Have you ever made a goal to eat healthier and for the first few days you are doing great, but a few weeks later you find yourself eating too many cupcakes? You are experiencing self sabotage! It’s happened to me too, when I wanted to cut out soda for a month but I just ‘happened’ to find myself at my favorite pizza place, and I know I won’t eat pizza without soda.

What a coincidence! I guess I better break my soda-fast and have a bubbly drink with my pepperoni pizza.

Another way self sabotage rears it’s ugly head is when you have TONS of motivation to work on a brand new project, but it is a bit too late at night to get started. You promise yourself that you are going to wake up first thing in the morning and get to work, but then you end up sleeping in all morning instead. Self sabotage strikes again!

Sabotaging in one area of your life does NOT mean you necessarily self sabotage in other areas. It’s common for a person to have a great career, but have a weight problem. Or for someone to be a straight ‘A’ student, but have difficulty practicing for their violin concerto. These self sabotaging tendencies only crop up at certain times.

In this episode of the ‘Shut Up, Brain’ podcast I dive into why we self sabotage, and some key strategies to overcome this limiting behavior. It doesn’t have to require more self discipline or more motivation either. Listen to the episode and then leave a comment below to let me know what you think!

Talking Points:

My story of building a new portfolio website for my 3d graphics

Determining if a project is really necessary

Krav Maga and going for my black belt Does your goal line up with your internal compass?

Secondary gain and how it subconsciously sabotages you

How to overcome bad mindsets

Being aware of your intention (Noticing the land mines before you enter the mine field)

Moving away from a goal or moving towards it

Quote from Petyr ‘LittleFinger’ Baelish “Every time I’m faced with a decision I close my eyes and see the same picture. Whenever I consider an action I ask myself, ‘will this help make this picture a reality? Pull it out of my mind and into the world?’ And I only act if the answer is ‘yes.’“



Action Steps:

Ask yourself: If you achieve this good goal, what bad thing could happen as a result? Is there a way to mitigate those bad things?

Ask yourself: Is there anything GOOD about this bad habit?

Resources & References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_and_secondary_gain – What is secondary gain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petyr_Baelish – Game of thrones character (such a damn good show!)

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