How I have been blocking my own success (and how you might be doing the same)

How I have been blocking my own success (and how you might be doing the same) How I have been blocking my own success (and how you might be doing the same) A few days ago, one of my Facebook friends asked this question What assumptions are holding you back?The question stopped me in my tracks because just a week earlier, I had decided to drop several long-held assumptions and go public with my specieswork.I have always drawn and painted, and over the last year I have become much more committed to my art work. But still, almost no one had ever seen it.What assumptions were holding me back all that time? Too many, Im afraid.Here are just some of them No one will want to see my work. Its not good enough. Black and white art isnt real art. Im not a real artist because I have a full-time job. People might hate my drawings the list goes on and on.And then over the last few weeks, a series of things happened that changed the way I felt. I attended a talk on creativity and came away inspire d. A relative stranger saw one of my pictures and gave genuine and heartfelt praise. I watched a video about a successful artist who only started painting at the age of 60. I read the book Choose Yourself by James Altucher and realized I hadnt done that in the past (If you havent read it, I recommend it as a though-provoking, if sometimes a little crazy, jolt of inspiration).And all these events came together like bricks making a wall and I started to wonder why dont I try this? Whats the worst that could happen? I will still run Blue Sky, so I wont starve if I fail. The only risk is that my feelings will get hurt if people dont like my work.So I set up a Facebook page for my art and paid for a small advertising campaign to test reactions. I figured if no one liked it, I could delete the page and move on. Id only be down a bruised ego and about $30.And to my genuine amazement, it turns out lots of those assumptions were completely wrong. Ive been overwhelmed with positive comments, kind words and even with gallery opportunities. It seems I welches wrong that people dont want black and white art, and wrong that Im not good enough, and wrong that Im not a real artist because I also have a job.And now it has me wondering if all those assumptions are wrong, what other self-limiting beliefs am I clinging on to?And if I have all these self-limiting beliefs, what about you? What assumptions are holding YOU back?The cow in the drawing is one I saw yesterday. She was standing right at the barbed wire fence looking out mournfully. Shed have loved to explore the next field, but she couldnt go any further.She reminds me of me just a few weeks ago.Maybe she reminds you of you?