Success looks different to different people. For some, it is about having a loving family and raising children as productive members of society. For others, success is about pushing boundaries and grasping that next great adventure. However, if you are stuck and feel like you aren’t where you want to be in life, it may be because your comfort zone is a little too comfortable. There is nothing wrong with living life comfortably and within the familiar. But for those looking to become successful in their life, your comfort zone may be holding you back.

Ways Your Comfort Zones Prevents Your Success  👀

Routines bring us comfort. Comfort gives us a sense of confidence in knowing what to expect. It sounds delightful until you become bored and feel an itching to try something new. Then your comfort zone can become your biggest enemy on your path to success. Here are a few ways that staying comfortable prevents the success you desperately seek:

1. You lose who you are. Staying comfortable removes risks that help you discover your true self. How will you ever learn to overcome new challenges if you don’t take risks? Instead of giving into fear and staying safe, consider stepping out, taking the risk, and learning from the process. You may discover a whole new you lurking beneath the surface.

2. You stop learning and progressing. Our brains need stimulus to stay sharp-sharp brains aid in attaining success. Routines and comfort can stall this, making it difficult to grow and reach new personal heights. With personal growth, you increase your abilities and your chances of success.

3. You find reasons to postpone your success. Ostriches will put their head in the sand, thinking the lion cannot see them. The truth is, the lion still sees the ostrich that is now a sitting duck. When you live in your comfort zone for too long, you become like the ostrich burying its head in the face of difficulty. Success requires you to look ‘danger’ in the face and keep moving forward.

4. You lose out on new dreams. Dreaming one goal leads to dreaming more. Success lives off of the plans you come up with. Your comfort zone may leave you in a cozy haze of complacency that threatens your future happiness. You will never know what could have been if you stop dreaming.

Don’t let complacency get in the way of your dreams. It’s time to step out of your comfort zone and resume your journey to success.

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How have you been talking to yourself lately? Would you say the same thing to your family that you say to yourself? When you say something like, “I’m not good at X, so I won’t try,” you are expressing negative self-talk. Sometimes, a little negative speak stops you from making an unwise or unsafe decision. Most of the time, the critical voice in your head prevents you from reaching the success you desire.

How Negative Self-Talk Holds You Back  💬

Negative self-talk prevents you from seeing opportunities. It increases your stress and may affect your behavior. It may also manifest itself in these ways:

1. You believe things about yourself that aren’t true. When you keep repeating the same negative ideas, you start believing them. Soon, your thinking is limited, and so are your chances of success.

2. You believe that great is no longer good enough. You may find yourself picking apart your last project, looking for all those bits that didn’t go as planned. This may lead you to think only perfection will do, and since perfection isn’t attainable, you shouldn’t try.

3. You feel depressed. Too much negative talk can lead you down the path of depression, damaging you and your loved ones.

4. Your relationships may suffer. Constantly living in a mind of self-deprecation can leech out into your relationships. Others may see you as needy and insecure. It can prevent open communication and a feeling of closeness because anything they say may be taken wrong by you.

4 Suggestions to Stop the Negative Self-Talk

You can stop the negative self-talk from preventing your success. Here are four suggestions to get you started:

1. Pay attention to how you talk to yourself. When the inner critic starts chattering, stop and listen. Then, pay attention to how you feel when the words are harsh.

2. Live in the moment. Reduce the chatter in your head by focusing on what you are doing now, not the stuff coming up. For example, if you are sipping a cup of hot tea, relish the flavor and warmth of the cup in your hands.

3. Play devil’s advocate. As negative self-talk springs up, challenge the thoughts coming out. Ask yourself if the statement is true. Most likely, it is an exaggeration instead of the truth.

4. Swap out negative words with positive ones. Decrease the negativity in your everyday speech by actively using more favorable terms.

Remember that your journey to success will move smoother when you beat back any negative self-talk that’s holding you back

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Success is a rollercoaster filled with hills and dips. You sit in the front car, put on your safety belt, and let the brake release send you down the track. The first hill is always the one full of anticipation. It’s the highest one and propels you toward the rest of the ride, where you will encounter super-fast speeds mixed with some slow spots. Notice that while it was fun, it was less than perfect. The cars shook your bones, and you may have felt like you had whiplash. But you had fun! Success does that too. Its twists and turns, hills and valleys, leave you breathless and ready for more unless you let perfectionism stall you at the gate.

How Perfection Stalls Your Success Journey

The best way to stop success in its tracks is to be hung up on perfection. Here is how it affects your journey and what you can do about it:  🌄

1. You fail to get things done. You find yourself fretting over the perfect business plan instead of implementing the plan. Why? Because you feel you must account for every eventuality. You do not have a crystal ball and cannot tell the future. It’s OK to accept ‘good enough’ and get moving. You can tweak along the way.

