How To Stop Getting In Your Own Way

Have you ever heard the monkey trap story? There are many versions, but the gist of it goes like this:

To trap a monkey, hunters put a banana at the bottom of a glass jar. The jar's opening is only slightly bigger than the monkey's hand. So when the monkey sees the canister, he can reach inside and grab the treat easily. But when the monkey tries to pull his hand out, he can't. With the banana in the monkey's grasp, the jar's opening is too small to allow his fist to pass through.

At this point, the monkey has two choices - drop the treat and take his hand out or hold on and remain trapped. In the end, the monkey gives up his freedom to keep holding the banana. Now the hunters can swoop in and catch their prey.

The implications of the monkey trap story are clear. Although a monkey's brain can't recognize it, humans understand that holding on to things that no longer serve us is detrimental to our future. To attain what we truly desire, we have to be willing to let go of our past attachme…