Why would people do things that might make them more likely to fail?
For example, students might stay out all night to avoid studying when faced with an important exam.
This protects us from feelings of inadequacy but hinders personal growth.
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Recognizing this tendency to stand in your own way is the first step toward overcoming it.
Why Do People Self-Handicap?
This behavior protects ourself-esteembut can also make us do things that make us less likely to succeed.
Essentially, people create obstacles so that any possible failures can then be blamed on these outside forces.
After all, it hurts to look at our failures and realize that we have only ourselves to blame.
Thefear of successmay also contribute to self-handicapping.
Examples of Self-Handicapping
There are many different forms of self-handicapping.
Sometimes this behavior can be fairly innocuous, but in some instances, it can be much more serious.
In some cases, it might even drive people to engage in potentially dangerous behavior.
Imagine, for example, that you have been preparing to compete in your very first marathon.
You feel sluggish when the day finally arrives to compete in the marathon.
Afterward, all of the students were told they had done well.
This feedback was clearly unsettling and confusing to the participants who had been given the unsolvable anagrams.
They were told they had done well but had no idea how or why they had.
The volunteers were then asked if they wanted to take a performance-enhancing or performance-inhibiting drug before taking another test.
Why would some choose a drug designed to impair their performance on a test?
What Are the Effects of Self-Handicapping?
The purpose of all this self-sabotage is to protect theegoand self-esteem.
While this may work in the short term, sabotaging yourself can reduce self-esteem over the long term.
For many people, these behaviors happen almostautomatically.
We devise excuses for failure before we’ve even tried, but we often do sounconsciously.
Unfortunately, self-handicapping has many adverse consequences.
In a series of experiments, researchers manipulated participants' scores onIQ tests.
The result is that people have no drive to do better.
Placing obstacles to success might provide excuses for failures, but it also makes us more likely to fail.
Do you sabotage yourself so it’s possible for you to keep feeling good about yourself?
Or do you give it your all and risk failure?
If you tend to place obstacles in the path of your success, a few strategies might help.
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