5 Statements That Hinder Success

How did you spend the Holy Week break? Were you one of the many who attended masses, participated in recollections, and visited churches? Did you head to your favorite leisure spots? They may remain in the minority but a handful engaged in their personal version of spring cleaning. Yes, these folks brought out the brooms, gloves, the 3-for-P100 rags, and dustpans, to thoroughly declutter their rooms or parts of their house, if not their houses overall. Nothing helps give a room a new look and feel than by giving your piece of space a makeover or better yet: a “make-better”.

As another workweek unfolds today, there is another form of spring cleaning that everyone can engage in no matter the season – throwing out any belief system or statement that does not help us achieve our goals in life. According to data from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), 553,706 college students graduated last 2014. Imagine if each of them (or at least a sizable percentage) had the foundation for the right mentality (read: not the teleserye victim mode) to prosper.

Speaker and Inc. Magazine contributing editor Jeff Haden gives the list of statements you can prohibit from entering your mind (and going out of your mouth as well) and how one can counter such thinking:

1. “I never get the right opportunities.”

Ever heard of the quote, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door”? If you find yourself saying or thinking this first statement, shift your focus to the above-mentioned quote. Opportunities are all about “earner-ship” and are not given away freely like a fast food restaurant’s menu flyer. The times have evolved to the point where opportunities exist just by connecting to various avenues (i.e. social media, forging your own business, and networking with people from different industries). The high achievers take the ball where they are and with what they have and run with it to the best of their ability — creating opportunities that weren’t there before or expanding ones that they are working on. Work on the opportunities present in your life at the given moment. All you have to do is start. Wondering about the person who may be preventing you from doing so? Take a good look in the mirror.

2. “(Someone) is always holding me back.”

There is one type of pie everybody does not want to have a piece of – the blame pie. It’s baked by people who would rather choose to give large portions of the blame on others or a number of factors without reflecting how they themselves contributed to a failed endeavor. When you fail, take responsibility for it. Worry about the factors or people you can control. Basketball legend Michael Jordan once said in a Nike TV commercial, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” Never think of failure as the end. With its lessons on personal responsibility and bouncing back from adversity, you have just taken one step closer to success.

3. “I just don’t have enough time.”

Do you utilize your time by being just busy or by being productive? Do you allow time to dictate the tempo and the flow of your workday or is it the other way around? Zero in on the most urgent tasks and pour out all the time and effort towards its completion.

4. “Sure, I would do that… if I could be sure it would be worth it.”

Are you process-focused or outcome-oriented? A lot of times, the effort we put in is dependent on the type of reward we think we’ll get or how far we project an endeavor will go. But it doesn’t work that way. The top performers just put their head down, focus on putting in the best work they can muster daily, and they let the chips fall where they may. Having the salary or promotion you want is just a consequence of your contributions at work, growth on the job, and being a lifelong learner and hard worker.

5. “But there’s just nothing special about me.”

You – and that includes your skillset – are unique and special and for those who find themselves uttering such a statement, they just don’t know it yet. The only way to let these talents come out is by leaving your comfort zone. This quote by Orison Marden sums this point well: “Deep within man dwell those slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action.” The choice is yours to let it out. Let it. Your talents are raring to come out.

Which statement do you find yourself saying or believing as truth? State your thoughts below. In closing, if these five statements can be summed up into one big, positive, and simple message, it would be: Be the cause of your own success.

Image by Mish Sukharev