Stop Self Sabotaging! | Jack Canfield

Hi there. I'm Jack Canfield, and today I'd like to talk to you about four fatal ways you may be sabotaging your own success. And show you how simple shifts in your mindset and your behavior can help you overcome your blocks and dramatically accelerate your progress to your goals. First, I'd like to introduce you to the concept of Yellow Alerts. If you've ever watched any episodes of the Star Trek television series, they usually started with Yellow Alert. Yellow Alert. Yellow Alert, which was the ship's computer telling Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise that something was wrong, something that needed immediate response, or it had to be corrected before it turned into a red alert, which then meant really big trouble, which usually is how the show started. So what I'm talking about here are the warning signs in your life that tell you whatever you're doing isn't working or that you're about to make an unwise decision that would send you off in the wrong direction. Now, you've probably experienced these yellow Alerts many times before. They show up as a sinking feeling in your stomach or a niggling awareness in your mind that something just isn't right. Maybe you keep getting the same disappointing results in a certain area of your life. Or maybe you're receiving comments or feedback from others that tell you something you're doing just isn't working. Maybe it's that unexplainable gut feeling that working with a certain person isn't going to work out and yield the outcome you want. Or maybe it's the fact that you're feeling stressed out and exhausted all the time. Time. Or that your clothes are starting to feel uncomfortably tight around your belly. Now, whenever you have that feeling of, oh, something isn't right here. That is a yellow alert. And learning how to and being willing to recognize and respond to these yellow alerts effectively is a key characteristic of highly successful people. However, far too many people sabotage their success because they don't do a great job of responding to yellow Alerts when they experience them. So today I'd like to talk about the four main ways in which most people sabotage their own efforts and become their own biggest obstacles to success. The first thing they do is they avoid the yellow alerts. They either pretend they didn't notice them or they go out of their way to avoid situations in which the yellow alert might be activated. For example, if someone has been getting a negative vibe from their coworkers and decides to stop interacting with them, instead of talking with them and finding out what the issue is. Or if you get a bad feeling about a potential client, decide to ignore it and hope for the best. Instead of learning more about the client to determine if you really are a good fit to work with them, or instead of dealing with the fact that your clothes are getting uncomfortable, you switch to wearing yoga pants or sweatpants all the time. Many people choose to ignore yellow alerts.

Because they don't want to feel any sort of discomfort.

Acknowledging and responding to yellow alerts usually involves doing things you'd rather not do, such as having an awkward conversation with someone or admitting that something isn't working. So they pretend not to see the alerts because it's easier, more convenient, less uncomfortable, and protects them from having to take risks. But the thing about most problems is, just because you ignore them, it doesn't.

Mean they go away. In fact, they usually get bigger and.

Even more difficult to deal with if.

You don't take care of them right away. And that's why successful people are always on the lookout for yellow alerts and are prepared to deal with them immediately. Remember Benjamin Franklin, a stitch in time saves nine.

That's what we're talking about here. So you want to be willing to.

Get uncomfortable because you know that yellow alerts can develop into problems that fester and grow into huge roadblocks that prevent you from moving forward. So the key here is to be willing to do the uncomfortable thing. And that brings us to the second way most people sabotage their success. They procrastinate on dealing with their yellow alerts. They recognize that the yellow alert is happening, but they tell themselves, well, I'll take care of it later. Except later never seems to come. So they ignore the negative feedback they're getting from their co workers until they get a poor performance review from their manager and keep getting passed over for promotions. Or they don't address their clients unreasonable expectations and suddenly they find themselves working a ton of unpaid overtime and bending over backwards to please a person who can't be pleased. Or they say, I'll start eating healthier and getting more exercise tomorrow or next week or after the super bowl or next month or whatever, until none of their clothes fit and they no longer like what they see when they look in the mirror. And the longer you delay in dealing with the problem, I promise you, the bigger it will get, including your stomach. So the good news is that you want to develop the habit of responding quickly and and decisively to yellow alerts as they happen. If you do that, your life's going to be so much easier you'll be able to eliminate problems before they occur, and you'll achieve greater levels of success much faster. And that means you're going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Let me say that again. Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. You're going to have to be willing to look at your own shortcomings and be willing to hear uncomfortable truths. But I promise you, the results will be worth it. It's only when you face what isn't working that you're able to explore other options and come up with a way to get the results you want. Now, let's talk about another way people sabotage their success in life. They blame other people for their problems. If you want to achieve big goals in your life, blaming others for your setbacks is never the way to go. The only way to unlock your full power and take total control of your life and results is, is to take 100% responsibility for everything in your life. After all, the truth is that there's only one person responsible for the quality of the life you live. And that person is you. And you know that now. Everything about you is a result of what you do or you don't do. Your income, your debt, the quality of your relationships, your happiness, your health, everything. If you've been ignoring yellow alerts, take responsibility for that too. You see, successful people take full, 100% full responsibility for their mindset and their actions. This includes the thoughts they think, the things they read, the programs they watch on tv, the people they hang out with, the pictures they visualize in their mind, and the actions they take or the actions they don't take. They don't waste their time and energy complaining about things and blaming others for their circumstances. They focus on what they can do to improve their situation. They face the uncomfortable truth and take whatever actions they need to take, including the ones that feel risky to create the life they want to live. And finally, the last way most people sabotage themselves is through doubt. They don't have faith in themselves or their ability to address the yellow alerts in their lives and successfully resolve them. And this is probably the deadliest method of self sabotage in them all, and possibly the most common.

