What's Holding You Back? #1

photo by Darwin Bell

#1 in the What’s Holding You Back series — designed to help you think about why you are not moving forward in your job search, career, or life.

I was thinking the other day… we all have something that holds us back from being the best we can be. Somethings are just ways of doing things, perhaps being stuck in a rut, and other things are much bigger.

This series will evolve with both my ideas, and I hope, your ideas. So feel free to leave more holding you back topics in the comment section and I will work on posts that fit your topics.

Here’s my list of holding you back topics and I will touch on one later in this post.

• Alcohol
• Substance Abuse
• Workaholic
• Poor Self Esteem
• Poor Organization
• Unwillingness to Continue to Learn

ALCOHOL – Over the years, I have seen people who have struggled with alcohol as clients of Design Resumes. Most of the time they don’t admit that it causes an issue for them in their career but it does become apparent. Since I often work with clients several times in their career or for a longer period when they are searching for a new position, I can pick up on things.

Alcohol has a way of taking over and it takes over insidiously,  you don’t notice it… until it is too late, usually. It starts with a drink now and then either out at a bar, (I’m from Wisconsin, bars are prevalent) and then perhaps you start having one frequently. The bar is expensive so you start stocking your own at home. One beer leads to another and sometimes you throw in some hard liquor… You start by only drinking at night but then it is 3pm, then noon, and then pretty soon you look forward to that beer as soon as you wake up.

You think no one can tell but your performance is slipping. You struggle to get up and get moving, you sit around when you are home, even little chores are too much for you. You lose a job, resolve to do better and perhaps even quite drinking for a bit.

People around you start talking. It affects your relationships with everyone. Everyone knows that you have a problem but you don’t admit it.

Does it hold you back? Alcohol comes on as something to solve your problems but it makes more. When you lose a job, you thought you would quit drinking but you need it. You use it as a crutch. But the crutch pushes you down more than holds you up. It holds you back.

Change is hard. Many people need professional help to change. My goal is to help you realize that there are things that do hold you back and will interfere with your success. If you recognize yourself here and are willing to change, please think about seeking professional help. There are trained people who can deal with anything that is holding you back but before their help can work, you need to want to change. I can help provide you with trusted professionals, if need be.