How To Stop Blocking Your Own Success
Success feels elusive not because you lack talent, opportunity, or drive—but because you might be unconsciously sabotaging yourself along the way. As women entrepreneurs and ambitious professionals, we often create sophisticated barriers that feel protective but actually keep us small.
The most successful women aren’t necessarily the most talented or lucky. They’re the ones who’ve learned to recognize and dismantle their own success blocks before they derail their dreams.
The Hidden Success Blockers
Self-sabotage rarely looks dramatic. It shows up in subtle patterns that seem reasonable, even responsible, but consistently pull you away from your biggest goals.
The Perfectionism Prison
You tell yourself you’re maintaining high standards, but perfectionism is often fear wearing a disguise. It keeps you endlessly preparing instead of executing, revising instead of launching, and waiting for the “perfect moment” that never comes.
How it blocks success:
- Delays product launches and business opportunities
- Creates analysis paralysis in decision-making
- Exhausts your energy on minor details while major opportunities pass by
- Sets impossibly high standards that guarantee disappointment
The breakthrough: Progress over perfection. Set “good enough” standards for most tasks and reserve perfectionism for the few things that truly matter.
The Comparison Trap
Social media makes it easier than ever to measure your behind-the-scenes reality against everyone else’s highlight reel. This constant comparison breeds inadequacy and makes you question your own path.
How it blocks success:
- Undermines confidence in your unique value proposition
- Leads to copying others’ strategies instead of developing your own
- Creates chronic dissatisfaction with your current progress
- Shifts focus from internal growth to external validation
The breakthrough: Use comparison as information, not evaluation. When you notice someone’s success, ask “What can I learn?” instead of “Why isn’t that me?”
The Comfort Zone Addiction
Growth requires discomfort, but your brain is wired to seek safety and predictability. The comfort zone feels secure, but it’s also where dreams go to die.
How it blocks success:
- Keeps you in situations that feel safe but limit your potential
- Prevents you from taking calculated risks that could accelerate growth
- Creates elaborate justifications for staying small
- Makes change feel more threatening than stagnation
The breakthrough: Redefine safety as the ability to handle uncertainty, not the absence of risk.
The Psychology Behind Self-Sabotage
Understanding why you block your own success is the first step to stopping it. Most self-sabotage stems from deep-seated beliefs formed early in life that no longer serve you.
Fear of Outshining Others
Many women were taught to be modest, supportive, and accommodating. Success can feel like betraying these values or threatening important relationships.
Signs you’re dimming your light:
- Downplaying achievements when sharing good news
- Feeling guilty about success or charging premium prices
- Avoiding opportunities that would make you more visible
- Apologizing for your expertise or accomplishments
Impostor Syndrome’s Sophisticated Disguises
Impostor syndrome doesn’t just make you feel like a fraud—it creates elaborate behavioral patterns designed to “prove” you belong, often at the expense of actually succeeding.
How it manifests:
- Over-preparing for meetings and presentations to an exhausting degree
- Saying yes to every request to prove your value
- Avoiding stretch opportunities because you might be “found out”
- Attributing success to luck rather than skill and effort
The Success Equals Sacrifice Myth
If you believe that success requires sacrificing everything else you value—relationships, health, joy—you’ll unconsciously resist it to protect what matters most.
The hidden cost:
- Creates internal conflict between ambition and other values
- Leads to self-sabotage when you get close to breakthrough moments
- Makes success feel threatening rather than attractive
- Prevents you from finding sustainable paths to achievement
Identifying Your Personal Success Blocks
Self-awareness is your superpower. Most people operate on autopilot, repeating the same limiting patterns without realizing it. Breaking free requires honest self-examination.
The Success Block Audit
Ask yourself these revealing questions:
About Your Goals:
- What dreams do I claim to want but never take concrete action toward?
- Where do I find myself making the same excuses repeatedly?
- What opportunities have I talked myself out of in the past year?
About Your Patterns:
- When do I feel most resistance to taking action?
- What stories do I tell myself when I don’t follow through?
- How do I react when others succeed in ways I claim to want?
About Your Beliefs:
- What did I learn about success and achievement growing up?
- What would I have to give up or risk if I achieved my biggest goals?
- What am I afraid people would think if I became truly successful?
The Energy Audit
Pay attention to your energy around different activities. Success blocks often show up as mysterious energy drains around the very activities that could accelerate your growth.
Notice when you feel:
- Suddenly exhausted when it’s time to work on important projects
- Overwhelmed by tasks that should be straightforward
- Resistant to opportunities that align with your stated goals
- Procrastination around high-impact activities
Breaking Through Your Success Blocks
Awareness without action is just interesting self-analysis. Real change requires strategic intervention in your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Rewrite Your Success Story
The stories you tell yourself about success shape your reality. If your current narrative includes themes of struggle, sacrifice, or unworthiness, it’s time for a rewrite.
Old Story: “Success requires working 80-hour weeks and sacrificing everything else.” New Story: “Success flows from aligned action, smart systems, and sustainable practices.”
Old Story: “I’m not qualified enough to charge premium prices.” New Story: “My unique combination of skills and experience creates exceptional value.”
Old Story: “If I succeed, people will expect too much from me.” New Story: “My success inspires others and creates space for more people to thrive.”
