 A lot of us feel like we're being held back sometimes. What we don't realize is that we're often doing it to ourselves. Welcome back and congratulations on taking one more step towards becoming one of the great leaders of tomorrow. So often we feel like we could be doing more if we could just break through the barriers that are placed in front of us. What we don't realize is that we're often the one placing those barriers. So today I'm going to give you three tips on how to break through and stay tuned to the end because I'll give you a link to download our free leadership development plan workbook that'll help you set your goals for the future. One of the biggest things that holds us back is fear of failure or fear of rejection and we often forget that failure can be one of our best teachers. I can tell you that fear of failure and fear of rejection are recurring themes in my life and especially when it came to my business. I was often afraid to go ask people if they would be my clients or if they wanted to work with me because I was afraid they would say no but I had to get over it and I had to move on. So if you're facing a fear of failure or fear of rejection I've got a couple tips for you. First just do it just get out and do it and ask that person what you want to ask them. Be polite be professional there's no need to be rude or overly aggressive over it but you got to get out there and ask and once you do you'll feel better and even if they say no you'll learn something from the interaction and that'll teach you what to do in the next interaction. Another area where we hold ourselves back is being afraid to ask for help when we need it. It can be hard to be vulnerable to ask for that help because we're afraid people might judge us or might even take advantage of us. I know when I was starting my business I was afraid to ask for help I was afraid people wouldn't think I was good at running a business and that really bothered me but for things like sales and marketing 20 years in the Air Force didn't prepare me for those skills so I had to go find some people who knew what they were doing and ask for help and once I did things really started to take off from me in a much better way. So if you're facing the same thing if you know you need some help but you're afraid to ask or a little nervous about asking someone again don't worry about it just find someone who knows what they're doing and go ask them for a little bit of advice or some tips. We don't want to go ask people to do it for us but if we're reasonable on our expectations people are usually more than willing to help us so go find someone who knows what they're doing find a mentor who's willing to give you some advice and partake of that advice. The third way we hold ourselves back is by negative self-talk and telling stories in our head that just aren't true. Our imaginations to be really powerful but sometimes they can run away from us and they can say things like we're not good enough or you're never going to get that done or you don't belong here and that was a recurring theme in my life both my professional life and my personal life where I would tell myself you don't belong here you're not good enough for this or you're never going to achieve that and I finally had to sit down and say okay what's a belief what's a story telling I'm telling myself in my head and what's the facts that go along with this situation and let me see if the story I'm telling myself in my head matches up with the fact so if you're telling yourself you're not good enough you're never going to be able to do this you're never going to be able to achieve what it is you're setting out to do grab a piece of paper make two columns this is the story I'm telling myself these are the facts of the situation and see if the facts really support the story you're telling yourself I'm willing to bet that when you look at the cold hard facts on that sheet of paper in front of you that you'll be able to say these facts don't justify the story I've been telling myself and that will free your mind and your body and your soul up to move on and move past those stories so I'll be a hundred percent honest with you getting past one of these barriers that are holding us back in our lives none of this is easy it doesn't change overnight and it takes conscious effort and they may reoccur and you may have to go through the same exercises over and over again so if you find yourself being held back in life take a look and see if it's maybe one of these three areas that's holding back instead of some outside force and if that's the case try some of the tips we did and I guarantee you'll find that you'll be able to get past your barriers and you won't feel like the world is holding you back so much if you found this helpful please share it with a friend or co-worker like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram we're on all of those and if you have any leadership or business questions leave us a note in the comments or email us at info at evilgeniusleadership.com see that link below click on that that'll let you download your free leadership development plan workbook and help you set goals for the next two five and ten years and action plans to achieve them thanks for watching really appreciate it and remember the future is out there lead the way