How to Break Through Inner Blocks and Unlock Your True Potential

Do you know that friend or person who seems to have no internal blocks? The one for whom everything always seems to go well? He does what he believes he should do, full of confidence in his choices, while we’re still caught up in overthinking what people might say.

Why aren’t we all able to be like that? What’s holding us back? Why are we so full of doubt? In all likelihood, our confident friend is no more talented or capable than we are.

How can we become that person? The one who dreams and achieves, who sets goals and crushes them, who is proactive, energetic, and full of life?

Most of us do feel something burning inside. We want to do more, achieve more, contribute more. We have dreams, passions, and goals. We want to live with purpose. In reality however, many of us are just getting through the day. We are watching the clock and waiting for the next break. The years go by, decades pass, hair starts to turn grey, and suddenly we’re asking: What have I done with my life? Is this it? Just surviving?

We can stop surviving and begin thriving and create a change in the way we live. Every Jew is a lion. Unique and irreplaceable. You have a mission that only you can fulfill in this world, and no other person can do it like you can. What is holding you back are inner barriers.

What Are Inner Blocks?

Fear of failure, low self-esteem, or negative thoughts are the symptoms, while the blocks are the internal voices or force that generate those thoughts. As Richard K. Carson explains, the block is an inner part of us that convinces us we’re incapable, that interprets the world in limiting ways, and makes us feel small and powerless.

You’ve probably heard that voice:

• “Better to do nothing than try and fail.”

• “There’s no way this will work.”

• “Smarter people than you have failed.”

• “It’s too much for you.”

The original role of these blocks was to protect us from risk. But they often overreact, especially when we’re ready to do something meaningful, different, or transformative. Our task is to regulate these voices- not eliminate them. We must use them when needed, but not allow them to control us.

6 Practical Tools to Overcome Inner Blocks

1. Know What You Truly Want
Dig deep. What excites you? What makes your heart sing? Visualize yourself doing it- do you feel a spark? That’s a sign. (I once knew a guy who worked in high-tech for decades, made great money, had status, but no joy. When he switched to education, his life lit up.)

2. Identify the Block
Most blocks are technical and small, but hidden. Without awareness, they grow into giants. List the steps to your goal and pinpoint where you're stuck. (I knew someone who was unemployed for a year- his only barrier was not knowing how to write a résumé!)

3. Exposure Weakens the Block
Once a block is exposed, it loses power. Like shadows in the dark, they seem scary, but in daylight they vanish. Shine light on your block, and it shrinks.

4. Find a Simple Solution
Once identified, most blocks have simple fixes. Talk it out with a friend, mentor, or rabbi. (One friend delayed starting a Torah class for years because he feared only “weird people” would show up. I asked: “And what if they do?” “Then I’ll stop the class.” “And now?” “I don’t have a class.” - So what do you have to lose?” He launched it. Today, 30 wonderful people attend weekly.)

5. Ditch Limiting Beliefs
Don’t assume what happened before will happen again. Your past is not your future. The block will remind you of your one failure, but not your 50 successes. Focus on the times you did succeed.

6. Step Outside Yourself
Try "dissociation"- visualize yourself from a bird’s-eye view. Observe the situation without emotion. What would a wise outsider advise? Often the answer becomes obvious.

Why This Lesson Fits with Passover

At the Seder table sits the “wicked son” who says: “What is this service to you?” The Haggadah tells us: “Since he excluded himself from the group, he denied the core belief, so you shall blunt his teeth.”

Why teeth? Because the wicked son always says: “This is who I am. I was born this way. I can’t change.” Were you born with teeth? No, you developed them. Just as your teeth grew in later, so too your bad habits and toxic thoughts came later. You weren’t born with them, and you can grow out of them.

Inner blocks are the voice of the evil inclination. They are weeds that crept in over time, convincing us that “this is just how I am”. We must remind ourselves that we were born with strength, vision and power, and any block can be removed.

If we truly want to grow, to succeed, and to conquer, we will!