Sheila has been a successful marketing leader for the past four years. Over the last several months, restructuring in her department has changed her role and affected her workload. Recently she’s found herself missing project deadlines. The recent changes are out of her control and impacting her emotional well-being and productivity with routine tasks. Subconsciously, she is sabotaging opportunities for her success. Is this you or someone you know?
When individuals find themselves in a situation where they can’t manage the outcome, they subconsciously fail to avoid a result. This is called self-sabotage, a form of control.
WHAT IS SABOTAGE?
Self-sabotage is hardly deliberate. Fear of failure – or success – can cause you to quietly, and subliminally ruin an opportunity that can bring great things to you. The destruction can be as simple as being late to an interview or meeting. Or not doing your best during a new client consultation.
Self-sabotage is your way to control an outcome that is uncertain. If you fail at something intentionally, then you are in charge of the situation and that’s comfortable. Even if you’ve created a negative end result.
WHY SABOTAGE?
Fear of change. Change is uncomfortable, even positive change. It delivers the unknown and you may not be ready to step out of your comfort zone, yet. Self-sabotage is your defense mechanism to help you ‘stay safe’.
Self-doubt takes over.
You may be suppressing the feeling that you deserve to fail. You may be telling yourself, without realizing, that you don’t deserve success. You may believe you will fail no matter how hard you try, so why bother? So, you destroy your advantage to, again, stay safe. Why keep experiencing failure over and over again? That hurts!
HOW DO YOU SPOT SELF SABOTAGE AND KILL IT?
Because you are doing these things subconsciously’, it can be tough to catch yourself sabotaging. However, a little self-examination will allow you to look at what has happened in the past so you can stop self-sabotaging in the future. Try these questioning strategies to assess your thinking and behavior:
- Review your past failures. Did you fail because of poor choices you made? Could those mistakes have been avoided?
- If you find you may have sabotaged a past opportunity, ask yourself why you did so. Are you seeing a pattern with all your past failures?
- Consider what you could have done to be successful during those times. What behaviors would have been a better course of action?
ELIMINATE SELF SABOTAGE!
Now is the time to be aware of your fears of powerlessness, failure and success. Make a plan and execute a strategy. You must do something different. This means some things will, indeed have to change.
Success is about evolution. Get ready for healthy transformations. Recognizing your behaviors and developing new habits is essential to paving new pathways for career advancement and fulfillment.
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