5 Things You Must Let Go of to Achieve Success
What is success?
Success is achieving a desired result and enjoying who you’re becoming in the process.
It could be getting a promotion, losing weight, going back to school, raising a family, reaching a personal goal, and so much more.
Each of us defines what success means to us. Success is not just for CEO’s and billionaires.
What success is not is burnout, strained relationships, and poor mental health.
No matter your definition of success, there are five things you must let go of to achieve it.
5 Things You Must Let Go of to Achieve Success
Let go of criticism and people having thoughts about you.
The more you put yourself out there and share your truth, the more people you’re going to reach, which means the more people will have thoughts about you.
It’s ok if you aren’t a match for everyone (and you won’t be). It’s better to be authentic to the world than a watered-down version of yourself for the sake of people liking you. Not to mention, watering down yourself waters down your success.
Stand boldly in who you are and believe the right people will be drawn to you.
Related:
- How Change Improves Your Life
- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
- 6 Reasons Why People Give Up on Their Dreams
Let go of the fear of failure.
“99% of success is built on failure.” ~Charles F. Kettering
Failure is made out to mean something bad, but it only means something bad if you make it be so.
The truth is, you can’t figure out what works if you don’t experiment, and that means letting go of the fear of failure. Not everything you try is going to work. But because you tried, now you know what doesn’t work so you can figure out what does.
Some of us have such a fear of failure and humiliation that we don’t even try-and that’s the biggest failure of all-not even trying.
Failure is what teaches you the most. The journey from point A to point B is what changes us into our future self.
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Let go of certain relationships.
As you change, you may find yourself with strained or distant relationships. One of two things can happen with your relationships:
- You both change enough that your lives are heading in completely different directions.
- The other person in the relationship stays the same while you’ve changed, and the relationship no longer serves you.
When your “why” is big enough, you will be willing to risk this and trust that the right people will always be there.
So often we try to control what others think of us by being agreeable, watering ourselves down, or downplaying ourselves in an effort not to offend and keep people close, but all of this takes away from our goals.
Related:
- How to Say No to People and Say Yes to Your Life
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Let go of certain parts of your identity.
In order to become someone you’ve never been, you’ll have to show up as her now.
You’ll have to let go of certain parts of your identity that have kept you from success in the past-the part of you who breaks promises to herself, is controlled by her emotions, gives up easily, etc.
Who do you want to become? You will have to change your self-image and identity and start showing up as her in order to get the end result you desire. This includes letting go of the parts of yourself standing in the way.
Related:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- 7 Reasons You’re Not Successful
- How to Close Your Identity Gap
Let go of resistance to discomfort.
Uncomfortable emotions lead us to seek pleasure via binging Netflix, over-eating, over-drinking, over-consumption of social media, etc. Anything that gives our discomforted brain a hit of dopamine and avoid those uncomfortable emotions.
Unfortunately, this sets us back from achieving our goals and the results we desire.
Discomfort is your brain’s way of trying to protect you. Don’t listen to your brain creating fear. It’s confused and doesn’t know that right now you are safe.
Related:
- 5 Ways to Unplug from Social Media
- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
- 10 Habits of Unsuccessful People
Before You Go
People who create success aren’t unicorns or born lucky. They are people willing to pay the price of success.
It’s easy to learn the tools needed to achieve the success you desire, but the ability to walk it out is where the real work lies. It is in this space between point A and point B where you become your future self-not in the end result.