November/December 2009 Everyday Intention
Stop Your Secret Self-Sabotage

by Guy Finley

Guy Finley

We’re often led to act against ourselves by an undetected weakness that goes before us, trying to pass itself off to others as a strength. In effect, we pretend to be something we’re not — a commonly accepted behavior these days. But any time we feign anything, we do so out of fear that without that “persona” to protect us — to make that impression we want — we won’t get what we want.

This whole way of thinking is secret self-sabotage. It sinks us in our personal and business relationships as surely as a torpedo wrecks the ship it strikes. Learning how to stop this self-sinking is the key. The following two special insights will start you down the path to a whole new kind of self-command.

  1. Any person you feel the need to control or dominate — so that he or she will treat you as you “think” you should be treated — will always be in charge of you and treat you accordingly. Why? Because anyone from whom you want something, psychologically speaking, is always in secret command of you.
  2. Any action we take to appear strong before another person is actually read by that person as a weakness. If you doubt this finding, review the past interactions and results of your own relationships. The general rule of thumb is that the more you demand or crave the respect of others, the less likely you are to receive it. If you’ve ever tried to raise children, you know this is true. So it makes no sense to try and change the way others treat you by learning calculated behaviors or attitude techniques in order to appear in charge.

The only thing these clever cover-ups really produce is yet another source of secret inner conflict, which, in turn, only fuels further self-sabotage. Besides, what you’re really looking for in your relationships isn’t command over others, but over yourself.

So what’s the answer?

Stop trying to be strong. Instead, catch yourself about to act from weakness.

Don’t be too surprised by this unusual instruction. A brief examination reveals its wisdom. Here are 10 examples of where you may be secretly sabotaging yourself while wrongly assuming you’re strengthening your position with others.

  1. Fawning before people to win their favor.
  2. Expressing contrived concern for someone’s well-being.
  3. Making small talk to cover up nervousness.
  4. Hanging onto someone’s every word.
  5. Looking for someone’s approval.
  6. Asking if someone is angry with you.
  7. Fishing for a kind word.
  8. Trying to impress someone.
  9. Gossiping.
  10. Explaining yourself to others.

Let’s examine this last act of secret self-sabotage — the compulsive need to explain ourselves to others, even when no one has asked us to do so.

The next time you feel as though you need to explain yourself to someone (other than to your employer, as it may concern his or her business affairs), give yourself a quick and simple internal test. This test will help you check for and cancel any undetected weakness that’s about to make you sabotage yourself.

Here’s how to get started: Run an interior pressure check. Right at the outset of the moment in question, usually just bumping into someone, come as wide awake to yourself as is possible for you to be. Allow the inner light of this heightened awareness to scan the various shaky states passing through you and then, safe within its calmness, silently ask yourself this question: Is that personal question you’re about to answer — or that answer you’re about to give, without having been asked for it — something you really want to do? Or are you about to explain yourself because you’re afraid of some as yet undisclosed consequence if you don’t?

This self-administered test for inner pressure is how you tell if your forthcoming explanation is truly voluntary, or if you’re on the verge of being compelled to unconsciously compromise your own integrity.

Your awareness of any pressure building within you is the proof that it’s some form of fear — and not you — that wants to do the explaining, fawning, impressing, blabbing or whatever that self-sabotaging inner pressure is pushing you to commit. Each time you feel this pressurized urge to give yourself away, silently but solidly refuse to release this pressure by giving into its demands.

It may help you to succeed sooner if you know that fear has no voice unless it tricks you into giving it one. Choosing inner seeing over the wish to be seen by others in a complimentary light stops the cycle of self-sabotage.

Guy Finley, author of The Essential Laws of Fearless Living, is the best-selling author of more than 38 books and audio on self-realization. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for self-study located in southern Oregon. Visit www.guyfinley.org.