Self-Sabotage: Why You Do It and How to Stop for Good


Self-sabotage can seem mysterious and complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.

As a psychologist and therapist, it’s something I help my clients work through every day.

In this guide, we’ll walk step-by-step through how to think about self-sabotaging behavior and what to do about it.

You’ll learn:

  • A simple definition of self-sabotage
  • The origins and causes of self-sabotage
  • Examples of self-sabotaging behaviors
  • A step-by-step plan for correcting any form of self-sabotage in your life

Okay, let’s dive in!


What Is Self-Sabotage?

Self-sabotage is one of those terms you hear thrown around a lot, but understanding what people actually mean by it is tricky—in part because a lot of people don’t really know what it means!

  • Some people use it judgmentally, as a form of criticism for someone they perceive as lazy or weak.
  • Some people use it to sound smart when they don’t actually know what they’re talking about.
  • Still others talk about in a way that’s so general and vague that it’s essentially meaningless.

In the rest of this section, I’ll give you a concrete definition of what self-sabotage is. Then we’ll look at some specific examples of what it looks like in real life and where it comes from.

Self-Sabotage: A Simple Definition

Here’s the best, most useful definition for self-sabotage I’ve found:

Self-sabotage is when you undermine your own goals and values.

In other words, you acknowledge that there’s something out there you genuinely want and believe is good for you (e.g. keeping off those 20 pounds you just lost), but then you do things that directly conflict with that goal (e.g. late-night fast-food runs).

Importantly, self-sabotaging behaviors can be both conscious or unconscious depending on how aware you are of them:

  • Conscious self-sabotage is when you are aware of the fact that what you’re doing is undermining one of your goals or values. E.g.: Remembering that you need to pick weeds in the backyard but deciding to play video games instead.
  • Unconscious self-sabotage is when you do something that undermines a goal or value but you don’t realize it until after the fact. E.g.: People with a strong fear of failure in their jobs often develop the unconscious habit of showing up late or doing sloppy work as a way to avoid promotions or increased responsibility which would lead to higher expectations and therefore a higher chance of failure.

Of course, there are endless ways we all fall into self-sabotage. So before we move on to understanding what causes it and what to do about it, let’s take a look at some practical examples of what self-sabotage might look like in your own life.

Examples of Self-Sabotage

Everybody engages in self-sabotage from time to time.

For some people, it’s an occasional thing with relatively minor consequences. But for others, it’s a chronic pattern that leads to major problems in their life, work, and relationships.

Here are a few of the most common forms of self-sabotage:

  • Procrastination. We all procrastinate from time to time: putting off going to the gym for another episode on Netflix; delaying writing that report to clean our office; rescheduling that dentist’s appointment yet again. Procrastination is one of the most universal forms of self-sabotage because it is, by definition, delaying something even though we know it would be better not to.
  • Chronic Worry. People get stuck in the habit of chronic worry because it temporarily gives them the illusion of control and certainty. When you’re feeling helpless or uncertain, worrying briefly makes it feel like you can do something. But in the long-run, it’s never productive and leads to high levels of anxiety. If you want to break the cycle of chronic worry and anxiety, here’s a good place to start: 5 Quick Ways to Feel Less Anxious
  • Substance Abuse. Alcohol and drug abuse is a common form of self-sabotage because, despite the short term benefits, consistent abuse of drugs and alcohol almost always interferes with our long-term goals and values. For example: those two or three beers as soon as you get home from work make it harder to be present with your kids and spouse.
  • Chronic Lateness. When people are consistently late to things, it’s often a sign that they are self-sabotaging. For instance, always showing up late to social events might help you avoid some anxiety about having to socialize too intimately with people before the event really gets going, but in the long run, it erodes your relationships and leads to lack of trust and respect with friends and family members.
  • Stress Eating. Many people turn to food as a way to deal with stress and anxiety in their lives because it temporarily makes them feel good and distracts from their pain. But they know in the long run it’s sabotaging important values like maintaining a healthy diet or being physically fit.
  • Intimacy and Commitment Issues. Many people find themselves in the habit of intentionally abandoning or ruining otherwise healthy friendships and romantic partnerships. Often, these people have a difficult time with emotional vulnerability and are afraid of getting hurt. Even though it hurts their long-term value of cultivating meaningful relationships, they end up sabotaging these same relationships as a form of anxiety relief.

