The unexpected things that might be stopping your Hive account from growing.

“It's not who you think you are that holds you back
it's who you think you're not.” ~ Unknown

I've always been a sucker for a good quote. I think it's my love of words and my love of thinking, pondering, reflecting. I'm somewhat like the woman in this photo above; I think a lot, though usually while I'm on the move. I don't sit still much or stare at the setting sun that often. Really should work on that.

But I digress.

I've been meaning to do a series of posts centred around quotes I like for a while now. I've been secretly collecting every good one I find so I can share them with you, ponder them out loud (or in writing, as the case may be) and expand on what another human was thinking or feeling in their (often) single sentence quote.

To find good quotes I have to be willing to discard the rubbish.

There are plenty of people saying all sorts of things that are attention-grabbing, punchy, Twitter- Threads-length and highly repeatable. But it's rare that they're truly profound. At the very least I want thought-provoking. I want useful. I want something that's worth repeating.

So, now that I've got that preamble out of the way, let's look at this quote!

“It's not who you think you are that holds you back
it's who you think you're not.” ~Unknown

I like this quote. But I don't completely agree with it. Firstly, let's look at the bit I do agree with and explain why:

Who you think you're not definitely holds you, me, us back.

Why? Well, let's look at an example. Let's use growing an account on Hive since it's something I'm going to presume that is relevant to everyone here.

Let's say you're new to Hive and you think (or believe, which is just subsconsious thinking) you're "not a writer". Somewhere along the way, probably when you were really young, some big person told you that your writing was "not good enough" or when they read your stories they said something like, "I think you should stick to maths".

Maybe you submitted a story or an essay to your English teacher and it came back with a grade so low you felt ashamed. Maybe you saw one too many pieces of your beloved writing covered in red pen where you "did something wrong that needs fixing".

There are so many ways we can get beliefs or ideas about ourselves stuck in our head and they may not be true at all. But they are 100% going to hold us back, especially if we don't realise they're driving our behaviour and/or we don't realise we can change the things we subconsciously believe about ourselves.

Who do you think you're not?

Here are some examples of other things you might believe about yourself that are likely to hold you back when trying to grow your Hive account:

I'm not good with money.

(This makes it hard to do anything at all on Hive you imagine is related to money in any way. And there are a lot!)

I'm stupid.

(This makes it hard to learn new things and there's so much to learn when you're new to the world of all things blockchain).

I'm boring or I don't have anything valuable to say.

(This can also come in the form of "Why would anyone listen to me?" and obviously, if you believe these things about yourself it's hard to come up with ideas to create content on and it's hard to hit "publish" if you think no-one is going to read/listen to what you have to say).

Of course, I could go on. We all have so many things we believe about ourselves and who we are not (including what skills we think we don't have). And sometimes these things can have some truth to them:

For example: I believe I'm not a pilot. Since I've never flown a plane and never learned how this belief would be true. However, if I wanted to learn how to fly a plane and I started actually flying planes, with or without the help of an instructor, I damn sure better start believing and saying "I'm a pilot" or it's going to hold me back!

Get me? So if you want to grow your Hive account, you best start learning how to get good with money. If you want to grow your Hive account, you best start learning how to get good at writing or creating content that's valuable to the blockchain. If you want to grow your Hive account, you best start working out how you learn best and practise taking in new information.

And then, own it. Recognise that you're improving. Claim your new identity as a writer, a money manager, an avid student of all things Hive so that sh*t doesn't hold you back any longer.

Now, to the other part of this quote that I do not agree with, that who you think you are won't hold you back.

That pesky but important part of us called the "subconscious mind" that I mentioned earlier stores all the things we believe about ourselves, others and the world in general.

Some of the things we believe are helpful and some of the things we believe are downright unhelpful.

(Don't even get me started on the thing we believe that are dangerous for us and others. That's a whole other post for another day!)

If we come back to the quote at the top of this post it said this:

“It's not who you think you are that holds you back
it's who you think you're not.” ~Unknown

But what if who you think you are is actually unhelpful in you achieving the goal you've set for yourself?

Let's go back to our example of growing an account on Hive. If you have an identity, that is "who you think you are" is tied to the job you do but your goal is to grow your Hive account to the point where you can leave the job that demands way too many of your hours, takes you away from your kids and doesn't let you travel as much as you want, then what you believe about yourself ("I'm an Executive Manager" or whatever title you've afixed yourself to) is going to hold you back.

Here are some other things you might believe about yourself that could hold you back from growing your Hive account:

I'm a good Mum.

(This can be a helpful belief in a lot of ways but... if "being a good Mum" means you always drop what's important to you and always do what your society expects a 'good mother to do', well, then Hive is just going to keep getting dropped on your to-do list).

I'm rich compared to most of the world.

(This might be 100% true. In fact, if you live in a "1st world" country and have a place to live, a job or steady income source, food in the fridge, freezer and cupboard, reliable electricity and internet and clean running water, then yes, you're among the richest people on the planet.

But if you feel guilty about this rather than grateful and you believe that by making money on Hive you're somehow taking away from our fellow Hivers who don't have all these things then is is 100% going to get in the way of growing your account on Hive.

And just in case it's not yet clear to you how brilliant Hive is, the exact opposite of the above thinking is true because the more your account grows on Hive, the more you can support more and more of your fellow Hivers).

So, what do you think about who you are that is holding you back?

I'd love to know what answers you found within your own mind if you want to share in the comments. 👇

Caroline, aka ConsciousCat 🐈

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Quote source: Chrome Momentum Extension

Photo sources: Person on swing, Person typing on computer, Person covering their face, Person jumping in celebration, Man in suit, thinking about things, People celebrating their growth together.