We all have goals that we want to achieve. Whether it is personal or professional, it is these very goals that get us out of bed in the morning and keep us motivated to push ourselves harder.
However, sometimes, working towards our goals can get very frustrating – especially if we feel like we aren’t on the right track or are being hindered by constant obstacles.
Perhaps, if we are aware of these obstacles, we will be able to overcome the same and take a step closer towards our goals.
In this article, you will learn about the 2 crucial obstacles to overcome in order to be able to reach your goals:
Obstacle 1: Impatience
Big results take a long time to achieve. When you hear success stories – Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg etc., it may seem like they have achieved everything overnight.
This is because struggle stories are not exciting – success stories are. Therefore, in pop-media, we often don’t hear about all the struggles and hardships one has gone through before achieving their success.
However, the reality is very different. Often, the case is that prior to their success, they’ve put in years of effort, had numerous failures, and have made countless sacrifices to achieve what they have now.
For example, Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple, dropped out of Oregon’s Reed College after one semester. When he died, his net worth was $8.3 billion.
Walt Disney was fired from a Missouri newspaper for “not being creative enough.” His empire – Walt Disney – ended up winning 59 Academy Awards.
Oprah Winfrey, the host of the infamous American talk show, was told by her first boss that she was too emotional and not right for television.
Such stores are inspirations for us to keep going. Knowing and accepting that it takes years and years of effort to reach a certain level of mastery, itself, will bring about a liberating mind-set about your struggles and failures.
“The teacher has failed more times than the student has even tried.” – Jay Shetty
‘The chances of you winning the lottery is about the same as being struck by lightning.’ Achieving success through short-cuts is probably as hard as winning a lottery. So, do not look for short-cuts that lead you to success.
Big results take a long time to achieve – and there is simply no way around this.
Impatience also means that we give up too quickly. One of the biggest reasons why 9 out of 10 start-ups fail is that they give up on their idea just before it is about to take-off.
Yet another downfall of being impatient is that we end up thinking with a short-term perspective.
In the olden times, this was beneficial. Life was filled with uncertainty, danger and epidemics – during such an era, it was beneficial to have quick and short-sighted thinking.
However, times have changed now. We live in a much safer environment in terms of medical care and physical danger. Yet, we have been programmed to live in the ancient world that was full of uncertainty.
This is precisely why we wish to have success and achieve things as fast as possible. Instant gratification all we seek.
But as we discussed before, success does not happen overnight. Therefore, if we can overcome our impatience and short-sighted thinking, we have already removed one obstacle to achieving our goals.
Obstacle 2: Incorrect Goal Setting
Try this small exercise:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Fast forward your life 15-20 years from where you are.
3. Ask yourself, “Is that where I want to be?”
If that is not where you want to be, you are setting for yourself incorrect goals.
Explore your curiosity, invest in what interests you, and follow what intrigues you. This can help you figure out who you are. Only when you do this, will you be able to understand who you want to be.
Once this is done, you will be quipped to set appropriate goals.
For example, if you set overly ambitious goals, it wouldn’t quite motivate you because, deep down, you know that it is simply impractical.
Similarly, if you set realistic & easy goals, it will not motivate you to work harder, push yourself and overcome challenges.
Therefore, understanding yourself and setting appropriate goals that truly excite and connect with you on a personal level can boost your chances of success.
Many of us are facing setbacks in our everyday life. Eventually we tend to get tired, emotionally drained, frustrated and unmotivated.
If you have been unsuccessful in the past, please don’t think that the barrier still exists.
You can now observe whether you are facing the same roadblocks in your life. Know that they are common and simply a part of the process. Face them. Process them. Ultimately, overcome them.
When you do this, there will be nothing stopping you from achieving your goals.
About the Author
Igor Smirnov is a Psychologist, blogger, Chess Grandmaster, Internet entrepreneur. Igor is the founder of KeyToVictory – popular blog about self-improvement. He shares ideas, strategies and inspiration in order to turn your dreams into reality.
