5 Steps to Stop You From Hindering Your Own Success

We all occasionally fall into destructive habits that not only make us unhappy in the moment but also stand in the way of our success.

No matter how self-aware you are, everyone has blind spots. You might be holding yourself back without even realizing it.

That’s why it’s important to get a reminder every now and then. A reminder of what might be dragging you down, what you’ve been clinging to, and what you need to let go of in order to move forward toward success.

Here are five unhealthy habits that could be hindering your success. Take a look!

You Follow Other People’s Ideas of Success

The moment you start chasing someone else’s idea of success, you begin to lose sight of your own. You can’t achieve your true potential if you’re not acting on what truly matters to you.

As Gary Vee says in one of his videos, “Success is practice, period.” Every single day, you’re practicing something. If you’re pursuing a career as a computer scientist but deep down you want to be an internet marketer, you’re not just off track—you’re failing every day you ignore your true passion.

Your life begins where your idea of success starts. Think about the people you genuinely admire, the feelings and experiences that resonate with you—those are the things that define success for you.

Success might mean traveling the world while working remotely. It might mean inspiring others through your art. It could be climbing the corporate ladder, with your skills and achievements recognized far and wide.

Whatever success means to you, identify it clearly and make the tough decision to pursue it.

You Pretend to Be Someone You’re Not

Even if you’ve moved past the habit of chasing others’ ideas of success, this next habit could still be holding you back.

Pretending to be someone you’re not can happen so easily. It often starts with one small action, then another, until it spirals into a habit—and before you know it, you’ve built an entirely false version of yourself.

When you pretend to be someone you’re not, you might start believing things like:

• I’m not important.
• I’m not enough as I am.
• The real me is a mistake.
• The real me can’t be loved.
• Society thinks the real me is unacceptable.
• I’m not happy with who I am.
• If people think I’m perfect, they’ll like me.

These beliefs create a world where you start to lose sight of who you truly are. And if you look at how inauthentic people behave, you’ll realize that pretending to be someone you’re not is not only derailing your success but also robbing you of happiness.

You might try to be someone else to numb the pain of these self-limiting beliefs, thinking it will give you control over your life. But what you may not realize is that being fake is actually preventing you from achieving real success.

If you find yourself hanging out with people you don’t like just to prove something, you’re avoiding the reality you need to face. It’s only by dealing with your true self that you can see the next step toward your success.

The famous journalist Herbert Bayard Swope captured this perfectly when he said, “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure—it is: Try to please everybody.”

And I’ll add, “by pretending to be someone you’re not.”

When You Fail, You View Yourself as a Failure

There’s an insidious belief that can creep into your mind every time you fail: the belief that you are a failure, period.

This mindset often takes root when you face a tough challenge or miss a milestone on your way to achieving a goal. You start to criticize yourself harshly, replaying past defeats to convince yourself that you’re destined to fail. Each new setback only seems to confirm this belief, making it harder to believe in your potential for success.

But what you may not realize is that this negativity is holding you back. It feeds your worries, fuels your anxiety, and clouds your path to success. The more you tell yourself that you’re a failure, the more you reinforce this belief, creating a mental block that makes challenges seem impossible to overcome.

It’s time to SNAP OUT OF IT before you sink any deeper!

Start by gradually refreshing your belief system and getting back on your feet. Remind yourself of your past victories, the moments when you felt happy and motivated. Actively pull those positive memories to the forefront and begin focusing on the things you want to achieve.

Remember, nothing comes from thin air. You can’t earn respect without working for it. You can’t find happiness without choosing to nurture it from within.

And most importantly, you won’t stop feeling like a failure unless you choose to work your way towards success. It all starts with you.

You Cultivate Self-Limiting Beliefs

Napoleon Hill once said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Buddha taught, “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” René Descartes remarked, “Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.” And Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche emphasized, “A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.”

These quotes all point to a powerful truth: one of the biggest barriers to your success is the self-limiting beliefs you cultivate in your mind.

As psychologist Peter Halligan from Cardiff University explains, “Belief has been a most powerful component of human nature that has somewhat been neglected.” This means that what you believe about yourself can greatly influence your life’s path.

It’s crucial to be mindful of what you allow into your thoughts. Self-limiting beliefs can hold you back more than any external obstacle. If you let them take root, they can severely hinder your success.

Remember this: if you think of failure, if you think less of yourself, you’re diminishing your ability to reach your full potential. Instead, focus on cultivating positive thoughts, striving to improve, and believing in your ability to grow with every step you take.

You Crave Perfection Instead of Progress

Another habit that can get in the way of your success is perfectionism.

Now, don’t get me wrong—

Striving to do your best within a reasonable timeline is a form of healthy perfectionism. But if you keep delaying the release of your work because you’re constantly trying to perfect it, that’s when perfectionism becomes a problem.

Using every resource at your disposal to produce the best work possible is healthy perfectionism. However, waiting for the perfect conditions or tools to start your work is not.

Instead of thinking, “What if they don’t like it? What if it’s not good enough?” try asking yourself, “What can I do to deliver the best I can right now?”

Healthy perfectionism drives you to do your best within a reasonable timeframe. In contrast, unhealthy perfectionism leads to procrastination, avoidance, and stagnation.

When you delve into the differences between adaptive (healthy) and maladaptive (unhealthy) perfectionism, you’ll see where your own tendencies lie.

In general, unhealthy perfectionism hinders success by keeping you stuck. It makes you obsess over controlling how others perceive you, leading to self-criticism rather than motivation.

If you struggle with unhealthy perfectionism, it’s time to let go. Consider following research-backed strategies to overcome perfectionism and start embracing both successes and failures as part of your journey.

At the End of the Day…

To achieve your goals, you must stop following other people’s ideas of success and focus on your own. Be true to yourself rather than pretending to be someone else—practice being who you want to be.

When you fail, don’t label yourself as a failure. Avoid cultivating self-limiting beliefs, as they can pull you away from success.

And as you work towards your goals, don’t chase perfection at the expense of progress. Embrace forward movement, even if it’s not perfect. Do all this, and you’ll stop standing in the way of your own success.