner game – untrue! Contrary to their belief, resistance can be conquered – and even eliminated.  When you already recognize how and when it is happening, you are way ahead of the game!   

Energy work can be a new path to success in the war against our self-sabotaging patterns. Kristin Lemaster of Women Thrive Magazine observes that when we tap into our life force energy, we can forge a new path past any obstacles. She continues the theme in her article Releasing Resistance to Grow and states that many cases of our resistance are there to provide us with information we need to learn from. These are energetic blockages that can be cleared using any of several energy healing modalities.  Once released, the resistance is also cleared! It is possible to become unstoppable!

There are several effective ways to move this mountain so you can create with confidence in your uncomfortable zone.

• Mirror work without the mirror – give your resistance face a name, craft a portrait, and hang it up on the wall in front of you. Acknowledge her when she shows up and have a conversation with her about how she’s not going to get in your way today.  See what comes up in your dialog, write it in your journal, and follow up with a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) or Akashic Records healing session to neutralize the root cause belief or fear.
• Use somatic practices such as moving meditation to tap into your body wisdom and find out what your body and Soul need to get past this roadblock. This practice could include Qi Quong, yoga, breathwork, or a meditative walk in nature. It could also include a guided visualization to release the energy holding the blockage in place.
• Try an emotional freedom technique (EFT) Tapping round or two.

You may be wondering if these techniques work if you haven’t become aware of the resistance patterns that are blocking you? Luckily, YES. However, without the conscious awareness and healing actions noted above, it is likely that the same resistance will show up in a different form since it hasn’t been integrated or released. 

TAKE ACTION: In her Wolf You Feed Series: Overcome Your Resistance, Shelli provides teachings on how to recognize when Resistance is showing up in your experience and provide several EFT Tapping scripts for you to root out and re-pattern the most common fears and limiting beliefs that drive our self-sabotaging tendencies. What a relief it is that you no longer have to power through your fears or become waylaid by your blockages! Release them today to finally clear what would hold you back from your greatest creative genius expression.