The Comfort Zone Expansion Method
Instead of making dramatic leaps that trigger your safety mechanisms, gradually expand your comfort zone through strategic small steps.
The Process:
- Identify the edge: What would you do if you were 10% braver?
- Take micro-actions: Break the scary thing into the smallest possible steps
- Build evidence: Document each small success to prove you can handle more
- Increase gradually: Let each success become the new baseline for the next challenge
Perfectionism Recovery
Perfectionism is a learned behavior, which means it can be unlearned. The goal isn’t to become sloppy—it’s to become strategic about where you invest your perfectionist energy.
The 80/20 Rule for Perfectionism:
- Identify the 20% of your work that truly benefits from perfectionist attention
- Give yourself permission to be “good enough” on the remaining 80%
- Set completion deadlines that prevent endless tweaking
- Practice launching before you feel ready
Building a Success-Supporting Environment
Your environment—physical, digital, and social—either supports your success or reinforces your blocks. Audit and adjust each area.
Physical Environment:
- Create spaces that inspire action rather than procrastination
- Remove distractions that enable avoidance behaviors
- Surround yourself with visual reminders of your goals and capabilities
Digital Environment:
- Curate social media feeds that inspire rather than trigger comparison
- Use apps and tools that support your success behaviors
- Create digital boundaries that protect your focus and energy
Social Environment:
- Spend more time with people who celebrate your success
- Limit exposure to those who diminish your ambitions
- Seek mentors and peers who model the success mindset you want to develop
Creating New Neural Pathways for Success
Your brain loves familiar patterns, even destructive ones. Creating lasting change requires deliberately building new neural pathways through consistent practice.
The Success Mindset Daily Practice
Morning: Start each day by connecting with your vision and setting intentions aligned with your biggest goals.
Midday: Check in with yourself about any resistance or avoidance patterns that have emerged.
Evening: Celebrate progress, no matter how small, and plan tomorrow’s aligned actions.
The Fear-to-Action Bridge
When you notice fear or resistance arising:
- Acknowledge it: “I notice I’m feeling afraid/resistant/overwhelmed.”
- Get curious: “What is this fear trying to protect me from?”
- Find the truth: “What’s actually true about this situation?”
- Take tiny action: “What’s the smallest step I can take right now?”
Success Celebration Ritual
Most people are experts at noticing what went wrong but terrible at acknowledging what went right. Create a systematic approach to celebrating success that rewires your brain for more achievement.
Weekly Success Review:
- List three wins from the past week, no matter how small
- Identify the actions or decisions that contributed to these wins
- Acknowledge the growth and learning that occurred
- Set intentions for building on this momentum
The Compound Effect of Removing Success Blocks
When you stop blocking your own success, the changes compound quickly. Small shifts in mindset and behavior create ripple effects that accelerate your progress exponentially.
What Changes When You Stop Self-Sabotaging:
- Decision-making becomes faster and more confident
- Opportunities start appearing more frequently
- Your energy increases as internal conflict decreases
- Others begin to see and treat you differently
- Your capacity for bigger challenges expands naturally
Your Success Is Not Selfish
One of the biggest success blocks for women is the belief that pursuing our ambitions somehow takes away from others. This scarcity mindset keeps countless talented women playing small.
The truth: Your success creates permission for others to succeed. When you step fully into your potential, you model what’s possible. When you build wealth, you create opportunities for others. When you claim your space, you make space for others who have been waiting for permission.
Your dreams matter. Your success serves the world. Your potential is not meant to stay hidden.
Taking Action: The 21-Day Success Block Breakthrough Challenge
Ready to stop blocking your own success? Here’s a practical challenge to begin rewiring your patterns:
Week 1: Awareness Building
- Day 1-3: Complete the Success Block Audit
- Day 4-5: Track your energy patterns around different activities
- Day 6-7: Identify your top three success blocks
Week 2: Pattern Interruption
- Day 8-10: Practice the Fear-to-Action Bridge when resistance arises
- Day 11-12: Implement the 80/20 perfectionism rule
- Day 13-14: Begin your daily Success Mindset Practice
Week 3: New Pattern Installation
- Day 15-17: Take one small action outside your comfort zone daily
- Day 18-19: Practice rewriting your success stories
- Day 20-21: Celebrate progress and plan your next breakthrough
Here’s how we can help
Each month, two (2) $1000 small business grants are awarded: One grant for a For-Profit Women-Owned Businesses and one grant for a Non-Profit Woman-Owned Business. This $1,000 grant is awarded to invest in your business and you will also receive exclusive access to our success mindset coaching group to further support your growth. This is a no strings attached private business grant. You may use the money for any aspect of your business.
NON-PROFIT GRANT LINK: https://www.yippitydoo.com/small-business-grant-optin-non-profit/
Criteria:
Ages 18 Or Over, Within The United States. Non-Profit Women Entrepreneurs/Small Business Owners That Are At Least 50% Owned and Run By A Woman. Your Business Can Already Be Started Or In Idea/Start-Up Stage But Must Be Already Registered As A 501c3.
FOR-PROFIT GRANT LINK: https://www.yippitydoo.com/small-business-grant-optin/
Criteria:
Ages 18 Or Over, Within The United States. For-Profit Women Entrepreneurs/Small Business Owners that are at least 50% owned and run by a woman. Your Business Can Already Be Started Or In Idea/Start-Up Stage
