Everyone has dreams and goals they want to accomplish. These dreams range from things like traveling, losing weight, pursuing your ultimate career, or even owning your own business. However, as you go on your journey to realize your dreams, there are always obstacles that can get in your way and lead to sabotaging your efforts.
The key is to know what these hijackers are so you can plan for them. When you plan well, you are able to put provisions in place that will prevent these issues from getting in the way of your dreams.
Fear
Fear is an emotion that often stops people from going after what they truly want. It is easy to be afraid of what you do not know and this is what stops people from pursuing their dreams. They are afraid of how things might turn out or that their dreams will not come true.
Fear is difficult to deal with and is not something that people can quickly get over. You have to identify the source of your fear before you are able to release its hold on you. The source of fear is different for every person, so know that this can take time.
Once you identify the source of your fear, you can work toward releasing it. Think about your dreams and consider what has stopped you from pursuing them thus far. For example, if you are afraid that you might fail, this is the fear that you need to find the source for. For example, some people are afraid of failure because their parents were hard on them as children when it came to things like getting a poor grade or not making the starting lineup on a sports team, others may be afraid to start that business you’ve always dreamed of.
Whatever your fears are, find the source and have the courage to confront it.
Negative Family or Friends
This is one of the biggest sources of sabotage and many people do not even realize that it's happening. No one wants to think that their loved ones would stand in the way of their dreams, but this happens quite often. In some cases, your loved ones may not even be trying to sabotage you. For example, if your dream is to move to another state, your parents may subconsciously try to dissuade you from doing so because they will miss you. They mean no harm, but their negative actions can still derail your dreams.
In some cases, your loved ones may be actively trying to prevent you from realizing or pursuing your dreams. They may be jealous of your accomplishments or want to hold you down because they never took the chance to chase their dreams, or may think the only way to success is to have a traditional education or a traditional job.
In this case, you may have to remove the negative people from your life so they no longer prevent you from reaching your dreams. This is not an easy decision to make and it is difficult to remove people that you love, but it may be necessary in order for you to find happiness and to stay on track with achieving your dreams and goals.
Self-Doubt
Everyone experiences self-doubt from time to time because it is easier to think negatively than it is
to think positively. However, it is critical that you take the time to realize your potential. You need to know that the possibilities are truly endless as long as you are willing to work hard and use all of your talents.
The thing about your dreams is that you can adapt them to fit your strengths. You can also use them to work on your weaknesses so that you not only achieve your dreams, but you also work toward self-growth simultaneously.
Self-doubt takes time to eliminate because it is a part of everyone. You have to determine the self-doubts that are sabotaging your dreams so that you can work to eradicate them. For example, some people only doubt certain things, such as a specific ability, but some people have more of an overall self-doubt. If your self-doubt surrounds a single ability, figure out why you doubt this so that you can make the appropriate changes.
If your self-doubt is overall, work on improving your confidence and self-esteem because when these are high, it is a lot harder to fall into the pitfalls of self-doubt.
Uncertainty
No one knows what the future holds and this uncertainty can lead to avoiding your dreams. Even if you have your dreams and goals mapped out, you still do not know exactly how things are going to turn out. This level of uncertainty can lead to you not tackling the tasks necessary to accomplish your goals.
Some people will use uncertainty as an excuse because they are truly afraid of what may happen. It is important that you embrace uncertainty and that you improve your ability to adapt. Both of these will reduce the power that uncertainty holds.
Giving Up
When things seem too far off, too difficult or too big, it is easy to give up. Everyone has dreams, and the bigger the dream, the harder it is to keep pursuing it. However, it is important that you never give up because while the journey may be rocky and full of obstacles, it leads to your dreams and it also teaches you valuable lessons along the way.
Instead of letting problems cause you to give up, take these problems and use them to your advantage. Use them to learn more about yourself and to improve upon your weaknesses.
There are other hijackers that may occur, but these are the five that are most common. Make sure that you know what they are and take some time to identify them in your life. Once you know what they are and where they are, it is a lot easier to prevent them from derailing your dreams.
When you are planning and preparing for your goals, make note of your dream hijackers. This gives you a clear way to quickly identify them so you can shut them down and keep moving!