According to Brendon Burchard, we have three great enemies that prevent us from advancing our lives, from actualizing our potential and from living our dreams. Let’s take a look…

DOUBT

We doubt whether or not we are capable. We doubt whether or not we are worthy. We doubt whether or not we will succeed. We doubt whether or not we even deserve it. All of these doubts are so unfortunate.

Doubt is one of the greatest ENEMIES of our lives.

It is so easy to overcome, but most people will not practice the discipline of overcoming it – which is totally strange, right? It’s especially difficult when you’re your own worst enemy. One would figure that if you have any negative recurring emotion in your life, would maturity not require you to face it and say “Hey, how do I fix this?”, or “How can I doubt myself less”.

If you are always doubtful, then you cannot just wander around saying I’m so doubtful, like some kind of victim.

That is not fair to the humanity that you have been given.

That is right, your free will.

That part of you that says, “Hey you can direct your life.” That is why you have it! You are the one that is in charge. You have the control. No one else. Handle it! If you have been plagued with doubt your whole life, then face it. Stop running from it.

Okay, so I know that sounds super hard to say to anyone. Think about it like this, anyone out there has had doubts holding them back. Any author, musician, public speaker. They all have the same story. Why would anyone care what they had to say? Who would listen to them at all?

Ask yourself…What is the reason why I am doubtful?

Being kinder to yourself after a setback, well, that can be nearly impossible for some.

Is it because of past failures? Is it because trying something new is scary? Because maybe people said you could not do it? Okay, so let us say that is the case…what makes them the expert on anything? Especially, your capabilities and your potential?

Where does this doubt really come from? I know we were not born with it.

We are doubtful because the germ of fear spread in our body because somebody planted it there one time or we cultivated it with our own thoughts.

But at some point, our maturity and consciousness need to take over and say…if doubt is plaguing you let’s have a look at it. Let’s figure out to move beyond it.

We cannot allow doubt to prevent us from advancing when we feel like advancing.

Remind yourself: I must trust in my abilities.

I must trust I will figure it out. I must trust that I can build it. I must trust that I can get some help and progress, even though the doubt might be there.

The hero is the hero because the hero does it anyway.

Even though the hero is terrified and risking it all, the hero goes anyway. We are all heroes in some way. We can all be courageous. Courage is having the belief in yourself and the ability to genuinely express who you are.

If you are doubting yourself, the only way through is to give yourself more faith in yourself and take more action. With the faith and more action comes more competence. With more competence comes more confidence. The more you learn and try the more you master and develop. So, go out there, even with that – yes let the doubt be there, but do it anyway!

DELAY

Delay is one of our great challenges.

Delay does not just come from doubt, they are related. If I am doubtful I am more likely to delay, but a lot of people delay just because frankly, they have something in themselves, that either they have a competing priority or they are lazy or they are uninformed.

There is a part of us that, we do not go out and pursue our own desires.

It is not because we are not smart – it is because we get distracted.

It is the mentality of “I’ll get to that tomorrow.”

The fact is, you probably won’t.

You are not going to get to your dreams in 50 years. Your dreams are for the here and now.

Most people awake with a dream in their mind but they let that dream die in the daylight. Why? Because they take no action towards it because they are fooling themselves that maybe someday they will get to it. No one wants to be the person who ends up at the end of their life regretful because they never began what they wanted to.

Ask yourself…What are you waiting for? What have you been delaying way too long that you know you need to get to?

Maybe today is the day to put your feet on the ground and say, “I’m going to begin this.”

The only way through delay is action.

DIVISION

We can feel divided.

We feel different from other people.

We feel like there is this great divide between us.

There is this chasm between us and other human beings, and you can recognize this person all the time who is really having challenges in their life, who really are struggling from division because they say the same thing; “Well they cannot understand me.” Or they spew hate and their hate or belief that others cannot understand them accomplishes the same thing.

It protects them and keeps them from connecting with other people.

Because those elements of ourselves and our beliefs about other people divide us from humanity, from others, guess what we do? We do not ask for help. We think, “They cannot understand me,” so I am not going to ask for help.

Guess what we do?

We judge other people. We become critical of other people. We push away other people and stop being kind and respectful to other people.

That is division – that part of us that believes that we are separate from others, that forgets about the reality that humanity is really united by a common energy, a common force, by at least a common purpose to thrive and survive.

If we forget those things, then life loses its color.

We are no longer connected to other human beings.

We can no longer be connected to ourselves. We can no longer be connected to the universe. (or whatever you choose to call it)

Division – that sense within us that we are separate – prevents us from getting ahead.

What can we do? Well, all we can do is take action! The only way to get over the divisiveness between us and another person is to go be kind, to go say something, to ask, to put ourselves into play with other human beings again in ways that we build awesome relationships.

 

All these things – DOUBT, DELAY and DIVISION can be overcome. We have to learn to recognize them.

The first step is always awareness. Ask yourself the following questions:

What have you been doubting in your life that is preventing you from moving ahead?

What have you been delaying in your life that is preventing you from moving ahead?

How have you been perceiving other people that have been preventing you from developing relationships and moving ahead?

When you start to see these things you can break through. But it is only within that deep desire within yourself to have faith, to take action, to become your highest self and overcome the very things that are limiting you. That is what makes us great. That is the great shine of becoming mature, a conscious human being.

So, I say, why not make this day the day that we re-design our lives so that doubt, delay, and division are handled!