Have you ever noticed yourself standing in the way of your own success? You want progress, yet something within you delays, distracts, or derails your efforts. That is self-sabotage.
In this article, I will show you how to recognize the signs of self-sabotage, why it happens, and the role your subconscious mind plays in it. You will also learn a practical three-step process to uncover the beliefs that block you, and how to replace them with empowering ones through affirmations and other mind power techniques.
If you struggle with relationships, career, money, or health, what you read here will shed light on the hidden patterns that hold you back. More importantly, it will give you the tools to change them.
Let’s begin.
Table of Contents
Signs of Self-Sabotage
Self-sabotage wears many disguises. It can be as subtle as a thought you barely notice, or as obvious as an action that clearly works against your best interests.
It shows up in every area of life (relationships, career, health, finances) and always for the same reason: a belief in your subconscious that does not match what you consciously want.
Here are some common signs:
- Overanalyzing and hesitation: you delay decisions until opportunities pass you by.
- Setting unrealistic goals: you demand too much too soon, then use failure as proof you can’t succeed.
- Perfectionism: you believe nothing is good enough, which prevents you from ever finishing.
- Avoidance: you turn away from uncomfortable conversations, challenges, or risks that would help you grow.
- Overcommitting: you say yes to too many demands and leave no space for your own progress.
- Self-neglect: you ignore your health, rest, or well-being until your energy is depleted.
- Cultural conditioning: you have accepted beliefs such as “people like us shouldn’t aim too high” or “it’s safer not to stand out.”
In relationships, self-sabotage can mean picking unnecessary fights, pulling away when things get close, or convincing yourself that the other person will leave you eventually.
In your career, it could be procrastinating on a big opportunity or doubting yourself just enough to avoid taking the next step.
With money, it might be spending impulsively when you know you need to save, or turning down opportunities to earn more because they feel “too much” for you.
Whatever the form, the effect is the same: you hold yourself back from the life you could be living. These patterns are signals from your subconscious, showing you the beliefs it holds about who you are, what you deserve, and what is possible for you.
When you can see these patterns without judgment, you gain the power to change them.
Why Do We Self-Sabotage
Your subconscious can only work with the material that reaches it through your conscious mind. One of the functions of the conscious mind is “guardian to the gates of the subconscious.” I teach about this in my online program “The Master Class”
If, through neglect, your subconscious holds a number of limiting beliefs about a certain area of your life, then no matter how hard you work or how much you desire to achieve your goal, you are unlikely to do so.
This is why people self-sabotage, even when they consciously want success.
It then becomes obvious that knowing and understanding what your subconscious believes is crucial in achieving success.
But who amongst us is willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, the reason we’re not seeing results in a certain area of our life has nothing to do with others or outside circumstances, but everything to do with us?
It can be hard to accept, yet this honesty will teach you more than any quick fix or external change ever could.
If you have used Mind Power regularly, you already know how powerful and effective it can be in manifesting your goals.
It is one of the greatest tools we have for creating happiness and success. But even the most dedicated student will notice areas where it seems less effective. It works ninety percent of the time, yet there is that stubborn ten percent where you ask yourself, “Why doesn’t it work here?”
In almost every case, the answer is the same: subconscious imprints are blocking and sabotaging your efforts. Why? Because the subconscious mind’s nature and function is to attract circumstances and situations from the outer matrix of reality according to the imprints it already holds within.
This is good news.
Once you understand how the system works, you can deliberately imprint beliefs that are in harmony with your goals. Once these beliefs are accepted by the subconscious, they work within you to create the reality you desire, and you naturally stop self-sabotaging.
Your subconscious imprints are like a “Do Not Enter” sign in your mind, stopping you from moving forward even when the destination is right in front of you.
How to Stop Self-Sabotage
Step 1: Observe Your Patterns
Since we don’t have a conscious awareness of what is in our subconscious mind, we have to approach it in a roundabout way. We do this through a creative analysis of our lives. We look at the reoccurring patterns, which I call “footprints to to our subconscious beliefs.”
Mind Power teaches that our life will always reflect the inner patterns we have within us at a subconscious level.
To understand your inner patterns, look at your life. Your life will tell you a lot if you have the courage and honesty to look at it objectively.
