3 Things Hurting Your Immediate Success (and How to Overcome Them!)

I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time whenever I find out I’ve been the reason standing in between my own success. Sometimes we can unintentionally get in the way of our own successes without even realizing we’re doing it. Simple things like procrastination, delaying tasks, and thinking too much can hinder us instead of helping us in the long run. Below, I’m going to share with you 3 things hurting your immediate success (and how to overcome them!)

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3 Things Hurting Your Immediate Success

These 3 things I have found to be some of the greatest hindrances when it comes to getting ahead:

Overthinking

We’re all guilty of overthinking at some point or another, but when it starts to get in the way of our goals and dreams it becomes a real problem. Overthinking is when we simply spend too much time thinking about solving a problem, except we don’t actually reach a decision or solution. With overthinking we are more likely to induce feelings of stress and anxiety than achieving positive results.

Why overthinking is hurting your immediate success: you’re likely spending so much time ruminating and processing one task or problem that you’re not taking action, not reaching a solution, and instead creating a stressful environment.

Tacking Emotions onto Your Tasks

While this is similar to overthinking, it looks a little different. Have you ever created a to do list and then when it got down to a specific item on the list you came up with a million reasons not to? When we tack emotions onto our existing tasks, we can get bogged down in the emotional aspect of it. Whether you’re creating excuses not to do it (perhaps you don’t like the task), are fearful of the outcome of the task, don’t find the task exciting, etc., you’re taking time away from simply doing the task, and instead creating a negative feeling around the task itself.

Why tacking emotions onto your tasks is hurting your immediate success: you’re so hyper focused on how it’s making you feel instead of gearing up to do the task that you end up making excuses, feel physically put off by doing the task, and or end up procrastinating/not completing the task altogether.

Delaying Getting Your Shit Together

Of course no one has all of their shit figured out, but there comes a point in time when delaying getting your act together has consequences. By not keeping track of important deadlines, not doing your research, not planning ahead and not putting yourself in a mindset where you have it together, you’re delaying your success further.

When you delay getting organized and asking yourself the hard hitting questions, you create a vague direction in which you’re travelling in. When it comes to hitting milestones and achieving goals, having clear cut objectives is an alternative that guarantees success.

Why delaying getting your shit together is hurting your immediate success: you’re not setting yourself up in a proper mindset or environment that allows you to create clear cut plans to reach your goals, stay on track and execute your plan for success.

How to Overcome These 3 Things

How to Overcome Overthinking

Recognize

When you start to get into the overthinking loop (characterized by ruminating, dwelling on the past/mistakes, constantly thinking about what could go wrong/what could be better, and not walking away from something until you’ve come up with a ‘perfect solution’), immediately stop yourself. Recognize that you are falling into the overthinking trap and halt your thoughts (you can even think or say something like “I realize I am overthinking and I am going to stop and take a pause”).

Rework Your Thinking

Here are some resources to stop overthinking with actionable steps:

Overthinking is a Killer: The Guide to Action Instead of Thought

How to Stop Overthinking Your Decisions

21 Ways to Stop Yourself From Overthinking

Remember

Not everything you do will be perfect on the first try. It’s okay to go back and change your mind, edit and take a different path.

How to Stop Tacking Emotions onto Your Tasks

Recognize

When you start to go down your to do list, take note of what tasks induce the feelings of discomfort. What tasks on that list are making you come up with excuses/unpleasant feelings? Are you able to work through those unpleasant feelings? Is there a way to change the task to something you’re more willing to complete? Explore all possible avenues as to why these items on your to do list provoke the feelings of avoidance and unpleasantness.

Alternatives

Change the task on your to do list: is there something else you can do to achieve the same affect? Is this a necessary task you need to do to achieve your goal?

Analyze: ask yourself the hard hitting questions – are you scared of what will happen if you do the task? Do you feel overworked and burnt out? What would happen if you just did the task?

Outsource: can you find a way to pay someone else to do the task you hate the most?

Change the plan: if this task provokes such unpleasant feelings and excuses, can you change the plan and still achieve the desired goal?

Remember

Don’t change the goal, change the plan. Ultimately if the plan to get you closer to your goal isn’t working for you or providing joy, it’s time to change the plan and find an alternative to get to the goal.

How to Step Up and Get Your Shit Together

Recognize

What areas do you lack discipline in? What areas are you falling behind? Determine whether you need to work on your time-management, your overall plan or goal, or whether you need to take a step back and regroup. Getting organized and getting your shit together can help save you from overworking, falling behind and missing important dates and deadlines. Analyze what areas you struggle with to be able to come up with a plan to fix those areas.

Formulate a Plan

Buy an agenda, sit down and re-work your goal or sit back and ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve. Working on getting your shit together is something that starts from within, and requires you to become aware of your shortcomings and bad habits. Write down a list of habits or areas you come up short and formulate a plan to work on those areas.

Remember

Getting your shit together requires a level of brutal honesty – after all, you have to sit down and figure out what you’re doing wrong or could improve on. Be kind to yourself and remain objective – look for bad habits and shortcomings you are capable of fixing, make yourself aware, and work everyday to overcome those challenges.

Get Back Out There and Succeed!

Sometimes we fall behind, fall of the wagon or completely just miss the boat. We’re all human. At the end of the day, it’s up to us to make sure we’re on the right track to succeeding, and make sure we’re constantly aware of our next steps. I hope 3 Things Hurting Your Immediate Success (and How to Overcome Them!) inspires you to look inward, develop a plan and get you back to achieving all of your goals.