5 Mental Barriers to Achieving More in Life
Progress is stimulating. The more we accomplish, the more motivated we are to achieve more in life.
However, there are certain barriers, mainly in our minds, that stop us from doing our best and accomplishing each objective we set.
Let’s see what these are so you can remove them as soon as possible and follow your dreams:
1. Not knowing what you truly want.
One of the biggest time wasters in life is going after the wrong things. While some goals might sound tempting, big, and exciting, it doesn’t really mean it’s the path we’re meant to follow or that the final destination will make us any happier than we are now.
That’s why it’s worth having an honest conversation with yourself before you start accomplishing a goal.
2. Going after too many goals at once
Just like multitasking is ruining your productivity and, in fact, slowing you down, so is trying to accomplish many goals at once a bad idea. That’s because each objective takes a huge amount of focus, time, and energy. Aside from that, you need to be dedicated, make sacrifices, stay motivated and consistent.
Do that for 5 different things and you’ll end up giving up on them all because of the lack of progress and due to feeling overwhelmed.
Instead, chase one thing at a time. The good news is that once you accomplish one big goal, the journey becomes even easier. You build practical skills, get to know yourself better and learn from your mistakes. So you can then begin working only on the right things, eliminate the distractions and obstacles that were slowing you down before, and achieve anything sooner.
3. Not knowing why you do what you do.
There are 2 types of motivation – extrinsic and intrinsic. The former is related to outer factors. That could be a deadline someone else sets for you that encourages you to get more done. It could be people in your surroundings believing in you, giving you reasons to go on or simply expecting more from you. All these work and make us take action, but we get only so far by relying on such factors to keep us motivated.
The other form of motivation is the internal one. It comes from deep within and you are the only one who can find it. However, it’s powerful enough to help you achieve anything you wish in life.
Your inner motives drive your behavior. You feel truly satisfied because you are doing the right things for the right reasons.
Find your ‘why’ when setting a new goal. If there isn’t any deeper reason to actually want this, there’s no point in going after it. You’ll give up soon, just like people do with New Year’s Resolutions, when they set objectives because of the time of the year and do what others are doing.
4. Your goals aren’t specific enough.
The next big reason why you might not be moving ahead in life could be your vague goals. To really tell your subconscious mind what you want and let it help you get there, you need to be specific.
Create a vision for the rest of your life and describe how the objective you’re trying to accomplish right now will fit that vision. Write it all down and include all the details you can think of.
This will also help you visualize it, feel like it’s already happening, and feel empowered.
5. Making excuses.
Our mind is pretty good at coming up with excuses when we’re facing a big challenge, a new project, or are trying to transform our life.
You can either listen to each excuse and take it as a reason not to move forward, or you can reject it and take action besides the negative self-talk. Doing the latter a few times can help you overcome this and ditch the habit of making excuses. Once you focus on action, your thoughts will align with this and they will also become positive and powerful.
It the end of the day, don’t forget to remind yourself that the only barriers to achieving more in life are the ones in your head. And as the one taking decisions and grabbing opportunities, you’re in charge.
Work on these 5 mental barriers first before you set your next big life goal.
