What Holds Us Back?

As many of you know, today I'll be embarking on an 18 day trip to Alexandria, Egypt to compete in the 2010 Lifesaving World Championships. The last few weeks have been a combination of stress, excitement, nervousness, worry and a whole slew of other emotions as I've been preparing to leave. I've been training for about a year now and I've come to realize that, at many times, my thoughts and emotions hold me back from achieving what I really want. For many of us, emotions and thoughts can prevent us from moving forward toward our ultimate goals. Whether you're working towards weight loss or any other goal, it's important to realize what, in your life, may be holding you back.

As I head to Egypt today, I will be trying to manage my thoughts and emotions since these can be my worst enemy! I encourage all of you to read the following and start figuring out what might be holding you back from achieving your goals:

WHAT HOLDS US BACK?

All of us are faced with external and or internal obstacles that prevent complete success. You should fully examine these obstacles if you wish to try and change. Don't just accept things as they are; you can change your destiny. It takes work, but you can change if you want to.

1. FEAR OF FAILURE. Whether we accept this or not, this is the greatest stumbling block I find as people work toward their weight and exercise goals. The thoughts come rapidly: "What would happen if I failed? What if it doesn't work out? What would happen if people saw me fail?” To learn to get by this problem, accept a few things:

# 1 Life is Hard. Life is so hard that no matter what you attempt, you are going to face problems, setbacks and difficulties. Once you accept this fact, facing your fears is much easier because you know setbacks will come, but they don't mean you've failed. There are simply obstacles and steps you must overcome on your way to succeeding.

# 2 We all fail. Not all of our goals and plans turn out the way we had planned. Everyone fails, but this should not stop us. We can still follow our dreams. Accepting this fact makes it easier to deal with failure.

# 3 Failure is a part of success. Everyone comes across obstacles on the path to achieving their goals. Figuring out how to overcome these obstacles is what makes us successful.
Also, fear of failure is really fear of the unknown. You don't really know what will happen if you fail. So, #1 List out all the possible outcomes. Be creative and list the worst possible outcome of the situation. If you can live with the worst possible outcome, you can live with any other outcome. What is the worst that can happen? If you set your goal to lose 70 pounds and you lose 40 and plateau, is that a failure or a great success? Does it mean you give up and sabotage yourself and regain the 40 or accept what you've accomplished and plan to try to lose the next 30 with a different strategy? People tend to give up when they're closest to achieving their goal.

2. Another fear is FEAR OF SUCCESS. You might say, "If I am successful, I will have to change my lifestyle and accept a ‘different' me,” or, "I will have to change my lifestyle and live differently than I currently do.” It is hard to be successful, and it can be hard to accept the praise, compliments or even jealousy of others that sometimes accompanies success. You have to learn to accept the new, ‘improved' you. It can be hard for some of us, since we sometimes prefer to be anonymous rather than the centre of attention.

3. TIME is a factor that tends to set a lot of people back. Planning food preparation or fitting in exercise becomes overwhelming to those of us who feel we can't fit enough in already. It is essential to take the time to really think about what's important to you and take your goals into account before prioritizing your time. Fighting time can be the most frustrating aspect of goal-setting, but if you remember to always make time for what's most important to you, you will eventually reach your goal.

4. HABITS. Old habits or patterns of living can cause us to live very unhealthy lives. To overcome these habits and bad patterns of living, we must put new habits, ideas and pictures in our minds. This is done most effectively with affirmations. (i.e. "I will change, I can do this, I will achieve my goal of weight loss and healthy living, nothing will stop me,” etc.)

Ponder on these things since they are common to all of us. I've seen so many people succeed I know it possible for everyone. As I've said before, Is it easy? No it's not. But if you keep trying, you will do it. So, never ever give up! You can do it. Just hang in there.

Dr. Doug

(this article was adapted from the book ‘Follow Your Dreams' by D. Conway Stone)