What Else is Holding You Back?
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

Last week I wrote about tips that can help you achieve your goals. As I reflected on that a bit more, I realized there is another area in our lives that we need to talk about—what might be holding us back. Reflection is a great tool for discovering the “issues” that might be in play. As you think about your day and the progress, or lack thereof, toward your growth and goals, you may get hints of where to dig deeper. Here are a few that came to my mind:

Hurt – Are you carrying around baggage that is weighing you down. I remember reading this quote, “Never give up, always do your best. Never hate those who hate you, because when you do, you destroy yourself and they win.” Now hate is a very strong word, but even holding onto the past can, over time, wear you down. How you respond to others is up to you, not them.

Distractions and Loss of Focus – Do you have things in your daily life that keep you from achieving what you want? They could be almost anything—social  media, entertainment, or even people. That’s right people. Are there people in your life that are holding you back? I once had a young leader share with me that his circle of friends from college only wanted to hang out and have a good time. He, on the other hand, wanted more out of his life. My advice was pretty harsh, “you need to find a new group of friends.”

Failing to Say No – This is a tough one for me. I want to be liked and find it very hard to tell people no. Those closest to me have been telling me for years that I need to be more protective of my time. But who can I say no to? While you can achieve just about anything you focus on and work hard for, you can’t achieve everything. There are only 24 hours in the day. One of my mentors said it best, “Sometimes you need to say no to the good to make time for the best.”

As 2019 winds down, it’s a good time to look at what might be holding you back. Please join Marisa Norcross and me for Episode 131 of The Next Page podcast as we look into how and why things hold us back.

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