Of course, there are many more examples of self-sabotage, but these are some of the most common.

But remember, all of these things are normal and not signs of a major issue necessarily. We all procrastinate from time to time, for example. Just like we all use food or other substances for emotional—rather than strictly nutritional—reasons occasionally.

However, when these things become consistent patterns with significant negative effects, that’s when it’s worth looking at more carefully.

Where self-sabotaging behavior comes from

Just like self-sabotage can take an almost infinite variety of forms, there are many, many ways that it develops and takes root.

It’s important to understand this:

There’s no one reason why self-sabotage happens.

And looking for a simple answer is often a sign that you don’t fully understand what self-sabotage really is and what it takes to work through it.

For example, in my clinical practice, I’ve been working with two different clients who both struggle with the same form of self-sabotage: They consistently get into romantic relationships with people they don’t respect because it makes them feel better about themselves.

It’s self-sabotage because the way they’ve learned to fill their need for confidence and self-esteem is by fostering relationships that don’t really work but make them feel superior and confident. Obviously, this gets in the way of their long-term goal of having a healthy romantic relationship, but they keep falling into it because self-esteem is so low and they don’t have a better way of addressing it.

I bring these two clients up as examples because they each developed an almost identical pattern of self-sabotaging behavior in very different ways:

  • Modeling. In my work with the first client, we traced his habit of self-sabotage back to early modeling from his parents. Essentially, his dad struggled with the same lack of confidence and self-esteem and addressed it by being hypercritical of my client’s mother and eventually other girlfriends and wives. Because this was what my client saw all the time growing up, it was his model for how relationships work and how self-esteem works.
  • Power. My second client, however, had parents with a very healthy relationship. And as a kid, this client had normal levels of confidence and self-esteem. But in college, after she experienced a terrible instance of sexual abuse, the way she coped with her insecurities and fears in relationships was to get into relationships with men who were “beneath her” so she could feel more secure and powerful.

The behaviors and results are the same but they come from entirely different origins.

Of course, this isn’t to say that there are no common patterns when it comes to what causes self-sabotage.

In fact, there is one common theme I see over and over again with people who have developed major issues with self-sabotage:

People who chronically self-sabotage learned at some point that it ‘works’ very well.

I put works in quotations because it works in a short-term sense but usually has the opposite effect in the long-run.

Here are a few examples:

  • As a child, you learned to always catastrophize and plan for the worst because it was the only way you knew how to deal with your alcoholic and abusive parent.
  • As a teenager, you learned to procrastinate on your work because you were smart enough to do fine without much studying anyway.
  • Once you got married, you learned that pointing out flaws in your spouse’s behavior made you feel better about yourself—for a time, anyway.

The fact that self-sabotage ‘works’ on some level—or at least it did at some point—is absolutely fundamental and is the starting off point for changing your self-sabotaging behaviors for good.

Before you can undo an unhealthy behavior, you have to understand the function it serves.


How to Stop Self-Sabotage for Good: A 5-Step Plan

If you want to stop self-sabotaging, the key is to understand why you’re doing—what need it’s filling. Then get creative about identifying healthier, less destructive ways to get that need met.

Here’s a straightforward way to identify your self-sabotaging behaviors and start fixing them for good:

1. Understand the need your self-sabotage fills

Most people who try to stop self-sabotaging make the mistake of approaching it with a “getting tough on myself” attitude. They tell themselves that this is the time they’re finally going to get their sh!t together and stop all this nonsense.

But being “tough” on yourself is itself a form of self-sabotage because, while it feels good in the moment, it usually leads you to miss the most important first step in overcoming self-sabotage: understanding what need the self-sabotaging behavior feeds. And you can’t do that without some self-compassion.

Before you get tough on yourself and commit to changing, get compassionate with yourself and commit to understanding.

In order to recognize that your self-sabotage is serving a purpose, you have to be able to suspend judgment about the ultimate negative consequences of the behavior, and be understanding enough to see that it is serving a function that, at least in a limited sense, makes sense!

