Being a business leader is not for the faint of heart. It can be a dog eat dog environment characterized by achievement, competition, politics and sometimes (unfortunately) treachery. I have seen more than a few careers that have been sabotaged throughout my 27 years as an executive leader and coach. Sometimes the sabotage is indirect and almost accidental, other times it is calculated, measured and mean-spirited.
But the worst kind of sabotage is my subject today. It is the most common and effective form of all. It is the sabotage that we inflict on ourselves. Let’s call it “self-sabotage.”
It takes root insidiously inside of our heads as we begin to tell ourselves a story… about ourselves. More appropriately about ourselves at work. Perhaps it is in response to an incident involving ourselves, but more often than not it involves others, or the environment around us. “Steve got that promotion” we tell ourselves, “because he sucks up to the boss,” or “I didn’t get the big bonus, because I tell it like it is,” or “if this place wasn’t so messed up, they would recognize my talent.” And so it goes. On and on. One story after another. Blah, blah, blah.
Until they begin to take a more prominent role in our thought life and we “live into” the story with our words and actions. Ultimately, we sabotage any chance we had to secure the future we started out wanting in the first place. Or as a cynical executive friend of mine once said, “another mediocre career comes to a screeching halt.”
The good news about self-sabotage is that you only have to deal with one person to stop it in it’s tracks. Yourself.
Begin by ending the bogus stories in your head. Even if they have some basis in fact, they are counter-productive and self-defeating. Replace the skullduggerous conversation with a positive, affirming and self-challenging dialogue. One that defines the future that you can desire, define and ultimately, live into.