
How to Get Out of Your Own Way: A Whole-Person Guide to Freedom & Breakthrough
Learn how to stop self-sabotage, reclaim your clarity, and rise into God-aligned purpose with this whole-person roadmap.
Self-sabotage happens when your mind protects you from the unfamiliar, even when the unfamiliar is your breakthrough.
To get out of your own way, you must identify the internal blocks, interrupt fear-based habits, and replace survival patterns with spirit-led action.
This article walks you through 10 practical, whole-person steps to shift your mindset, reset your nervous system, and rise into clarity, confidence, and calling.
Most of us aren’t blocked by the world — we’re blocked by the patterns we adopted to survive it.
There comes a moment in every awakening when you realize:
You’re not waiting on God… God is waiting on you to move.
You pray for clarity, but ignore your clarity.
You pray for direction, but avoid the direction God already gave.
You pray for open doors while your hand is still gripping the handle shut.
I know this intimately.
After losing both my father and my husband, I spent seasons frozen between who I used to be and who I was becoming — delaying my own rise because I didn’t feel “ready.”
But here’s the truth:
You don’t have to be ready to be chosen.
And you don’t have to have the whole path to take the next step.
This guide is your spirit-led roadmap to stop blocking your own breakthrough and begin walking in the identity God already affirmed.
Why Self-Sabotage Happens (And Why It’s Not Your Fault)
According to the American Psychological Association, fear of failure, fear of judgment, and fear of success are the biggest contributors to chronic procrastination and avoidance.
Your nervous system interprets “new” as “danger,” even when it’s destiny.
Here’s the spiritual layer:
Fear is not an emotion — fear is a spirit.
Anything tolerated in the spirit eventually governs your decisions.
If you grew up silenced, minimized, or punished for being too much, then:
- Visibility feels dangerous
- Success feels suspicious
- Receiving feels uncomfortable
- Rest feels irresponsible
- Authenticity feels risky
This isn’t your identity — it’s your conditioning.
And conditioning can be rewritten.
The Personal Revelation: What’s Really Holding You Back
For years, I prayed for a breakthrough while living as if a breakthrough was supposed to drag me out of my hiding place.
God answered me with one sentence:
“You are praying for open doors while refusing to walk toward them.”
That sentence became my spiritual reset.
That moment became the pivot.
The awakening.
The soul interruption.
The moment I realized:
I wasn’t waiting on direction — direction was waiting on my obedience.
This is where the pivot begins.
The 10-Step Jamie London Clay Breakthrough Framework
It means silencing the noise of “not enough.”
It means permitting yourself to evolve—even before it makes sense.
It means moving forward, scared and unsure, but still chosen.
When you get out of your own way, you stop being your most prominent critic and start becoming your most outstanding advocate. You trade paralysis for progress. Fear for faith. And self-sabotage for self-leadership.
This is where the shift begins.
This is where fear loses its authority.
This is where your whole-person healing journey activates.
Below is the full 10-step Jamie London Clay Breakthrough Framework:
1. Identify the Inner Blocks Keeping You Stuck
You can’t learn how to get out of your own way until you’re honest about what stands in the way.
Self-sabotage comes from familiar systems, not failures:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of visibility
- Perfectionism
- People-pleasing
- Comparison
- Childhood conditioning
- Church hurt or spiritual trauma
- Fear of the unknown
These are not personal flaws — they’re survival patterns.
📝 Try this: Journal on the question — “What am I afraid will happen if I fully show up as myself?”
2. Understand How Fear Shows Up In Your Body and Behavior
Fear is sneaky.
Fear is strategic.
Fear dresses up as “wisdom” when you’re not grounded:
It presents itself as:
- “Let me wait for the right timing.”
- “I need to be more prepared.”
- “I just need one more confirmation.”
- “I’ll start once things calm down.”
But the APA notes that these patterns are the #1 killers of personal growth and risk-taking, especially for women and Black Americans navigating generational pressure and systemic realities.
“Fear feels safe because it’s familiar — not because it’s aligned.“
Your power returns when you stop spiritualizing paralysis and start practicing obedience.
🛑 Don’t spiritualize your paralysis. Just because it feels “safe” doesn’t mean it’s Kingdom. Obedience requires motion—even when you’re shaking.
✨ Instead of resisting fear, recognize it. Then, thank it for the lesson… and keep going anyway.
3. Reframe Your Mindset (And Interrupt the Inner Critic)
You are not your thoughts.
You are the chooser of your thoughts.
Every time your mind says,
“I’m not ready,”
respond with,
“I’m willing to begin messy.”
Every time it says,
“Who am I to do this?”
respond with,
“Who am I not to?”
This is cognitive reframing.
This is spiritual warfare.
This is mindset deliverance.
To deepen this work, use the Empowered Breakthrough Activation Journal to retrain your thinking and rebuild courage daily.
Rewire fear into faith. To help you achieve clarity, centering, and courage in your next breakthrough moment.
Recommended Resource: Get Your Empowered Breakthrough Activation Journal. A daily guided system to help you release fear, rewire your thinking, restore confidence, and rise into alignment.Perfect for healing seasons, new beginnings, and whole-person growth. Download it now!
4. Practice Gratitude That Grounds You
Gratitude is not an inspirational hobby — it’s a nervous system reset.
List 3 things about yourself you’re grateful for every morning.
Not your house.
Not your job.
Not your accomplishments.
You.
