Ever felt like you want to achieve something so bad but your mind doesn’t carry you to it? Or maybe you want to change something, perhaps in your lifestyle or even in your personality but there is just something that you can’t figure out- what’s holding you back?
Well, if you think getting your mind off of it or distracting yourself, by believing that today is not the day to achieve what you want would make you anywhere near where you’d like to be… you’re absolutely wrong!
It’s a good sign you’re still reading this article because you’ve reached the answer to who is holding you captive: YOU are holding YOU back.
Yes, you read that right.
You unintentionally hold yourself back in ways you don’t realize. It’s this kind of thing where you’re fighting a demonic creature inside of you that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Well, this demonic creature has a name… it’s a mental barrier.
What are Mental Barriers?
Mental barriers or psychological barriers are internal subliminal beliefs that act as setbacks preventing one from reaching desired goals or full potential.
I’m sure people who went to a job interview before, have at a point in time continuously thought about how they’re ‘not qualified enough for a particular position’ and that other candidates will do way better, thus affecting their performance.
How many of you at university registered for a course and ended up dropping because you thought you’re ‘not smart enough’ to take it or you were ‘scared’ to get an F so you took the easy way out? I remember when I was in school and speaking up in class was my worst nightmare because I always thought my classmates ‘would make fun of me’ or that I would say something stupid ‘fearing what they would think’.
Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.
-Theodore Roosevelt.
Regardless of the scenario, who you really are lies beneath these mental barriers. To expose who you are and what you’re capable of doing, these mental barriers have to be shattered. But how can you break something that you’re not familiar with?
I don’t know whether you have noticed the effect of these top 5 mental barriers below on your behavior or not, but I assure you they are detrimental!
1. Self-doubt
Yes, moments of doubt happen occasionally and that’s normal. It’s not ordinary when it becomes the habitual way of going about your actions. This is the part where I’m talking about how some may think less of themselves and that is because they lack the knowledge about their worth. Not being ready, not being able to do something and the idea that other people are more important are all common mindsets in a person who is incapable of seeing his value.
Self-doubt is the mental barrier I like to call the inner critic. We must come to see that we ourselves decide how we are perceived and that is by how we view and think about ourselves. Hence, these thoughts by our inner critic become who we are and how others see us. So how is it that you want to succeed and move forward when you yourself are in control of your own downfall?
2. Procrastination
Here comes the mental barrier that keeps us from reaching anything… literally. Your insecurities or your laziness conduct your schedule for you.
Oh wait there is no schedule, you have tasks here and there that are eventually left till the last minute. Mentally we think it’s better to relax now and work later pushing everything we have to do today aside, but I mean that’s imprisoning us tomorrow right?
To procrastinate is to avoid getting started and this is where it’s a setback that is anything but success. As the late actor Will Rogers says, “even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
3. Criticism by others
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” says Former First Lady of the US, Eleanor Roosevelt. In light of this quote, people take criticism as a fact about themselves rather than an opinion by someone else, often leading to self-judgment. It becomes a mental barrier when people are stung by it and don’t do what they feel in their hearts taking into consideration external stances, when in many cases it can be a motive for growth.
4. Fear
Your fears are derived from any behavior that goes against your comfort zone. Fear of changing the direction you’ve always been pursuing is what makes it difficult to let go of what is pulling you back. It usually goes along the lines of this is ‘new and scary, what if I fail? And what happens if I let myself down?’ Wandering towards an unknown path can be fearful but “never let a sense of failure corrupt your new action”, writes Teacher Oswald Chambers.
5. Analysis Paralysis
Overthinking is a KILLER, it kills your potential and drives your mind crazy! Thinking about something so much doesn’t give you the mental space nor the time to focus on what you want to attain. Overanalyzing a situation does not allow for meaningful actions or any actions to take place for that matter. It hinders the chance of completion of an action and destroys the outcome.
So where are all these mental barriers taking you? NOWHERE. It’s really important to know that mental barriers are negative thoughts WITHIN YOU that impede you from advancing. Afterall as Author Jake Ducey wrote,“the biggest obstacles in our lives are the barriers our mind creates.”
BREAK these barriers, do something phenomenal!
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