What's Holding You Back?

Do you find yourself stuck more often than not because you simply can't take the necessary actions needed to progress, get unstuck, take a chance on yourself? Between the little voices in our head and the thought of putting ourselves out into the world, stops most of us in our tracks and unfortunately, that's how we live our lives.

Trusting our instincts can be challenging for several reasons. First, we live in a world that often emphasizes external validation, especially these days with social media and it relies heavily on logic and reason. This can lead us to doubt our intuition, which may not always align with rational thought.

Second, past experiences or societal conditioning can cause us to second-guess ourselves. If you follow Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) like I do, you often hear him say that so much of how we act and the choices we make, come from our upbringing, what our parents said to us, how they said it to us and whether or not they encouraged us to "go for it!". If we've been taught to prioritize other people's opinions or to fear making mistakes, we may struggle to trust our own judgment.

Additionally, fear of failure or fear of the unknown can make it difficult to listen to our instincts. Taking risks based on intuition can feel uncertain and risky, leading us to hesitate or seek reassurance from others instead. If you tend to constantly validate your choices by looking for outside reassurance, this will also stop you dead in your tracks which it does for so many people. I think we can also add in here 'imposter syndrome' as well because I see it holding so many people back every single day.

Learning to trust our instincts often requires practice and self-awareness. It involves tuning into our inner voice, recognizing patterns, and acknowledging our emotions and intuition as valuable sources of information. Over time, as we cultivate confidence in ourselves and our abilities, we can become more comfortable trusting our gut instincts.

It's important to not only talk about what's holding you back but to also have actionable steps you can use, to get better and better at making decisions, making them quickly and taking action because remember, taking action is definitely what we're striving for here.

Here are 15 steps you can take to help build trust in your instincts and intuition:

1. Practice mindfulness: Take time each day to quiet your mind and tune into your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness can help you become more aware of your intuition. It doesn't have to be any more than 5-10 mins. to get the benefit so don't use time as an excuse.

2. Reflect on past experiences: Think about times when you followed your instincts and it turned out well. Reflecting on these experiences can reinforce your confidence in your intuition.

3. Journaling: Keep a journal to record your thoughts, feelings, and intuitive hunches. Writing things down can help you better understand and trust your inner voice. This is also useful so you can go back and look at times where you had to make what you considered difficult decisions and what you've might have done and how it in fact worked out for you.

4. Notice physical cues: Pay attention to how your body reacts in different situations. Your gut instincts often manifest as physical sensations, such as a feeling of unease or a sense of excitement. This is more powerful than you can imagine!

5. Practice decision-making: Start with small decisions and gradually work your way up to bigger ones. Trusting your instincts is like a muscle that needs to be exercised.

6. Seek solitude: Spend time alone in quiet environments to give yourself space to listen to your inner voice without external distractions. In the current times we live in, this is so vital as we literally don't get a break from the constant 'noise' that surrounds us.

7. Listen to your emotions: Emotions can provide valuable insights into a situation. Pay attention to how you feel and trust those feelings as important signals from your intuition.

8. Trust your first impression: Often, your initial reaction to something is your intuition speaking. Learn to trust these first impressions rather than dismissing them.

9. Take calculated risks: Trusting your instincts sometimes means taking risks, but they don't have to be reckless. Assess the situation, weigh the pros and cons, and then take action based on your intuition. Remember, no risk, no reward! (sometimes ??)

10. Practice self-compassion: Be kind to yourself, especially when things don't go as planned. Trusting your instincts is a learning process, and it's okay to make mistakes along the way. The subconscious mind is not logical and can't tell the difference between right and wrong, positive and negative. Self-talk is a constant interplay between our conscious and subconscious minds, shaping our reality and how we perceive it. Be very careful what you say to yourself as your subconscious doesn't know any better and when you talk bad about yourself to yourself, you're creating a belief that A.) is not true and B.) you definitely don't want.

11. Surround yourself with supportive people: Seek out friends, family members, or mentors who encourage you to trust your intuition and support you in following your instincts. This can be tricky so always default back to what you think and feel...ALWAYS!

12. Visualize success: Picture yourself confidently following your instincts and achieving positive outcomes. Visualization can help reinforce your belief in yourself and your intuition. Visualizing you already have what you seek, is very powerful and it doesn't cost you anything to try it. It's not going to happen overnight but what do you have to lose! Act as if not as I hope or I wish.

13. Challenge self-doubt: When self-doubt creeps in, remind yourself of past successes and the times when your intuition served you well. Regret is an awful so think how much worse you'll feel if you don't move forward and take action. You can't sit on the sidelines all your life so I say get in the game!

14. Set boundaries: Trusting your instincts sometimes means saying no to things that don't feel right for you. Set boundaries to protect your intuition and prioritize your well-being. Saying "No" can be one of the hardest things to say because we're meant to be people-pleasers but the priority is you and you first.

15. Practice patience: Building trust in your instincts is a journey that takes time and practice. Be patient with yourself and celebrate your progress along the way. At the same time, don't be overly patient in making decisions and taking action. You might have heard the saying "Analysis, paralysis". You don't want to fall into this trap.

Now get out there and live your best life, make decisions quickly and take action even more quickly! You got this!

So here's my offer to you: if you need support or accountability on your journey to personal growth and success, I'm here to help - no strings attached. Reach out to me via email at [email protected] or share your thoughts thru a DM on LinkedIn. Your actions today can shape a brighter tomorrow for yourself.

Thank you for being a part of this community; your journey matters.

Warm regards,

Joe