For example, if you notice every relationship you’ve had ends the same way, perhaps with you pulling away when things start going well, that is a pattern worth examining. Or, if you often miss deadlines at work despite wanting to advance your career, that too is a clue.
This process is not as easy as it sounds. Most of us are so preoccupied with doing, striving, and keeping up with daily demands that we rarely step back and examine our lives as a mirror of our inner world.
But if you take the time to do so, you will uncover valuable clues about what is really driving your results.
Step 2: Identify Your Limiting Beliefs
Here is an exercise I recently did with participants at the Mysteries Of The Subconscious and The Soul weekend workshop in South Africa.
1. Choose the number one problem area in your life
Think about it. What one area causes you the most concern or worry? Or to put it another way, if you could magically change one aspect of your life, what would it be?
2. Write down all your beliefs about that area of your life
To do this, simply ask yourself, “What do I believe to be true about this area?” and write down whatever comes to mind without censoring yourself.
For instance, someone struggling with money might uncover beliefs such as “You have to work hard to get ahead” or “It’s selfish to want more than you need.”
And someone facing conflict in relationships might find beliefs like “Good relationships are just about finding the right person” or “If it’s meant to be, it will happen on its own.”
3. Examine each belief
In almost every case, people are surprised to discover that most of these beliefs are negative and limiting. This does not surprise me. If your outer reality has a persistent problem in a certain area, it almost always points to limiting beliefs.
Try it yourself and see if I’m not right.
Step 3: Replace Limiting Beliefs With Empowering Ones
All beliefs can be changed, no matter how deeply rooted, if you have the will and persistence. Beliefs are not absolute truths. They are simply interpretations of reality.
When you change a belief, you change your reality.
People often say, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But this is not how to live creatively. A better approach is to say, “I’ll believe it first, and then I will see it.”
One way to do this is through affirmations.
A powerful affirmation I often use is: “My subconscious mind is my partner in success.”
I like sharing this affirmation and encouraging my Mind Power students to use it as well, for several reasons.
Firstly, by saying “my subconscious mind,” we remind ourselves that we do, in fact, possess such a faculty. The subconscious mind is not some vague new age concept, but a real part of who you are. Saying so over and over reminds you again and again of its existence.
Secondly, it’s “a partner.” A partner is someone who helps you accomplish your goals. Two people can accomplish more than just one. So too can you accomplish more when you harness this part of yourself.
Thirdly, the word “success” is a powerful word to have vibrating in you at a subconscious level.
When you repeat this affirmation, it resonates with three important themes within you.
For more affirmations, check out this article: How to Write Affirmations That Actually Work (+ 25 Examples)
What Is Self-Sabotage
Self-sabotage is any thought, habit, or behavior that works against your own best interests. It does not come from malice but from the subconscious repeating imprints and patterns it has accepted as true.
Some forms of self-sabotage are quiet and almost invisible. You put off decisions, analyze possibilities endlessly, or talk yourself out of opportunities. Other forms are more obvious. You abandon a project as soon as it becomes difficult, or you criticize yourself harshly for not measuring up.
There are also subtle cultural patterns that act as self-sabotage. Beliefs such as “don’t get your hopes up” or “success always comes at a cost” are widely accepted, yet they limit growth as surely as fear or doubt.
What unites all these forms is this: self-sabotage keeps you from experiencing the success, love, or fulfillment you consciously say you want. Once you recognize it for what it is, the subconscious repeating old imprints, you have the power to change it using the three steps I shared above.
Reprogramming Your Subconscious for Success
Awaken from your limiting beliefs and change them. Change them because they are blocking your success. Change them because you can change them. Change them because when you change a limiting, negative belief into a positive belief, you are changing the dynamics of your inner vibration.
When your limiting beliefs change, you stop self-sabotaging and your results change. This creative alchemy is available to all and is the gift of being a human being. When you reprogram your subconscious mind, you change your reality.
Start simple. Choose one area of your life where you see self-sabotage at work. Write down the beliefs you hold in that area and begin shifting them with affirmations that empower you.
If you want to go deeper, explore the Mind Power course. It will show you how this hidden faculty works with your conscious mind to create your reality. The first lesson is available to you for free.
