“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can.
If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you;
But if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.”
Orison Swett Marden
Question: Have you ever heard the expression “the long pole in the tent?”
Do you know what that means?
The long pole in the tent is the pole that holds everything up.
So why does that matter to you? It’s a metaphor
If you aren’t making progress on your goals, if you aren’t getting what you want out of your life – you can usually isolate it to the “long pole” obstacle that’s holding everything up.
So I want you to think very hard and ask yourself – what one specific thing is holding me back?
Typically, it’s something you’re either unsure of how to overcome, something you’re afraid of – or something that is just plain unpleasant.
Got one in mind? Good.
Let me show you first the strategies that won’t work to overcome this obstacle – and then the simple process I use for overcoming obstacles in my life.
Strategies That Typically Fail
- Dancing around the issue. When clients are avoiding an issue, I can tell. They’ll continue to research it, bury themselves in other metawork, or just talk about how stressful it is – but don’t actually take any action on it.
- Waiting For It To Pass. Sitting around and hoping things will change or suddenly take care of themselves is not a prodcutive strategy. Remember: You Are The Something You Have Been Waiting For.
- Pretending It’s Not There. You can pretend an obstacle isn’t there – but that’s not going to make it go away. You can choose to either bury your head in the sand, or avoid thinking about it – or you can choose to overcome it. If you’re ready to overcome it – I’ll show you how. Read on.
How To Overcome Obstacles
Instead, to overcome obstacles there are really only three steps:
- Honestly Identify The Obstacle. Too often in life we pretend obstacles are not there, or are in denial that it’s holding us back. There is no point in hiding from the truth in your own life. Nobody else will overcome an obstacle for you, and nobody cares as much about overcoming obstacles and accomplishing your goals as you do. So the first thing you need to do is see the obstacle. Write it Down.
- Focus on it. Don’t dance around it, don’t work on activities that will eventually lead to you being stuck on the same obstacle anyway. Focus on the single long pole that is holding up your progress.
- Get Through Ut. Don’t wait. Don’t make excuses. Get there today. If you don’t know how to overcome your obstacle, ask someone, get training, or pay for advice. Sometimes it’s as easy as paying someone to do it for you.
The ability to stay on task, and overcome the obstacles rather than running from them is what separates people who accomplish great things from everyone else.
You can’t just do the metawork.
You can’t ignore, avoid, or pretend obstacles aren’t there.
You must overcome them – and it’s only by embracing the important challenges that you’l get what you want in your life.
These obstacles are what will actually determine whether what you’re working on matters to you – and ultimately, whether you fail or succeed.