How to Stretch Your Mental Barrier

Mental barriers are self-made blocks in the way of accomplishing goals or getting things done. An individual might not think that a barrier is self-made, because over time it becomes part of who he is. A mental barrier can keep someone from doing things that he genuinely wants to do but feels unable to do because of low self-esteem, fear of failure, feeling incapable of accomplishing such a large goal or feeling unworthy of such a task.

Instructions

• 1

  Write down the goal that you want to accomplish, even if it seems large, difficult and far-fetched. Break the goal into smaller steps. Write down the first thing that you would have to do to begin accomplishing this goal. The key is to create baby steps towards meeting your goal. For example, if your goal is to lose 100 pounds, a smaller step would be to begin getting 15 minutes of exercise per day.

• 2

  Take action to complete the small step that you determined is the first thing you need to do to accomplish your larger goal. Do this baby step until you are ready to move on to another step. Even taking a small step will help increase your self-efficacy, or how much you believe in your abilities. This is the beginning of stretching your mental barrier on this particular subject.

• 3

  Visualize yourself meeting your goal. Close your eyes and picture what it would be like. Imagine the emotions that you would feel, the people around you, how you would look and what your life would be like. Do this every day for five to 10 minutes.

• 4

  Spend time with people who are positive and allow that energy to rub off on you. Do not waste your time on people who belittle you or put you down in any way, as this is not helpful toward changing your mental barrier on a subject. Focus on the positive in your own life and do not allow yourself to become negative about your goal. If you find yourself getting negative, talk back to the negative thoughts by telling yourself that you can and will accomplish your goal.

• 5

  Write in a journal or diary about your journey toward changing and stretching your mental barrier. This is a difficult process, but doing it once will help you to do it more in the future. Keeping a record of your achievements and struggles will give you perspective on the work that you did.