Heard this first line the other day, and it struck me enough to write it down as a prompt:
“How am I holding ME back from being the version of me?”
Understand that there are things within our control and things outside of our control.
We need to take ownership and responsibility for the actions within our control.
This works a little bit with the last post, talking about locus of control and understanding that there is probably more that we can do when it comes to our self development. There is more that we can take ownership of when it comes to how we are developing ourselves, and how that relates to the intention behind our actions.
This is a challenge to yourself to reflect and can help shift your locus of control from external more toward internal. When you start to look and you start to identify how your own mind is holding you back, you can start to break down the barriers.
I went out walking after publishing and thought to myself, “I can do more for this post.. What actions can we take to uncover if we have ways that we are holding ourselves back?” Walking always helps my mind when thinking things through and for generating thoughts and ideas we can turn into action.
One barrier I often hear from people is about time and not being to find the time to work on what they want to improve on. If this feels like you, I would suggest to start with understanding where you are spending your time. Start paying attention to where you are spending time, and how much time you are spending.
Action: Ask yourself, “Is there some way I can shift some of the time I am spending toward actions that move what I want forward? Am I making time for that work or those hobbies?” Once you identify that, intentionally spend the time in the way you want, rather than in activities you fall into out of habit. I found by simply asking myself this question helped me realize that I could spend more time reading, and starting build a new habit by replacing time spent watching YouTube.
Action: Ask yourself, “do I have to spend all this time here? can I make it more efficient and get some time back?” identify the places where you can be more efficient to reduce the time you are spending on necessary activities that may not be aligned. Once you identify those efficiencies, put them into place, and start spending the time you get back in the activities you want.
Action: Ask yourself, “If I have to be here, can I spend my time more effectively?” for example, you may have to take your kids to soccer practice, but you could be spending some time there working on what you want to be working on. If you have to wait at a doctor’s office, can you bring your activities with you?
Think about what you have control of and find a way to take the ownership and responsibility of the actions that are within your control.