Here are some examples:

  • If you want to stop abusing alcohol, you need to compassionately understand that alcohol “works” to alleviate your stress after work.
  • If you want to stop stress eating, you need to compassionately see how stress eating “works” to make you feel less lonely in your unhappy marriage.
  • If you want to stop procrastinating, you need to compassionately understand that procrastinating helps you avoid fear of failure (or fear of success).

It’s only when you understand the need your self-sabotage is filling that you will be able to cultivate alternative behaviors to fill that need. And it’s only when you get that need met in another way that you’ll be able to give up the self-sabotage for good.

2. Identify alternative healthy behaviors that fill that need

Once you’ve got a clear understanding of what need your self-sabotage fills, the next step is to generate ideas for alternative behaviors that address the need but in a way that doesn’t also hurt you.

Often, just getting clarity on what the underlying need is will be enough to trigger ideas for alternative behaviors. But sometimes it takes a little more discovery and research…

One of the best ways to develop alternative behaviors for your self-sabotage is to study other people like you.

First, come up with a shortlist of other people you know with similar circumstances. For example, if binge eating junk food as a way to alleviate work stress is the behavior you’d like to find an alternative to, make a list of other people you know with high-stress jobs.

Next, reach out and do some research. Ask them how they handle the stresses of work. Collect all these ideas you find in a list.

Finally, after you’ve done research with at least a few people and generated a list of possible alternatives, find the two or three that seem like a good fit for you and try them out. Experiment with one for a week or two and see how it goes. If it seems to help, double down on it. If it doesn’t seem all that helpful, go down the list and try the next one.

3. Anticipate and plan for obstacles

Even if you’ve identified the underlying need and a healthier set of behaviors to address it, you still need to anticipate potential obstacles to using those new behaviors.

If your alternative behavior to stress eating after work is to have a small healthy snack instead of binging on junk food, what might get in the way of that new behavior?

  • What if you don’t have enough of the healthy snack stocked up in your house?
  • What if you go out for drinks with coworkers one evening instead of going home?
  • What if your spouse just took out a tray of freshly baked cookies the minute you walk through the door?

It’s easy to stick to new behaviors and good intentions when the conditions are just right. But if you want to eliminate self-sabotage for good, you also need a plan for when times are hard.

Here are some examples of anticipating obstacles and developing a plan for addressing them:

  • If you want to make sure you choose healthy snacks after work instead of junk food, set a recurring order of almonds (or whatever…) from Amazon so you know you’ll always have some healthy snacks at home.
  • If you want to call a friend to address feelings of loneliness instead of drinking, make sure you have a list of two or three friends you can call in case one doesn’t answer.
  • If you want to take a break and go for a walk for 20 minutes to address a difficulty with procrastination instead of playing video games for 3 hours, get rid of games on your phone or don’t work in a place where you have easy access to video games (e.g. go to the coffee shop instead of working from your home office).

It’s not enough to have good alternative behaviors to self-sabotage. You also need contingency plans for the inevitable obstacles that will arise when you first start to implement them.

4. Boost your tolerance for uncomfortable feelings

No matter how well you strategize and execute on your new alternative behaviors, it will be emotionally hard at times:

  • Even if you have a handful of healthy almonds within arms reach, it still hurts a little to give up the Doritos.
  • Even if your best friend picks up the phone, giving up on the immediate euphoria of a quick drink is going to feel tough.
  • Even if you go for that walk or get back to work instead of playing video games, you’re still going to miss the video games.

Letting go of self-sabotage isn’t merely an intellectual problem of planning and strategy. It’s an emotional tolerance problem.

In order to form any new habit or set of behaviors, you have to be able to tolerate discomfort—especially emotional discomfort. And this is just as true for replacing self-sabotaging behaviors with alternative healthy behaviors.

