Thursday, May 5, 2011

Why Act Against Your Best Interest?


Let's talk sabotage, self sabotage.  Why is it that people shoot themselves in the foot?  You know what I mean - when people do something that seems calculated to hurt their cause. I'm not talking about the occasional "Oops", when we inadvertently do something that undermine our goals.  I'm talking about purposeful actions that work against your self interest.  Why do people do it?  In the trenches, the reason is fear.  Fear of not being good enough; fear of success; fear of being seen as deserving; fear of being wrong. People are afraid of success and failure, of being right and wrong.  That fear makes them act in ways that remove the risk.  The problem is that by so acting they guarantee that they will never face their fear, or grow or learn their capabilities.  They remain stuck.  The funny thing is that we all engage in self-sabotage from time to time.  Is it ever healthy?  I think so, if you use it as an opportunity to face your fears and to grow from the experience.  Facing the fear can be stressful; not facing it is even more so because the actions become a self-fulfilling prophecy that you're not worthy.  How much more stressful is continuous failure?

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