Have you ever had a dream or goal and then life got in the way? In the end, you never pursued it.
Or was there a little voice in your head telling you it would never work, or what if it fails, or any other negative thought that kept creeping into your head? What about someday? When you’re ready or when you are in a different financial situation or you’ve achieved more success, then you’ll finally go after it.
Does this sound familiar?
What is it that causes us to get in our own way and prevent us from going after what we want?
I think the easy answer is fear. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of the unknown.
However, there’s more to it than that and I am going to share with you three reasons why you keep putting your dreams on hold and what you can do to overcome them so you can go after what you truly want.
1. Feeling a lack of clarity
It’s really easy to overcomplicate things and believe we don’t know what we’re doing or where to even start. Especially when it comes to a dream you have; are you even clear on what the first step would be?
The biggest thing that prevents someone from taking action is a lack of clarity. They are not clear about what to do next and it becomes scarier than it really is. You have a dream of starting a new business, but you’ve never run your own business before, so that can seem overwhelming and complicated.
You’ve always wanted to move across the country and start a new life, but you can’t afford it and you’re waiting for someday when finances are different.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the big picture of whatever that dream is and the secret is breaking it down into much smaller pieces.
My favorite questions are:
- What do you want?
- What’s the first step to make it happen?
Are you really clear on what it will take to make that dream a reality? What is the first small step you can take to make it happen? We tend to focus on the negative and what we don’t want to happen, and we have to train our brains to focus on what we actually want.
There is no lack of resources, only a lack of resourcefulness and the answers are easier than ever to obtain when you know what you are looking for.
Whatever that dream is, get super clear on what you want, why you want it, and what would the first small step be?
2. Belief that you’ll be ready someday and you have to accomplish a certain goal before you can truly have what you want.
I hate to break it to you, but you will never be ready. Whatever bar or expectation you’ve set probably won’t happen and someday will never come.
We put dreams on hold because we think all of these things have to line up before we are “ready”, and we have to accomplish something before we can have what we really want.
Someday is not a guarantee.
The only difference between someone who took the leap and someone who didn’t is the person who leaped made a decision to go for it.
They probably weren’t ready. They probably didn’t have it all together. But they made a decision to go for it anyway.
Maybe they were forced into it by losing their current job. Maybe the pain of staying in something that was making them miserable was greater than the fear of something new.
Either way they made a decision, burned the bridge and went for it.
Where are you holding back in your life waiting for someday to come?
How do you start to have that in your life today?
If tomorrow isn’t a guarantee, what would you do differently today?
Start by asking yourself these questions and see what answers come up.
3. Fear of not being worthy or deserving
Now it’s time to get deep. Why are you putting your dreams on hold? Maybe it’s because you don’t believe you are worthy of having the life you desire and question whether you deserve it.
Do you believe success is something other people have but you don’t?
Do you believe there’s plenty of people already doing what you want to do, so maybe it’s not meant to be?
I really want you to sit with this for a minute and ask yourself: why do you keep putting your dreams on hold?
If this is hitting a nerve or triggering you in any way, then this might be why you are holding yourself back.
The comparison game is real and when you are watching others it can be difficult not to compare and think maybe it’s not meant for you.
A mentor of mine says: if the vision is in you, it’s for you.
It’s the doubt, self-worth, and limiting beliefs that stop us from going after the dreams that are inside of us.
And if the dream is in us, then it is FOR us.
I want you to really think about the dream you have that keeps coming up. It’s there for a reason so out of these 3 things, which one do you think is holding you back the most?
Once you identify it, you can do something about it.
And don’t forget to journal on these questions:
- What do you want?
- What’s the first step to making it happen?
It’s time to go after what you truly want and making a decision can be the first step!