The phrase comes from a phenomenon that became fairly common during the First World War. Soldiers sometimes shot themselves in the foot in order to be sent to the hospital tent rather than being sent into battle. I even heard of people doing other self-harming things to avoid going into the military.

To do something without intending to which spoils a situation for yourself. To hurt inadvertently oneself or one’s interests or chances for success. This colloquial term alludes to an accidental shooting as opposed to a deliberate one.

Dr. Steven Stosny, Ph.D. says we shoot ourselves in the foot again and again. If it feels like you make the same mistakes over and over, you are not alone. Everyone on Earth is capable of repeating the same mistakes again and again.

We can repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot for one simple reason. Under stress we tend to retreat to habits of emotion regulation formed as far back as toddlerhood. Our thought processes become self-obsessed and our feelings veer toward the volatile, if not a full-blown rollercoaster. Let it go.

Sometimes we can figuratively shoot ourselves in the foot with misguided ambition. We speak too quickly when we should be listening. Or we take on a cause that is not necessarily our own but we are trying to help someone we view as an “underdog”. A simple fix, stop talking, close your mouth.

” James and John, two of Jesus’s disciples, knew what it meant to ambitiously seek something great, but for the wrong reasons. They replied, “let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus replied, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 19:28), so it is easy to see why they made this request.

The problem, they were selfishly seeking their own lofty position and power in Jesus’ glory. Jesus told them, you do not know what you are asking. Jesus said, “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” They could not.

When you know better, do better. The Apostle Paul said, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3). Be blessed.