The best way to practice building up your emotional tolerance is to start small:

  • Identify the emotion that most often comes up when you let go of your old self-sabotage behavior and pursue a healthier alternative. For example: fear, frustration, sadness, etc.
  • Next, look for other places in your life where that emotion comes up in smaller doses. For example: you get a little frustrated when you’re waiting in line at the grocery store and the person in front of you is taking forever.
  • Instead of immediately doing something to alleviate that feeling or distract yourself from it, practice tolerating it for a small amount of time. For example: instead of immediately pulling out your phone and browsing Facebook as soon as you feel frustrated, practice doing nothing and letting yourself feel frustrated for 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
  • Gradually build up your tolerance for that emotion in other areas of your life and then practice doing the same with your alternative healthy behaviors.

Remember: Just because an emotion feels bad doesn’t mean it is bad. And while sometimes uncomfortable, emotions are neither dangerous nor morally wrong.

5. Clarify your values

This isn’t the most necessary step in letting go of self-sabotage, but it is the most powerful.

When you clarify your values and aspirations—the things that truly matter most to you in life—and then connect your new, healthier behaviors to them, it’s far easier for them to take root and grow, leaving the old self-sabotaging behaviors far off in the distance.

The key to clarifying your values is to get beyond superficial forms of values and connect with the visceral form of your values. Here’s what I mean…

Let’s say you want to give up the self-sabotaging behavior of watching the news as soon as you get home from work because it is a time suck and leads to you not accomplishing more meaningful goals.

And let’s say the alternative, healthier behavior you’d like to replace it with is going for a walk in order to get some exercise.

Now, if I asked you Why do you want to go for a walk instead of watching the news when you get home from work? you might respond with something like, Because I want to get in shape.

Now, getting in shape is a value, but it’s not a very compelling one. It’s not visceral or specific—it’s vague and abstract. But if you want your values to help motivate you toward your new behaviors, they must be compelling. And the way you do that is by forcing yourself to get more specific.

So, I might follow up with Well, why do you want to get in shape? To which you might reply, Because I want to feel more energetic and less tired all the time.

This is definitely more specific and compelling, but we can do better… What would you be able to do if you felt more energized and less tired each day? After hearing this, your eyes might light up a little and you’d say You know, since college I’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar and be in a band. I know it sounds silly—I’m 43 years old—but I get excited every time I think about it. And I think if I just wasn’t so exhausted all the time, I could actually make it happen.

Bingo. Now that is a clarified value. It’s a value that’s got teeth. It’s a value that’s got gravity. And because it’s got gravity, it will help pull you toward your goal and new behavior, which is key if you’re trying to resist the gravity of an old, self-sabotaging behavior.


All You Need to Know

Self-sabotage isn’t as mysterious or complicated as it sounds: It simply means chronically doing something that undermines your own goals or values.

If you want to stop self-sabotaging for good, the key is to understand what need it serves and then develop alternative behaviors that fill the same need in a healthier and more productive way.

There are 5 basic steps to doing this:

  1. Understand the need your self-sabotage fills
  2. Identify alternative healthy behaviors that fill that need
  3. Anticipate and plan for obstacles
  4. Boost your tolerance for uncomfortable feelings
  5. Clarify your values

112 Comments

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An absolutely terrific article which provided insight on a topic that I didn’t think was relevant to me.

How wrong I was!

In my situation the article doesn’t provide a “ready made” solution but it certainly provides a “guidance map” where I have to take accountability to provide the
“Why’s and the How’s” to reach a desired destination.

Thank you

Thanks Ted! Yeah, often maps are more useful than ready-made solutions in the long run!

I think this is exactly why this article resonated with me where others haven’t! I’ve read quite a few and they seem to be shallow solutions. Yours appears to get to the heart of the matter.

Gracias por el artículo. En mi caso tengo bien identificado el auto sabotaje (miedo al éxito y al fracaso),me gustaría comprender el origen, te agradeceré compartas si tienes algún artículo al respecto. Saludos

I have always wondered why I continue to fail in every aspect of the word. This post is a game changer. Hopefully I haven’t done so much damage to recover. Thank you!

I absolutely love your writing, Nick! Incredibly concise and helpful. You really have a way of articulating complex psychological topics and breaking them down in a way that’s completely accessible for a lay person. You’ve got a real talent for writing and the fact that you’re utilizing your intellectual and professional gifts to help others through writing as well as being a psychologist is pretty awesome. Good job!!

Lauren has siad it much better,I HOWEVER say that I found it uplifting ,it had teeth and gravity.A force of nature.

