How to Stop Breaking Promises to Yourself
We’re nearing the end of June and about to hit the halfway marker on our 2021 goals and vision.
There’s still plenty of time to achieve, but let me ask you this…
What are the promises that you’ve made to yourself and in your business this year that you haven’t even gotten started on?
I bet you can think of more than just a few!
It’s important to get to the root of the problem with this one, and uncover what’s really holding us back, if we want to move forward.
We have to dig deeper.
Ask yourself how long those promises have been in place? Why are you breaking these promises? Do you break promises to others too?
I’m guessing the answer to that last one is a resounding, “NO!”
I stumbled on this myself in recent months, and had to take space from my business to lean deeper into my life, family and myself. In this space, I looked through old journals at my dream manifestation lists and realized there are three key goals that I have had in place for well over two years, some that I keep rewriting and taking NO action on.
I got curious about this; not the actual dream or desire but why was I not taking action? Why did I keep making promises to myself each year or each quarter on things I believe are valuable to me and still just writing it down and stopping there?
I am a doer, a high achiever and if you’re reading this, I’m willing to bet that you are too.
So, why am I willing to keep promises to other people and not myself? I know I can get shit done, so what is stopping me here?
What gives?
I think I figured out why.
At the core of these desires and dreams were some beliefs and roadblocks I had. Any of these sound familiar:
I don’t believe I am worthy of these dreams.
I don’t know how to get started. (In my case, they were three things I’ve never done before)
I am afraid of making a fool out of myself. What if it doesn’t work?
I believe everyone else’s requests for support of me and my time and my experience are more important than what I need of myself.
Talk about jaw-dropping!
Ultimately, these beliefs are holding back new levels of success in the growth of my business, my life and my relationships. And when I look at them more closely, I cannot actually prove ANY of these beliefs to be true.
I decided to keep on digging and took a look at what I need to do to act upon and honor these promises I keep making and then ignoring.
I broke it down to three steps in my journaling and I want to share them with you to use as well:
What’s the actual purpose of these promises? What’s the outcome I desire most with these ideas or dreams? How do I want to feel if these come true?
What’s stopping me (seriously stopping me) from taking action? Where are my gaps and what are the resources I need that could support taking action?
Do these promises still matter to me today? OR are they old promises to a previous version of myself that no longer matter to the version I am today?
Sometimes our unfulfilled promises to ourselves can be weighing us down with self-judgement and taking up real estate in our thoughts, and they’re not even desires we have anymore for ourselves!
We need that brain space for important things!
So, I challenge you to take inventory. What promises are you making for yourself that you keep breaking?
For me, I realized that only one of these promises still mattered to me. I dropped the other two and was able to determine what I need to call in for support so I can have the proper guidance and accountability to begin taking small actions towards my commitment.
What I do know about me and what I know about you, is that we are worthy of our promises, as long as they still matter!
You have six months left of 2021…reassess your promises and then make a pinky swear with yourself to go all in!
If you are looking for an accountability partner that can help with strategy on your business and leadership goals, I have open space this summer for three private 1:1 clients to coach, support and connect your goals to reality. Grab a spot with me today and let’s see if you are ready to turn your promises into reality.