Everyone knows the popular phrase about being “your own worst enemy.” No one wants to actually admit that they may actually be their own roadblock. Or, just as likely is that we don’t know how to recognize it when it happens. We have much more control over our circumstances than we generally believe. Acknowledgement of this is difficult though, because acknowledging control means accepting responsibility. When you acknowledge that you have control over a situation, you are also acknowledging that you are obligated to do the work involved to make the change. Sometimes it really is easier to just throw your hands up and say, “Well, it’s out of my control. There’s nothing I can do, I guess!”This concept is applicable to almost any area of life, and careers are no exception. Acknowledging control in our careers means we accept personal responsibility for improving whatever it is that we don’t like about it or that is holding us back. And sometimes it’s ourselves. Change can evoke fear in many people. Changing ourselves can be especially terrifying. But what would happen if we were fearless? What if we embraced the change? Just play along for a minute. Ask yourself this question: How much of my anxiety or fear about job hunting, interviewing or whatever it may be, is actually in my head? Making a change in your life means being willing to let go of limiting beliefs that you probably didn’t even know that you had.Start listening to your self-talk. Do these words ever creep into your head: “They’ll never pay me that much, I’m not going to ask for that big of a salary.” Or this one: “There’s so much competition out there, why would anyone hire me?” If it’s not one of these phrases exactly, it’s a similar one, I’ll bet. We are all guilty of holding limiting beliefs that keep us from succeeding.Let me share a quick story. When I was job hunting about three years ago, I was applying to a large number of jobs and not receiving a lot of responses. I was frustrated because I knew I was qualified for these jobs and didn’t understand why no one was calling me. I finally got ahold of a recruiter on the phone who was recruiting for one of the positions I applied for. We ended up having a pretty frank conversation and she told me why I was not being considered for the job. She saw that the word “Director” was in my title and thought I was overqualified. Overqualified!? That was the last thing I thought she would say. My belief at the time was that the only reason that I would get passed over for a job was because I was under-qualified. I thought I was aiming too high. As it turns out, I was not aiming high enough! I was limiting myself and essentially holding myself back. Funny how that works.I want to issue you a challenge. I am challenging you to question your thoughts and beliefs. When you have a negative thought about yourself and your career prospects, I want you to question where that belief came from. Is it grounded in fact and based on past experience, or is it just something that you’ve always told yourself or always heard? When you are able to remove the fear in a situation and see all that actually remains, you will be amazed.
Everyone knows the popular phrase about being “your own worst enemy.” No one wants to actually admit that they may actually be their own roadblock. Or, just as likely is that we don’t know how to recognize it when it happens. We have much more control over our circumstances than we generally believe. Acknowledgement of this is difficult though, because acknowledging control means accepting responsibility. When you acknowledge that you have control over a situation, you are also acknowledging that you are obligated to do the work involved to make the change. Sometimes it really is easier to just throw your hands up and say, “Well, it’s out of my control. There’s nothing I can do, I guess!”This concept is applicable to almost any area of life, and careers are no exception. Acknowledging control in our careers means we accept personal responsibility for improving whatever it is that we don’t like about it or that is holding us back. And sometimes it’s ourselves. Change can evoke fear in many people. Changing ourselves can be especially terrifying. But what would happen if we were fearless? What if we embraced the change? Just play along for a minute. Ask yourself this question: How much of my anxiety or fear about job hunting, interviewing or whatever it may be, is actually in my head? Making a change in your life means being willing to let go of limiting beliefs that you probably didn’t even know that you had.Start listening to your self-talk. Do these words ever creep into your head: “They’ll never pay me that much, I’m not going to ask for that big of a salary.” Or this one: “There’s so much competition out there, why would anyone hire me?” If it’s not one of these phrases exactly, it’s a similar one, I’ll bet. We are all guilty of holding limiting beliefs that keep us from succeeding.Let me share a quick story. When I was job hunting about three years ago, I was applying to a large number of jobs and not receiving a lot of responses. I was frustrated because I knew I was qualified for these jobs and didn’t understand why no one was calling me. I finally got ahold of a recruiter on the phone who was recruiting for one of the positions I applied for. We ended up having a pretty frank conversation and she told me why I was not being considered for the job. She saw that the word “Director” was in my title and thought I was overqualified. Overqualified!? That was the last thing I thought she would say. My belief at the time was that the only reason that I would get passed over for a job was because I was under-qualified. I thought I was aiming too high. As it turns out, I was not aiming high enough! I was limiting myself and essentially holding myself back. Funny how that works.I want to issue you a challenge. I am challenging you to question your thoughts and beliefs. When you have a negative thought about yourself and your career prospects, I want you to question where that belief came from. Is it grounded in fact and based on past experience, or is it just something that you’ve always told yourself or always heard? When you are able to remove the fear in a situation and see all that actually remains, you will be amazed.