Thank you so much Nick.
I have been self-sabotaging for years not knowing how to attack it but fully realising the negative impact it was having on my health and relationships with my boyfriend and one son.
Today I am going to look into the fear of failure and success.
Thanks again

Nick,
Great article. I like the strategies you outline. I need to use them. Ever since I retired, I procrastinate And it is because I have no goals.
Thanks

What do you suggest in these cases?

A man is getting divorced ( or woman) and circumstances force them to live in the same house or condo for many weeks.

The partner who initiates the divorce is giving the other NO attention, but the person being rejected is unable to stop either throwing out insults or alternatively unable to
to act out through being late paying bills, demanding to talk etc.
He or she often destroy any bargaing chips in mediation or trials.

That was amazing. The entire set of examples were spot on. It felt like you had been studying my life. The only variance was that I have been in addiction recovery for over 33 years, while I have worked on that issue and been drug and alcohol free since 1987 the other issues continue to plague me. I will be starting this process immediately. Thank you again!

Thank you. I’m going to sit with my values and how I self-sabotage, form a plan and make some transformative changes

This is very well written and insightful. I am looking forward to reading more of your articles. Thank you 🙂

Thank you Nick – I too love your writing! You’re skilled at breaking down complex psychological concepts using plain language. In this article, I really like how you take an abstract value and turn it into an achievable goal.
Vagueness is the friend of practiced procrastinators!

Great article thank you. Im struggling to find out why I am doing it and what need it’s fulfilling.
I think its “Model” for me as I watched my mom do the same (I think) so not sure if its a need. How do I stop it?

Your article is amazing Nick! While I was reading it I had a feeling that you were talking to me face to face. Thank you.

I’m literally in tears. My boyfriend confronted me about my self-sabotaging behaviour last night and how they are affecting our relationship and most importantly how they can potentially affect my career.
I’m really glad I found this article because wow life is hard????!

Very helpful, I’m in tears. I was aware that I actively choose to self sabotage before but this article has given me clarity on how to begin to break free from it. I say this as I’m actively self sabotaging in the moment and decided to read another article on self sabotage, but this one truly helps. Thank you ????????

my self sabotage creates feelings of dislike for myself, reinforces my low self-esteem and how I deserve the bad outcomes of it. I understand your article but can’t seem to make it fit me. is this another form of self sabotage?

Thank you Terri. ???????? You just clarified why I self sabotage, it reinforces all of my negative beliefs about myself. It all makes sense now. Thank you for sharing because it helped me and now I will work to uncover those beliefs and change them. You’re going in my gratitude journal tonight. Dr. Nick too! ✨????✨

this is was really helpful. it’s not very often that one comes across such articles and they actually guide you well. most are pretty vague.

I’m sure you aren’t going to read this, but I just cheated on a test to get into my dream school and don’t know if I will get caught. I had no reason to cheat, I looked up a vocabulary word I literally knew. My dad believes I self-sabotage, but I don’t seem to fit in with some of the symptoms. It’s weird because I seem to fit it most with a fear of success, but I am a perfectionist. I do this all the time too: I sneak food hoping to get caught (subconciously, is what he tells me), I lie compulsively, and I have cheated before. I really don’t know why I do this, and if God (or the universe, or whatever dictates life) allows me to get into this school, I won’t suffer the consequences of cheating on a test I was well prepared for. If I don’t get in, I’m not sure how I can live with it. Help please!

Thank you Nick.
I always get so much from your sharings.
I understand self sabotaging more clearer now.
When I’m conscious I’m self sabotaging the critic voice starts to beat me up and shame washes over me and my thinking becomes distorted.
After reading your excellent article
I can change this pattern of thinking and start with SELF COMPASSION to understand why I’m prograsstorating
Then I have a choice to change the behaviour and reconize the VALUE in the long run.
Staying still to feel the UNCOMFORTABLE FEELINGS instead of numbing them is hard at the start.
Nick thank you so much for this article.
You are very articulate and explain it do well.
Sending you best wishes
Thelma

Thank you, Nick, for writing this article. I struggle with self-sabotage, and I really like how you broke it down.

