The Number One Blocker to Success
Our pursuit for success can be one of confusion and difficulty. For the most part, many spend much time defining what it means. If it were as easy as money and fame, the world would look very different from what it is now.
If we were to collect a random sample of people, I am sure all their definitions of success would be different. However, there are ideas around success that remain similar in our interruptions. Things like happiness, fulfillment, and abundance are just a few.
Unfortunately, along our way to our so-called “success”, it is easy to lose sight of our current selves. We become so focused on the prize we are striving towards, we end up losing sight of the here and now.
When we are far away from the glorious success we have defined, the present seems so depressing. In fact, for most, the present is something they seek to run from.
I have found most of my pursuits towards my never-ending success to be rather unpleasant. Yes, I understand that we need to go through some struggle to get the things we desire, but must it be at such a sacrifice of our current happiness? Some would argue yes.
Nevertheless, we can often self-sabotage ourselves on the route to success. From my own experience, I have learned that I can sometimes turn into my enemy when pursuing goals. You may have experienced this too, and in this article, I will highlight why it occurs and how we can overcome it.
The Negative Side to Success
Unfortunately, there are positives and negatives to everything in life. We can always have too much of something good and too little of something bad.
Success is like this too, and our pursuits show it clearly. There are highs and lows in our journey to it, and when we have it, it is the same. The quicker we realise we will never define a utopia through success, the better. There will always be something we could have had more of or one thing we wished we did differently.
However, the belief that our success strips us from our problems leaves us wanting more. It is a sad yet essential truth. As mere humans, we are time-bound creatures. As a result, we do not know the true feeling of our defined success until we have grasped it.
No matter how much happier we believe we will be with our picture of success, it is inaccurate. And more likely than not, the success we achieve will become like every other good moment in our lives. It will soon become the new normal, and the feeling of appreciation will pass away.
Why You Become Your Own Enemy
In pursuit of the success we paint, our present selves become distasteful. The situation we are in becomes one we must escape, and the achievement of our goals sets us free, or at least we hope so.
Unfortunately, when we see success as a way out, our current position becomes a prison. And this only leads to our present selves getting in the way of what we truly want. Instead of our current selves aiding us, we begin to see it as a mess that needs to be fixed.
We start to change our habits, work harder and see the person we are as inadequate. And when we slip back into our old habits for a short while, we see ourselves as the blocker to our longing achievement.
The number one blocker to our success is not our job, the people around us or our circumstances, it is us. There are external factors that get in our way, however, we tend to internalize most of these.
We may believe our boss treats us badly because of something we did in the past. Also, we may blame ourselves for choices we made when we were less experienced. It is our current selves that become the blocker to our success. But I have an issue with seeing our current selves as the problem. Why must we treat ourselves as the enemy to achieve only momentary success?
Yes, we may need to change some habits and work a little harder, but our pursuits often lead us to become negative towards ourselves. And it is this attitude towards our current selves that makes our success less satisfying. Unfortunately, it also makes our pursuit never-ending.
As highlighted before, there is always something we can change, and one thing we can do better, we are only human. Our success does not cure us of this reality, and neither should we wish it to.
A Different Way to View Success
We are the number one blocker to our success not because of our inability to achieve the goals we set out for ourselves. For the most part, with hard work and determination, many of us obtain the things we so desire.
We are the number one blocker to our success because of our inability to see that we are successful. As long as we continue to see success as a way out of our current situation, we will always be the problem.
Unfortunately, success has become this for many people, and they are constantly striving for success. They are on a treadmill of success after success as they hope to obtain an unrealistic picture.
In today’s world, success is often seen as a way out of our harsh reality. Although success offers this, it should not be the reason why we desire it. Sorry to break it to you, but there will always be something not quite right about your present situation.
Let us stop viewing success as a means to escape from our current suffering. Instead, let us view it as a way to experience hope in our current situation. That way, we can celebrate our success and appreciate that we are successful even if our current situation is not perfect.
Instead of viewing success as far away, we should look within ourselves for those qualities that bring about our success.
It is here that we can appreciate success is not so far away. It is within us and closer than we think. We are already successful and have probably achieved more than we thought we could. We need to be grateful for it and see it with our own eyes.
That is not to say you should stop striving for the things you believe will make yourself and others better. However, it is to say that your pursuit does not need to turn you into your own enemy.
You should be grateful to have yourself by your side. It is a picture of the things you have achieved, and a testimony to the success you have. You do not need to escape your current self, you need to embrace it. You are already successful, you are just not finished yet.