2. You focus on the product, not the process. Too much emphasis on the final product leaves you trapped. All of your energies will be expended on the end result while you miss out on the beauty of the process to get there. Developing good habits will propel you to complete everything that needs to be completed. You will also learn and grow so that you can adjust and make the final result even better than you initially imagined.

3. You allow for fluid deadlines. Setting deadlines helps to get things done. Moving your deadlines will enable you to postpone your success. You’ll find that you allow perfectionism to creep in almost every time you postpone a deadline.

4. You lose momentum. Perfectionism slows your speed out of the gate. If you delay working on your goals, you may become complacent about reaching them. The result is delayed (or non-existent) success. Move fast, keep your enthusiasm, and stay on course.

Don’t get caught on the kiddie coaster called perfectionism. Jump into the front car of your success coaster, and keep your hands up for the thrill of a lifetime.

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Are you running on empty? Have you noticed warning signals, but they aren’t on your car’s dashboard? You have likely ignored self-care as you pursued success. If you neglect to care for yourself, you will not get to enjoy success in your life. Just like cars need regular maintenance, so do you. Yet, caring for ourselves is often not the highest priority on our list. We forgo eating healthy, sleeping, and exercising. If we go too long, we pay for it.

Consequences When You Ignore Self-Care  👈

For every action, there is a consequence. Sometimes, you won’t reap the results for years. Other times, it can be immediate. When you ignore caring for yourself, you can expect a variety of issues, including:

1. You start making mistakes, particularly dumb ones. Lack of sleep and other avenues of self-care leave your brain depleted. Soon, you find that you are making some rather silly mistakes and reaping the embarrassment that comes with it.

2. You struggle to prioritize. Everything becomes essential until you cannot determine what is of the highest importance. You may get lost in the details and fails to see the big picture.

3. Your attitude becomes more judgmental. Failing to recharge and reenergize will leave you tired, grumpy, and critical of others. On top of that, you become more critical of yourself – enter negative self-talk.

4. You make mountains out of molehills. Momma may have told you not to cry over spilled milk, but you can’t help it. Emotional outbursts are your new normal, and your loved ones pay the price.

Start Self-Care Now  👈

Don’t neglect your needs. Seek out ways to put yourself first to be the best you possible. Start by:

* Getting enough sleep. Just like a toddler needs rest, so do adults. Our bodies need time to recoup. Your brain needs the opportunity to recharge, so do your cells. Aim for regular, restful sleep of between 7-8 hours.

* Eating healthy meals. Stop eating out. Stock up your refrigerator will nutrient-dense vittles and give your body the energy it needs.

* Make friends with your treadmill. You don’t have to get on a treadmill specifically, but you do need to get up and move. Regular exercise helps you work off stress and aids you in sleeping, too.

Success and self-care are not mutually exclusive. In reality, effective self-care aids you in reaching your goals and attaining your success. Start today to care for your body’s needs.

If you read enough self-help books, you will notice the recurring theme of surrounding yourself with the right people. You may have even heard your mom tell you to stop running with the wrong crowd. These are helpful suggestions, but what happens when the wrong type of personality surrounds you? How can the kinds of people affect your success goals?

How the Wrong People Affect You  👪

You don’t want to eliminate relationships with everyone, but sometimes it makes sense to limit your exposure to them. Consider these ways that the wrong or unhelpful people in your life affect your path to success:

1. They leave you physically and emotionally drained. Some people are happiest when they can bring you down to their level. Think of that friend, cousin, or sibling that doesn’t want to see others doing better than they are. These are the ones who will point out all the reasons you shouldn’t do things instead of cheering you on. We all have at least one. If you notice that you feel worse about your choices after being with them, then it might be time to limit your exposure to them.

2. Their limiting beliefs will limit you. These are the people who have a scarcity mindset. They are generous with their criticism but stingy with their praise. They don’t believe there is enough to go around, and you should be on the same plane of thought as they are. Hanging around with a person with limiting beliefs can stifle your creativity. You may have to discern what types of conversations you can have with them, as they just don’t understand.

3. Their negativity will pull you down into the cesspools of negative thoughts. Not everyone is positive all of the time. Most of us try to keep a positive outlook and look for the good in others and the circumstances. Negative people don’t. They don’t seem ever to see the bright side of things. If you are around this type of attitude for too long, you may join them in the quicksand of negative emotions. Don’t try to combat a negative person, and don’t sink to their level. Keep your positive outlook and look for those who want to share your positivity.

Make the most of your success journey by surrounding yourself with those who will support and help you on your way.