If I may, I’d like to share my reflections on your last point regarding values. It seems related to identity.

Identifying and supporting your core value helps you to clarify your personal identity, essentially “find yourself.”

It answers a core existential question about your purpose on earth. If you pursue actions that dovetails with your natural interests, you’re essentially honing on what your real character is.

A little of Marie Kondo’s philosophy too: Keep only that what gives you joy. Therefore, if you can identify the relationship that a particular odious, tedious action may have to what brings you joy and thus clarifies your true identity, you can basically hack your subconscious mind to comply rather than self-sabotage. So it’s also a bit of Strength-Based Therapy.

That’s why I believe your 5th point of Values reinforces the merit of Vision Boards. A vision board appeals to the right side of the brain that is more connected to your artistic and less rational side. Using visuals as well as sounds, scents, tactile material, etc can aid you in communicating with your amygdala-driven self. Self-sabotage in the form of procrastination is emotional in nature, as confirmed by recent research.

I’m ultimately interested in hacking my subconscious because it has proven to be a stubborn foe. Logical arguments have only served to instill shame but no lasting changes. Point #4 regarding boosting tolerance for discomfort is very much like willpower – highly doable under favorable circumstances but dicey under emotional duress.

It seems like logotherapy could be helpful by reframing the self-sabotaging behavior in the greater scheme of “will to meaning,” rather than “will to power” or “will to pleasure.”

This helped a lot. I have been self sabotaging since all my life. Some of these patterns have now reached a level that’s causing a lot of difficulty in my life. I do this and I always hate myself afterwards. I am sick of feeling like this. I want to stop. I want to be better. Everytime I decide I will be better, I never am. I found this article helpful. I want to work on the first step, understand what need your self-sabotage serves. I have thought about it, but I can’t get any closer to understanding this. I am so frustrated. Please help me.

Mr. Wignall your words are a breath of fresh air! After reading several articles on the subject of self-sabotage, yours is clear, concise, and relatable. I appreciate you making this invaluable information available on the internet.
Thank you

Thank you for this article. My Self-sabotage is ruining my marriage & me but this article was very helpful & gave me several ways to help myself.

Wow spot on with th article man, lots of your points were hitting home for me, and I’ve been wanting to make that needed change in my life, so that my marriage, relationship with friends and family can solidify and become that much stronger….

Great article. I’ve read about 15 today on this topic and yours is the most helpful and complete. it really helped me set some ways to make change. Thank you!

Hey Nick! Thanks so much for this great guide! I struggle with sabotage and I’m going to refer to your article as often as possible. I’m a content creator and podcast host and would love to interview you on the topic of self sabotage! Would this be possible? I’d really appreciate it! Do let me know.

I was a poster child for self sabotage. I literally pulled down a 30 year career and a position of a corporate Vice President through self sabotage. Somehow I just didn’t believe nor think that I deserved it. I’m pretty sure this stemmed from the dysfunction of my mother’s lack of confidence in herself. She had grave emotional problems.

I had to start all over at 50 years old with Disney. I worked to understand the causes and conditions for this lack of confidence. I’m not that man anymore. I like who I see in the mirror. Thank God for Mickey Mouse.

Thank you for sharing Ben ???? I too thank God for Mickey Mouse! My dream has been to work for Disney my whole life! I live just an hour from Orlando and I’ve grown up loving Mickey. May this new life lead us to our dreams. Love and light to you on your journey ????

Good perspective. I grew up being constantly criticised and put down by my father and that has caused a habit of self sabotage. Good to have some tools to keep it in check !

Thank you Nick, especially about the steps to manage it and becoming comfortable with uncomfortable feelings, your writing is very easy to read and understand without being high brow..

Nick 🙂 You’re a gem! Great article! I’ve been working on doing less self sabotage. I know mine stems from when I was a child and was told I’d never amount to anything and the only time I got attention for the most part (and not good attention mind you) was when I was sick and I was sick a lot, because that’s the kind of child I was. Now I’m sometimes a sickly adult, but have finally figured out that some of it I’ve done to myself, but thanks to folks like you I’m learning to be kinder to myself and stop doing this. Thank you for everything…

Thank you so much for writing this article. I’m on the precipice of my greatest life and I feel this stagnation and reluctance to LIVE MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE TO THE FULLEST. Now I know what to do. ????

