Are You a Saboteur

Sabotage is a crime. Dictionaries describe it as “a deliberate destruction of property or slowing down of work with the intention of damaging a business or economic system or weakening a government or nation.”

There is a sabotage of another kind though, self-sabotage. It can be described as a deliberate or subconscious destruction or obstruction of desires, dreams and attempts to take action. It is also a crime and we commit this disparaging act against our own selves all the time.

How?

We sabotage ourselves when we pay lip service to our goals. We don’t walk our talk. Instead we honour our old ways of thinking and doing things. We justify our limitations by hanging on to our misguided beliefs about our abilities and ourselves. We use our fears as excuses. We bow to the criticisms, ridicule and expectations of others. We gravitate towards toxic people. We wade in the pool of negativity. In the end, we whittle away at our courage, our confidence and the passion that burns in our hearts.

Perhaps this describes you. Have you sabotaged yourself in the past? Are you still doing it today? Are you not able to move forward with your goals, no matter how hard you try?

Fortunately we can overcome self-sabotage. The most important step towards getting rid of your self-sabotaging behavior is to recognize that it is happening. You must be conscious of your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions as you struggle with this enemy.

If you’ve been struggling with a certain goal and things just don’t seem to be working out for you, take a look at the setbacks that were encountered and evaluate the situation. Could any of the obstacles have been avoided by making wiser choices on your part? Are there a significantly high number of obstacles that have arisen for this one particular goal?

Are you a self-saboteur? It is time to break this cycle of defeat. It is time to disarm and topple this enemy, dismantle its artillery and destroy its power over you.

Locate its seat of power.

Sabotage does not simply happen. It starts somewhere and in order to deal effectively with it we must survey the landscape upon which we stand and identify the artillery we use against ourselves.

This takes time. One way to accomplish this tactic is to regularly spend time in quiet contemplation. For example, whenever you procrastinate about doing something, anything, look for the attitudes, behaviour and feelings that come into play. What self-talk do you use to trip yourself up and halt productive moves? How do you justify your failure to act? How do you undermine your initial commitment to take certain actions?