When we doubt ourselves, we block our ability to change or succeed. Here’s why you need to ditch any identity that limits who you can be…

It was a week before my twenty-first birthday.

As I stood in line, I held on tightly to my “alias” driver’s license, also commonly known as the fake id. More than anything, I hoped it would get me through the door of the popular bar and into the party with the rest of my “of-age” friends.

However, there was just one problem. My fake id included a picture of a twenty-two year old Italian woman named Maria Mergliano and the only thing we had in common “looks-wise” was our dark brown hair.

Nonetheless, I stepped up to the bar’s entrance and handed my card over to the bouncer for inspection. He took one look at it and laughed out loud before commenting, “Yeah, nice try, Irish.”

So I turned around and walked back home alone, but with an insightful “life-ism” in tow: The right identity either opens doors for us in life or keeps them closed.

Now, fast forward twenty a number of years later, and I see this “life-ism” regularly affect many people’s lives, especially when they struggle to make change or realize their dreams.

Far too often, we stand at the doorway to change or success unable to step all the way through and across its threshold. Only now the reason stems not from the id in our wallets, but from the limiting self-identity we carry around about ourselves in our minds.

During the change process, this identity quickly morphs into the “voiceover.” It plays loudly in our thoughts and filling us with self-doubt whenever we set a goal or attempt to move our lives in a new direction.

Of age, middle-aged or old aged, it matters little. None of us are immune to its effects. When we and our sense of identity are riddled with self-doubt, it’s akin to carrying a fake id and it’ll only take us so far in life.

Essentially, it acts as our own inner “bouncer” or barrier to change and thus, success. It blocks our forward movement and stops us from reaching our desired destination.

The solution, then, is that we need to ditch such limiting identities and beliefs about ourselves before we even set our sights on the doorway to success.

In addition, we need to mute the voiceover, too. We need to doubt our self-doubts, even shrink them. When we don’t, our only other choice is to shrink ourselves and eventually, our dreams.

In the end, that’s never a viable option for anyone.