This really helped me understand myself and others. I need to get back to seeing my life in terms of what I really value! Great suggestion!

Nick, thank you!
I thought that the root of self-sabotage might be a habit to live in “old frames”, when you have been living miserable life for long time, thinking about yourself as an inferior to others, that you’re not worthy of success and finally you get used for this life and stuck in this position.Your subcounceous mind doesn’t want to change something even if you want to.It recognize this situation comfortable.
The hidden need is to be comfortable with familiar situation and fear of changes.I suppose it’s difficult to meet this need another ways…Could you tell how to deal with this situation?

Thanks for you insightful article. I am willing to explore any avenue of change to become less self-sabotaging.

What if the need is not a healthy need? For example, the need to continuously confirm that you are garbage and deserve a life full of garbage. You don’t want to find another way to meet that need; you want to replace that need with something better. How does one do that?

Thanks for this article. Some nice gems in there. I am processing a business decision I made several weeks ago, that has ‘self sabotage’ written all over it. Wish I had known at the time that is what I was doing…. Your article gave me some good items to think about, and help me try to make sense of what happened.

Hey i do self sabotage specificly stress eating , over sleeping, porn and masturbation addiction ,painful to do normal things that others do , abusing my puppy. Next i start to imagine my future > jelousy of others getting collage acceptance and their Perfect wannabe bodies etc > then i have this desire to reck myself completely. Definetely Not sucicide sth small that is just enough to give me pain . Like i want to be fat , have bad skin and body, get raped , reck my grades , intentionally cutting off socializing. i feel good when i do these behaviors its kinda feels refreshing cool .it feels good . I want to do more and more until i totally
Ruin myself. I feel instant Pleasurement seeing myself in shit i imagine other worser self sabotage that i could do and can’t wait to do it. Thrillment of openning chocolate boxes is smiliar too
And i move it on behavior i binged eating a lot today! I feel afraid of what i could do to me. Sorry for my bad eng . Eng is not my mother tounge haha

Jenny, I don’t think that’s self-sabotage, which is to to with preventing oneself from meeting one’s goals or expectations.

What you describe sounds more like Self-Harm, where you actively seek to destroy yourself, little by little, especially what you say about wanting to inflict pain on yourself.
Why do you wish to treat yourself so cruelly?

You should seek out a dedicated therapist for this.
It probably stems from some of the same feelings of self-esteem and fear of success outlined in this article, but you really need to work with someone who can help you find compassion for yourself and move away from those self-destructive impulses.
You are a human being, too precious to be destroyed. Please believe that.

Excellent!!! I thoroughly enjoyed and will site you and your work when I do a piece on self sabotage. The best and most practical I have read to date.

This is the most helpful article I have ever came across regarding taking control of my life and found this particularly relevant to my habitual lateness. Thank you so much

Very helpful article for me. I’m going to start tracking every habit and feelings in diary to examine myself more better so I can completely lead my life in a positive way. Thank you so much

Wow. That was really inspiring. I feel like I was meant to read this. It’s made me realise I non intentionally self sabotage on the daily. I’ll aim to diminish self sabotage, tomorrow’s a fresh and new day. I begin now.

No no no no no I’m not having any of this bs and I am more than happy to tear this apart as it should be.

Under [5. Clarify your values] you wrote:

“Now, if I asked you Why do you want to go for a walk instead of watching the news when you get home from work? you might respond with something like, Because I want to get in shape.”

This is NOT logically accurate as the client has stated that they do not wish to exercise OVER watching the news.

Think about it.

Thank you Nick.
I am a professional musician and just started working with a well respected artist as a guitar player. I had 12 days to practice 40 new and easy songs. But because of my anxiety, I could not practice for 10 days and learned the 40 song in just 2 days (without sleeping and socialising of course)
After reading this article now I can see what I’m through. Thank you (and wish me luck tonight is the first show)

Thanks so much Nick. Even though I always thought of myself as a happy person, I realize now that my constant attempts to make myself feel better reveal a sadness in me that I didn’t know was there. It’s time to face the sadness and get some help. Thank you.

