We all have weaknesses that limit us. They hold us back from achieving our full potential. They tether us with a cord of complacency and compliance. Yet, as you might already know, achieving anything worthwhile in life involves overcoming the weaknesses that have once held you back. It involves taking the reigns of your life and charging forward in the right direction, with the ability to surmount any obstacle.
However, as ideal as that sounds, many of us know how difficult it is to overcome some of the limitations that have set us back our entire lives. Our weaknesses, our fears and our mental blockades help to keep us from enjoying the life that we know we’re meant to live. But who can blame us? In the past, when we shot for the stars, we came crashing down in a heap of failure and pain. How can we wrap our minds around moving past that?
I know that failure hurts. Believe me. I have failed more times than I’d like to admit. But I also know what it’s like to overcome the weaknesses that once set me back. We are only as good as the state of being of our minds, and when we see limitations in life, we easily materialize those things into reality. It’s true that what we think, we become, as Buddha once poignantly put it.
What I’ve come to learn over the years is that, as much as it might hurt at the time, and as painful as our weaknesses might seem, there’s a grand design to it. There’s a reason for those weaknesses. They’re meant to serve you rather than to limit. Because once you overcome those things, that’s when real progress is made in life. That’s when you really begin to grow and mature as a human being.
So how do we get rid of these so-called weaknesses that have dominated your life? How do we go about undoing years, or even decades, of internal struggle that’s held you back from realizing your full potential? Well, when you think about it, weaknesses are really another word for our fears. We are only as weak as our minds are frayed. If we think we can’t do something, or we know that there is one specific thing that’s surely going to hold us back, it most certainly will.
The mind is a powerful tool. It can either be used as a platform for growth, or it can be used to hold us back from achieving our dreams. We are only as weak as our minds are fearful. Our experiences shape us into who we are, and oftentimes, we can’t see beyond that. The values and beliefs systems that we all have are an inherent part of our lives developed over decades and decades. God knows it’s hard to change any of that.
How To Overcome Your Weaknesses
I tell you that it’s easy to overcome your weaknesses. We’re weak for very specific reasons. Experiences that have shaped us have had a grave impact on our lives. It’s hard to overcome something that’s become such an integral part of your life. It’s hard to suddenly wake up one day and not harbor those weaknesses.
Clearly, it’s not easy to overcome a weakness. Nor is it easy to break a bad habit or achieve a big goal. But people still do it every single day. It’s about mental toughness. It’s about not allowing all the little things that are happening and going on in your life to get you down. It’s about quite literally seeing the forest through the trees.
If you want something bad enough, you’ll do it. If your weaknesses are making the difference between your current life and living the life of your dreams, then it quite literally is a matter of life and death. Maybe not a physical death. But an emotional or spiritual or mental death, which is all the same in my opinion.
Be Honest With Yourself
The first step in overcoming your weaknesses is simply to be honest with yourself. The truth is that most of us lie to ourselves on a daily basis. We sugarcoat and mask the reality of a situation because it’s too difficult to mentally deal with certain things. We’re not weak — we’re just lazy or tired or angry or anything else for that matter. How could we possibly be weak?
The ego is a very powerful thing. How we behave in front of others is often strikingly different than how we behave on our own. In our own minds, we are weak and afraid. Some of us more than others. But all of us in some capacity or another. No one is as confident as they might seem to be.
However, the way that people overcome things like weaknesses and fears is by being honest with themselves. The truth will set you free, so to speak. You’ve heard it before. There’s a reason why that saying has become such a cliche. Your first step is to be honest with yourself.
What Are Your Reasons?
Now that you know the weakness and where it originated, you need to find a powerful reason to overcome it. Without a powerful reason, you can kiss your chances goodbye. In effect, overcoming your weakness is like accomplishing any goal. Simply put, you can’t do it without a powerful reason.
What are powerful reasons? Clearly, they’re not superficial. Money, cars, fame, houses and so on won’t help you to do it. What’s powerful are things like love, family, freedom, security and so on. That’s what you need to discover on your own. What are your reasons for wanting to do anything in life?
The more powerful the reason, the more likely you’ll be to overcome that weakness. Dig deep and think about it. Maybe your weaknesses have held you back in life, financially speaking. Maybe you’ve been too afraid to start your own business or do something else outside of your comfort zone. And you feel trapped.
The only way to extricate yourself is to discover a reason that’s so powerful that no excuse will get in your way. That’s how winners are made. They don’t make excuses. They overcome weaknesses, fears, limitations and so on. They do it with their mind, first and foremost. So write down your powerful reasons. Be as descriptive as possible.