Striving for Success Unapologetically

Have you ever wondered whether you might be subconsciously sabotaging your own success? I have certainly made this mistake myself, and I’ve seen similar patterns of self-sabotage in friends, family members, and fellow entrepreneurs. All sorts of limiting beliefs can prevent us from achieving our full potential. Here is a list of the most common ones. My most powerful limiting belief is that I need to define and achieve “success” in a conventional way. As I wrote about in my last post, I’ve often tried to take the “safe” route. I have also deprioritized things that were deeply important to me because I viewed them as being either too pie-in-the-sky or too frivolous.

Last year, I allowed myself to list all of the pie-in-the-sky and frivolous goals I wanted to achieve. I was honest about how much I cared about those goals, even when I harbored strong judgments against the idea of prioritizing them. Amazingly enough, some of those “ridiculous” dreams came true.

By simply allowing myself to strive for my version of success, I felt more inspiration and drive to achieve my goals than ever before. I plan to do this same exercise at the start of each quarter this year and for the foreseeable future.

In case you would like to do something similar, here’s the model I plan to follow:

1. List up to ten goals regardless of whether I think I can or should achieve them for each of these categories:

• Career
• Personal Finance
• Lifestyle
• Health
• Relationship
• Family

2. Ask myself on a scale of 1 (low) -10 (high):

• How much do I care about this goal?
• What is my willingness to forgo this goal?
• How much am I willing to compromise or alter this goal?

Here is a template to help you outline and organize your goals. In case you are curious, I’ve listed my goals in this template.