Self-trust grows where self-gratitude lives.
5. Set Soul-Aligned, Realistic Goals
Dreams require direction.
Perfection dies where clarity lives.
Break your vision into sacred, doable steps:
- What can I do in 15 minutes?
- What can I complete by noon?
- What can I finish by Friday?
Use the SMART goals method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), but make them your goals, not other people’s or society’s timelines.
👣 Small wins create significant momentum.
One boundary. One email. One brave post. One prayer of surrender. One decision to rise.
If you’re ready to set aligned financial goals, you can pair this with my post:
How to Start Your Empowerment Journey
6. Embrace Imperfection as a Spiritual Discipline and Part of the Process
Perfection is not excellence.
Perfection is fear wearing lipstick.
You don’t need flawless execution — you need faithful movement.
Launch with shaky hands.
Try while learning.
Move while trusting.
Let the first try be awkward. God blesses movement, not just mastery.
🧘🏽♀️ Reminder: You don’t have to get it right—you have to get it going.
7. Surrender Control (For Real This Time)
Let go. For real, this time. You are the vessel, not the architect.
When you release your obsession with outcomes, you make room for divine flow, divine alignment, and divine acceleration.
Let go with intention.
✝️ This is where faith becomes your strategy. Release the need to have it all figured out. Trust that your obedience will open doors no logic could predict.
Declaration:
“I release what I cannot control and make room for what God has already prepared.”
8. Surround Yourself with Faith-Filled, Future-Moving People
Your circle is your soil. Your environment becomes your evidence.
Sit with people who:
- Speak life over your ideas
- Pray with you, not just for you
- Stretch your faith, not your peace
- Celebrate your wins without competition
- Don’t compete with you
- Don’t fear your evolution
If you don’t have that yet, don’t worry. My community is here for you.
🌻 Need a tribe? Join my email list and the community at jamielondonclay.com — because we rise stronger together.
9. Create a Sacred Vision for Your Life
Write the vision and make it plain, Habakkuk 2:2, is not a suggestion — it’s a strategy.
Visualize the version of you who’s already free. What do you believe? How do you show up? What boundaries do you keep?
How do you speak?
How do you lead?
What boundaries do you keep?
Vision is not optional.
Vision is oxygen.
Write it.
Speak it.
Pray it.
Live it.
Break that vision into daily disciplines. Anchor it to your calendar, habits, and environment. Let your life start preaching what you’ve only dreamed about.
Let your vision become your boundary and your blueprint.
10. Celebrate Every Win — Even the Tiny Ones
Healing is not always loud. Sometimes, it looks like this:
- Saying no with courage.
- Resting without guilt or shame.
- Posting your truth online, even if your voice shakes.
- Leaving the wrong rooms
- Choosing yourself
- Starting again
Every win is evidence that you’re rising.
👏🏽 Celebrate that. Celebrate YOU. You’re not just growing — you’re blooming.
Living This in Real Life: My Personal Moment
After losing both my father and husband, life felt like a before-and-after timeline that I didn’t ask for.
Grief convinced me to hide.
Fear convinced me to shrink.
Perfectionism convinced me to delay my calling.
There were days I overthought everything.
Days I played small.
Days I let grief talk me out of greatness.
Days when rebuilding felt too heavy.
But here’s what shifted:
I realized the pain wasn’t holding me back — the fear of becoming a new version of me was.
When I embraced the unknown, rebuilt my brand, launched digital products, restarted my creative life, and reconnected with the calling on my life, something unlocked.
This work is personal for me. And now I teach others how to do the same.
Practical Whole-Person Integration
(What This Looks Like Day-to-Day)
Mind
Speak truth louder than fear.
Declarations. Affirmations.
Body
Move. Hydrate. Stretch. Walk.
Let your body feel safe.
Soul
Journal.
Worship.
Reconnect with joy.
Honor your boundaries.
Spirit
Pray for alignment, not perfection.
Trust divine timing.
Take spirit-led action.
Calling
Start the business.
Write the book.
Publish the blog.
Record the video.
Post the content.
Apply for the opportunity.
You can begin before you feel qualified.
You can start even if you feel scared.
You can rise — today.
This Is Your Permission Slip to Move
You’re not late.
You’re not waiting for more confirmation.
You’re not disqualified. Your past does not disqualify you.
You are not stuck—you’re sacred.
And sacred things deserve to move with power.
Everything you desire is on the other side of one bold, obedient, imperfect step.
So, here’s your reminder:
- You can begin before you’re confident.
- You can fail and still be favored.
- You can rise, rebuild, and reign—today.
Affirmation to Declare:
“I choose to rise. I choose to move. I choose to get out of my own way.”
✨Call to Action
✨ Download the Empowered Breakthrough Activation Journal
— your daily companion for clarity, courage, and confidence.
✨ Start your spiritually aligned business journey
with my favorite platform for beginners: Wealthy Affiliate — beginner-friendly, Kingdom-aligned tools.
✨ Join my newsletter community
for weekly soul-aligned empowerment.
✨ Subscribe to my YouTube channel
for prophetic clarity, whole-person growth, and The Jamie London Clay Show conversations.
You’re not just growing — you’re rising into your Kingdom identity.
And I’m honored to walk this journey with you.
Explore More Tools to Grow, Create, and Rise
Looking for more support on your journey? Here are resources to help you grow in clarity, confidence, creativity, and whole-person development — at your own pace, in your own way.
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