January has a bad reputation. It brings us the ‘January Blues’ and Monday 20th January was officially Blues Day – the most depressing day of the year!
Are you already breaking your New Years Resolutions? Fed up with people talking about goals and achievements like joining the gym, going running and getting fit after being too indulgent over Christmas? There’s a lot of pressure in January and most of it tends to come from ourselves!
Are you one of those people who dread Monday’s and are thinking about looking for something better, perhaps a job you’ll really love?
Do you want to improve your finances or maybe even return to Further Education to improve your long term future prospects?
Is that little voice in your head stopping you in your tracks? Is it trying to prevent you from taking risks, pushing boundaries and moving out of your ‘comfort zone’. Is it causing you to unconsciously self-sabotage your own plans?
So whether you feel you are a procrastinator, perfectionist or an imposter about to be found out, what is your self saboteur telling you that stops you from stepping into a job you love?
Is it saying things to you like;
- “you’re not good enough”
- “you can’t afford it”
- “it’s too risky”
- “it won’t work”
- “you’re too old”
- “you’re too inexperienced”
- “it’s too late”
If this really resonates with you, it is most likely driven by FEAR. Fear of the unknown.
I recently set up a monthly group, as part of Psychologies Magazine. At our last meeting we all shared stories of how we self-sabotage our own creative ideas and dreams by making assumptions that we can’t do things. The more we discussed it, the more we were able to uncover how much we all did it without even realising. Once we started to really share these thoughts with each other and break them down, it was easy to stop self-sabotaging and think differently. It was so empowering!
So here are some question to ask yourself to help you identify in what ways you are self-sabotaging:
- What would you like to achieve in your career that you have been thinking about for a while but have not taken action?
- What am I assuming to be true that is keeping me stuck?”
- If I knew this was not true what would l say instead?
- If you knew for certain you already had all the skills and talents you needed to create the career you want what would they be and what would your next step be?
- What can you say to your saboteur when it shows up?
- Who can hold you accountable and support you along the way?
If you would like some support with this, contact me for a free telephone Career Conversation to discuss how I can help you fall in love with work again.