Almost without exception, the primary reason for sub-optimizing in your career and in life can be seen every morning staring back at you in the mirror.

Notice that it’s not your boss, your spouse or significant other or your parents or friends.  It’s you.

We tend to be beings with a collection of habits, excuses, hang-ups and self-limiting thoughts that manage to conveniently jump out in front to slow us down anytime we’re thinking of making a change for the better in our lives and careers.

  • “It’s too hard, why bother.”
  • “The boss won’t let me…”
  • “I’ll do it later.”
  • “Tomorrow.”

I’ve observed the tendencies of deny, delay and rationalize in some otherwise very capable professionals and students, and have often wondered what they would be capable of becoming if they simply decided to get out of their own way.

What’s lacking or what’s wrong with someone that chooses to sub-optimize instead of self-optimize.  And whether you want to admit it, it is a choice.

Low self-esteem?  Lack of self-confidence?  Some would indicate laziness, but in my own unqualified psychological opinion, there’s often a root cause of what we observe and describe as laziness.  There’s something more going on beneath the surface.

How Do We Get Out of Our Own Way?

Even top performers dabble in malaise from time-to-time, but these individuals seem to have techniques for both recognizing and pulling out of even momentary downward descents from the rarefied air of high performance.

One high performer that I know described her approach as follows: “When I feel myself slipping mentally and approaching a point of tolerating mediocrity, a little alarm goes off in my mind that shouts: Wake Up!  I remind myself how important that it is to me and to the people around me that I succeed at this task and I get mad at myself for slowing and I work harder.”

Another individual refuels by connecting with other high performers.  “I have a group of people that I truly admire for their nearly limitless energy and enthusiasm for their work.  If I feel myself moving toward not caring, I set up a lunch or coffee with one or more of them and just soak up their enthusiasm.”

Your Mom was right.  It pays to keep good company.

Other Approaches:

  • “I avoid associating with the naysayers and complainers.  They revel in doing nothing but complaining and it is easy to get caught up in this mental performance trap.”  Yep, Mom was definitely right.
  • “I pray.”
  • “I seek inspiration in my favorite biographies and books.”
  • “I redefine my short-term goals to make them more digestible.  After a few quick victories, I return to my focus on the bigger picture.”
  • “I call my coach.”
  • “I work harder.”

The Bottom-Line for Now:

You know whether you are going through the motions or putting your all into the tasks at hand.  Overcoming the inertia of “going through the motions” requires an extraordinary expenditure of personal energy, but the psychic rewards make it worth the effort.  Success starts with recognition followed by a bit of anger at yourself, followed by action.

As Peter Drucker once indicated, “Actions in the present are the one and only way to create the future.”

Now shove yourself out of your way and get going!