Self Sabotage: Is not Due to a Lack of Desire, Intelligence, Skills, or Effort

We do not fail because we are not smart enough, because we do not work hard enough, because we are not talented enough or because we do not want it enough. We truly want to succeed, we have the abilities and we make arrangements to do what we need to do, but our own self defeating behavior sabotages all of this. Let’s look at an example.

I had a friend who regularly had to write and submit papers for her doctorate. The woman had the intelligence and desire to get into the doctoral program. She was an eloquent writer. Yet her papers never got written. She would use many of the methods discussed later in this article to sabotage her efforts to complete her writing. Once, she grouted the entire bathroom instead of starting on a paper! So there was no lack of energy or motivation. There was not lack of intelligence or skill. It was just misdirected toward grouting the bathroom instead of writing the paper. Her own behavior sabotaged her efforts to pursue her doctorate.