So many people lack the self confidence and self esteem required to believe in that. They put themselves in an uncomfortable situation. They will not only survive it, they will actually succeed bigger because of it. Now, if you're going to be successful in creating the life of your dreams, you have to believe that you're capable of making it happen. Now, whether you call it self esteem, self confidence, or self Assurance. It's a deep seated belief that you have have what it takes, the abilities, the inner resources, the talents and abilities to create your desired results. And here's the key. Believing in yourself is just a choice. You got to get this. You can choose to believe in yourself. It's just a choice. And you can choose to put yourself into environments where other people believe in you as well. And that's why coaching, taking trainings and participating in mastermind groups are so valuable. Try this one on. Try it as an experiment. Simply act as if you are capable of handling uncomfortable experiences. How would you act? Do it as an experiment for a week. Ask for things as if you deserve to get a yes and expected to get a yes. Set a boundary with someone acting as if you'll survive even if a few people get upset with you. Act as if you can tell someone the uncomfortable truth, knowing it will ultimately produce over time, a better outcome. Make the decision to believe that you are indeed creating all of your experiences. Now this might sound a little bit strange to you, but accepting this level of responsibility is uniquely empowering. It means you actually can do and be anything you need to be to create the life you want and make your dreams come true. Now if you're experiencing a yellow alert right now as you listen to this and you're thinking something like but I don't think I do have the abilities, the inner resources, the talents or the skills to make my dreams come true, pay attention to that. Don't ignore it or procrastinate because of it, or blame someone else for it. Make the decision right now to simply address it and resolve it by simply choosing to believe in yourself. It's an act of faith. And then take action. Do something different and remember this truth. Self confidence is the result of surviving a risk. It's something you earn through action. Choose to believe you can and then act as if. And then actually do it. And also remember each time you do it, you're going to learn from it and you'll get better at it over time. That's simply how it works. The way to learn to play the piano is by playing the piano. The way you learn to cook is by cooking. So do whatever you've got to do to grow your self confidence. And here's another tip. See yourself succeeding and doing what it is you want to do. And since your body can't tell the difference between a real event and a vividly imagined event, you can practice anything by closing your eyes and doing the thing you want to do. Simply visualize yourself doing it well. Visualize successfully giving your sales presentation, playing an instrument, giving a speech, conducting a podcast, or having that difficult conversation. Just visualize it in your mind and this will build your self confidence because in your mind you're surviving that risk. So my challenge to you this week is to start paying more attention to the yellow alerts in your life and how you are responding them. Stop avoiding them, stop procrastinating and dealing with them, and stop blaming other people for the fact that they're there. Focus on what you can do to make things better and tell yourself you that you absolutely have what it takes to make it happen. And if you can think of a specific yellow alert that's been trying to get your attention for a while now, write down three specific actions you'll commit to taking this week to deal with it. These actions might make you feel nervous.

Or uncomfortable, but I promise you, once.

You'Ve achieved them, you're going to feel so much better and you'll find it continually getting easier to keep taking brave actions toward your goals. Now to hold yourself accountable. Leave a comment below with the Yellow alerts you plan to address and the solutions you plan on implementing. I'd love to read what you have to say and cheer you on as you work towards achieving your goals now. If you found this video helpful, please take a moment to like it, share it with a friend who may need it, and subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one, and for additional resources on how to elevate your success, make sure to visit my website@jackcampfield.com thanks for watching.