What do you think is the biggest enemy to your success? Some people might say it’s a lack of talent or opportunity. Others might say that its other people who are trying to hold them back.
But the real enemy to your success is something much simpler- and much harder to deal with.”
It’s a part of yourself.
The truth is that your own doubts, fears, and insecurities can keep you from achieving anything great. But if you want to be successful, the answer may be closer than think. It is actually possible to learn how to overcome your greatest enemy and reach your goals. So, if you’d like to understand more, read on to learn about Steven and Lucas’ stories:
Steven’s Story
Steven, a senior product manager with a well-respected IT firm in Silicon Valley is genuine, hard-working, and very good at his profession. He is well liked and acknowledged for his contributions to the company’s success.
Like most people, Steven wants to be promoted to a higher-level position. But despite giving it his all for over six years — and believing he deserves the promotion — Steven hasn’t been offered the Chief Product Officer position.
What’s blocking Steven from being promoted? It’s his enemy, which unfortunately is Steven, himself. To be more precise, its Steven’s ego which is operating from a place of fear and pain.
Even though he is recognized by management for his outstanding work, Steven acts hurt whenever one of his ideas or opinions isn’t immediately embraced. He compares himself to others and manipulates to get attention. Steven gets angry over little things and is argumentative when he is not immediately agreed with. And to make matters worse, he acts insecure about what others think of him.
Steven’s enemy — his ego — is paralyzing him with negative emotions and making it impossible for him to attain the joy, fulfillment and success he deeply desires and deserves.
Lucas’ Story
For Lucas, an IT professional in New Zealand, his biggest block is his fear of failure. This irrational feeling has caused many problems throughout his life. Because he avoids anything that feels like a risk, Lucas does very little with his life and is tortured by boredom, unhealthy habits and a vision of a bleak future.
Fear of failure is destroying Lucas’ confidence and self-worth, which further causes panic, anxiety, and at times, depression. He doesn’t believe in himself and even though he has plenty of resources to try new things, he won’t let himself dream of a better future.
Where does Lucas’ fear come from? Ego! He is stuck in thinking he cannot succeed no matter how hard he tries, which results in needless fear.
Is Ego Highjacking Your Emotions?
Do Steven and Lucas’ stories sound familiar to you? If so, ego is your enemy as well. And you are not alone. Most people struggle with ego’s sabotage to some degree. Ego is adept at highjacking your emotions, and sending you into a sea of fear, self-doubt, resentment and any other negative feeling it can use to keep you from moving forward in life.
In over 25 years helping people reach their highest potential, I’ve witnessed only one way to overcome the debilitating force of ego. You must connect with an even greater power.
When you step onto a path to your highest potential and set an intention to reach profound success in your life — however you define it — you will discover a power greater than you have ever known.
Meet Your Expanded Self
Whether you call it mindset, creativity, universal energy or your expanded self — the power you tap into when you’re committed to your highest potential is palpable.
For most people, taking even the first step on the path to profound success in life immediately rebalances their emotional system, and they feel a tremendous sense of relief and joy.
But what if you’re so trapped by ego that you’re too afraid to take that first step?
Here are two things to do:
First, it’s very important to name your fears. Identify what you fear most about your journey to profound success. Is it the journey itself or the destination that frightens you?
Second, when your fear pushes you back, make a decision to push through. With your commitment to get past your fear, something amazing happens. You’ll meet your fearlessness!
As you push toward your goals, you will realize that it’s your fearless, expanded self that keeps you moving. Eventually, your expanded self will gain momentum, and your angry and trembling ego will settle down.
Stop Sabotaging Yourself
As you can see in Steven and Lucus’ stories, ego creates needless fear that keeps you stuck. Actually, the emotional patterns ego uses are so deeply embedded in your psyche — and have been since you were very young — they are nearly impossible to confront. But if you don’t find a way beyond ego, it will keep creating debilitating reactions and sabotage your life.
But there is good news.
Let me explain. Do you remember when you were a child, and your mother stopped you from running into the street or putting your hand on a hot burner? The moment your mother said, “no” your ego was encoded with the word no, and you were taught that life is dangerous.
Ego grabbed hold of this belief, “life is dangerous” which actually served your young self by stopping you from putting yourself at risk. But while ego kept you safe as a child, ego does not grow up along with you.
Ego forever remains a very young part of you, holding you back — in the name of safety — from the success you want and deserve.
Ego is Brilliant by Design
But even though ego has a bad reputation, there is something important to know. While it can certainly hold you back, ego is actually brilliant by design.
Not only will ego block you if it doesn’t believe you are strong enough to succeed. Ego will also block your power if it thinks you will misuse it.
Whether ego is trying to save you from being hurt by failure or hurt by success, or hurt by relationships or hurt by hoping for more in life, one thing is for sure: ego will bristle at every kind of power except one: your authentic personal power.
This is the power embodied in your expanded self.
And I wish for you that — if you haven’t already met your expanded self, you will strive to do so as soon as possible simply because living out of your expanded self is your only chance to create the life you really want and deserve.
You see, the power of your expanded self is located beyond ego’s grasp. As your expanded self develops, you’ll be too wise, brilliant and spirited to ever be tapped by ego again.
Defeating Your Greatest Enemy
When you step onto a path to profound success in life, you’ll always remember who you really are. Even in times of great challenge, at some level you’ll forever know that while your real enemy is ego, your expanded self is much, much more powerful.