It was hard even reading this because I don’t want to accept that I am fucked up in the head but I keep ruining relationships because of this so I will definitely stop this.

Thank you so much for this article. I’ve been subconsciously self sabotaging my relationships with a person I truly want to be with and read your article show me that’s it’s fear of everything. I’ve have a very rough childhood as well as adult hood and I’ve truly come to the conclusion that I need to break this before I lose the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Good article.I have become aware of behaviors that seemed like self-sabotage,so I looked it up and ended up here.The description certainly sounds like me.☹️

Self-sabotage is a huge problem in my life and I’m sure this article would be helpful. Maybe I’ll read it later. 🙂

Just having fun with my last post. You’re a good man for putting this out. I appreciate what you’ve said and it makes a lot of sense. I guess this means I’m going to have to read more of your stuff.

Great article, I’ve been searching for tips such as these, but this is the most clear and comprehensive explanation I’ve found. Thanks very much.

This article is so well done. It felt like a hug. I took notes. I’m going to apply what I have learned. Thank you!

This is a very useful article, came across it at the time I was looking out for something like this. Thankyou Nick!

OMG !!!! God should Bless You *Cries in happiness*
You have given Me soooo much Insight
Like i have wanted to improve many things in my life
but i would find myself wrapped up in negative Emotions and it scraps everything away
i also noticed that when i started loving myself ….things started getting better and i was feeling Good
But after some time , the very same things came and disturbed me
the way i describe my disturbance is my brain is knotting itself
like i make a good idea after some time a negative thought comes with weight
*WOOSHH*
Everything is Gone , I am back to 0
Moving ahead , squeezing my negative thoughts to find relief… when i squeeze them , they pop and i feel better but after some time either that same thought comes up or some one comes and i am unable to squeeze them
i lay there stuck and lost
but this article has really helped alot

Amazing article, it helps me to understand why I have some attitudes and what I can do to change it.

What if you self sabotage your work with your weight management team because you haven’t decided if you want to try to prevent something from killing you? So, when it’s all too much you’re just compelled to the self-sabotaging behavior because, ‘who cares?’.

I have always believed my self sabotage was a deep dark mystery I would never crack. Nope, I understand it now. Thanks for this, I can now change my whole game.

My biggest problem is that I don’t know why I do it. I’ve had some intense things happen to me but I really don’t care about those things and do not believe they are the cause. It is frustrating not knowing why.

A article interesting, is truth that many times ourselves dont belive in us, or we make things that dont allow to reach our goals and dreams. Is important to know our fears and difficulties to move along.

thanks for the article I have a better understanding of self-sabotage you are right having compassion and understanding and learning to have tolerance for discomfort give me a whole new understanding

Very good article, the procrastination is something than everyone us touch some time, it important to be consciente and leaver from there.
We should try to know who we are, get to know each other a little more

The article made clear for me that I suffer of self-saborage. In basic level, I think, because my problem is procrastination, as many many people I know.
In fact, I use to solve easy problems first and leave medium level problem for later. So they keep behind and, sometimes, when appear, there´s no more solution.
I will try to remember to deal with this in a better way
Thanks

Thank you Nick!
I really need to read all of this right now… I subscribed to your articles today, and I’m binge-reading them.
I am really struggling at the moment, but to read something that really connects with how I am feeling helps. I feel a little bit less alone and hopeless.

I learned a lot from this, I’ll have to read it as much it takes to instill it in my brain so I don’t forget, but I’ll come back to reread this if I ever find myself going back to my old habits. One thing is to be self-aware of our behavior, but doing nothing even if you haven’t found anything that works will always be on you. If you fail to see the consequences of your own actions when you don’t see how the cause of your own actions affected how they reacted then your at fault as just much as them.

Self-compassion and understanding are essential to overcoming self-sabotage. Before attempting to change your self-destructive behaviors, understand the purpose they are serving and seek healthier alternatives to meet those needs. Anticipate and plan for any obstacles that may arise and increase your tolerance for uncomfortable emotions. Change requires patience and practice, but by developing new positive habits, you can break free from the cycle of self-sabotage and achieve your goals.

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