Do You Know Exactly What To Do But For Some Reason You Can't Do It?

Self-sabotage is a big problem that lots of people deal with. It's very strange feeling to know exactly what to do, but your own beliefs and fears get in the way of your ability to take action.
Well, before you can fix this problem, you need to know why it happens:

1. More pain associated with taking action than not taking action - Most people procrastinate because the actions they need to take are not necessarily fun. The actions needed to achieve the results they want are sometimes painful.

Remember when you had a school project and you would wait until the last second to start working on it? The reason you waited till the last second was because working on that project was boring, difficult, tedious, and simply not fun.

So, one of the reasons we self-sabotage ourselves is because we are attempting to avoid pain by doing so.

2. Fear of the unknown - Most people are afraid of success. They are afraid of what success may bring. More responsibility. More expenses. More problems.

Most people are content with where they are in life. Life doesn't really suck, it's just not that great, so they are not motivated enough to get outside of their comfort zone. In order to be successful, you need to embrace change. You need to be okay with jumping into the unknown.

3. Identity clash - When you make the effort to achieve a new goal, your current identity will be challenged. The only way to achieve something you've never done before is to take actions you've never taken before and get out of your comfort zone.

In most cases, you will have to destroy your old identity and take up a new one which can be very painful. For example, if you believe yourself to be a person who just goes with the flow of life, you will have a hard time achieving goals that require strict scheduling and time management.
Sometimes we don't realize that we have an identity that is in direct conflict with the goal we are trying to achieve. It's tough to do, but most of the time you will have to make changes to your identity to get what you want in life.

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How To Overcome Self-Sabotaging Behavior
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Step 1: Embrace Discomfort And Do What You Need To Do Anyway

The truth is that getting outside of your comfort zone is uncomfortable, but it is only temporary. When you take new actions on a consistent basis, eventually those actions will become a part of your comfort zone.

However, in the beginning, getting outside your comfort zone is going to suck. It feels uncomfortable, it feels awkward, and it just feels wrong. But, you need to embrace the discomfort and do it anyway.

There is a sense of power and freedom that will come to you when you accept discomfort and pain while taking action anyway.

You'll develop an inner confidence that nobody can take away from you. This confidence will propel you to move forward and take on bigger challenges with a smile on face, because you know you can handle anything life throws at you.

Step 2: Turn Weaknesses Into Strengths

We all have weaknesses that are holding us back from success, but sometimes you can transform those weaknesses into strengths by giving them different meanings.

For example, I love to sleep. If I don't get my 8 hours of sleep I pretty much go through the day like a zombie. So, instead of looking at this as a weakness I decided to look at it as a strength. I make sure to get my 8 hours of sleep, but when I wake-up I get straight to work and put all that energy into the actions that will get me to success the fastest.

I use all that energy to tackle the actions that I'm afraid to do. The actions that require the most energy. I get all the hard stuff out the way early in the day, so by the end of the day I can go to sleep and get my 8 hours of peaceful sleep knowing that I handled my business.

I chose to look at this weakness as a strength. Getting 8 hours of sleep everyday gives me less time to work on my business, but it doesn't really matter because instead of wasting my time doing a bunch of random stuff, I simply focus on the tasks that have the biggest impact in my business.

So, I don't need to work a ton of hours, because I just focus on doing a few things that have a huge impact in my business growth, and this allows me to get my 8 hours of sleep every night without feeling like I'm not spending enough time on my business.

Anything that you see as a weakness can be transformed into a strength, but you must look at it differently.

Step 3: Do What You Love To Do
Too many people are doing things that they hate. A lot of the stuff that people do, doesn't need to be done. You can eliminate it completely from your life or you can hire someone to do it for you or automate it.

I don't have as much problems with self-sabotage as I used to because I only do the things I want to do.

I remember when I was pursuing a professional basketball career, I would practice all hours of the day. Pain and fear couldn't stop me from practicing because I loved basketball so much.

So, you need to stop doing things you don't want to do and focus on the things you want to do. Follow your passion. Figure out what it is you were put on this earth to do. Attach a strong "why" to your actions. What is your destiny?

You don't have to do what everybody else is doing.

Follow your heart. Follow your instinct.

Too many people are chasing the wrong things. Chasing money. Chasing fame. Chasing validation. How about you chase your dreams and aspirations and forget about following the crowd?

When you do what you love, self-sabotage becomes a thing of the past.