Obstacles are a natural part of life. Sometimes they can be small and insignificant, but other times they can be so big that it feels like there is no way to get past them.
We all want to accomplish our goals. But sometimes we find ourselves unable to move forward because of obstacles in the way.
To overcome these obstacles, we need to know what they are and how we can overcome them.
Planning for Obstacles is Essential to Success
No plan is perfect, even the plan you’ve created to reach your goals. Even if you did create such a plan, it wouldn’t last long once you implemented it. Why is that? Because nothing goes according to plan in the real world.
Sure, you can make your dreams come true if you keep working at it, but there will be problems and “bumps in the road” along the way. Obstacles arise, rules and laws change, accidents happen, even the weather might not cooperate on the day of an important event.
These bumps are inevitable. That makes planning for them essential. Why? Because if you don’t plan for them, you might be blindsided when they happen. That can lead you to have a breakdown and even quit because you feel like a failure. This happens to people all the time.
If you don’t want to be one of them, you have to plan for these problems and how to deal with them. Pull out your plan and look through it line by line. What can go wrong in each section? What is likely to go wrong and where?
A Simple Risk Analysis Activity
Don’t just think about these things in your head. Pull out a sheet of paper and write them down. Make a list of everything you can think of that might go wrong, and where in the plan it might happen. Then go down the list and decide how you will handle each item. This is called a risk analysis and is key to the success of many endeavors.
Will you have listed every possible “bump in the road” that might happen when you’ve finished this exercise? Of course not. That’s impossible. But you’ll have the majority of them listed and planned for, which will make a big difference in your response when something unexpected happens, whether it’s on the list.
What makes the biggest difference? Your attitude and mindset. If you know something can, but will go wrong at some point, you’ll be ready to deal with it and much less likely to freak out or break down. Knowing you can handle it will help you stay calm.
Keeping a good attitude will help you respond appropriately to whatever the “bump” happens to be, and get you back on track faster. It’ll make you much more likely to continue to go down the road towards making your dreams come true.
How to Use Self-Talk To Combat Obstacles on the Way To Your Goal
Self-talk is a powerful way to boost your confidence and keep you on track when you are pursuing your goals.
Self-talk is a powerful way to boost your confidence and keep you on track when you are pursuing your goals. There are several ways to use self-talk to stay motivated. Some of the most common methods include positive self-talk, motivational self-talk, and negative self talk.
Positive self-talk is a great way to build up your confidence and remind yourself of all the reasons why you want to achieve a certain goal or overcome an obstacle in life. Motivational self-talk can be used as a reminder that we have what it takes to get through tough times, while negative self talk can be used as motivation for overcoming obstacles, because it will help you work towards a goal.
Self-talk is a big part of any success story. It can be used in many ways, from something as simple as saying “I’m doing great!” to more complex ideas like “What am I grateful for?” or “This moment will make me stronger.”
Michelle D. Garrett is the founder of Divas With A Purpose.
She focuses on sharing resources for being purposely productive; setting personal and professional goals and achieving them through daily action; and successfully running a business while focusing on your mental health. Michelle is a full-time entrepreneur who specializes in teaching female entrepreneurs how to show up consistently in their business – online and off.
Tamara says
My husband is a big fan of Murphy’s Law.
As for me I refuse to use too much my time and energy to think about what might go wrong. Sure, you need a basic plan B, but I’d rather push forward with optimism. So far things have been going well for me that way.
Martha says
I enjoyed reading your blog, especially the self-talk to overcome and boost confidence.
Dr.Amrita says
Risk analysis does help I finding out opportunity costs very effectively. Interesting post.Struggles though troublesome have a way of making us stronger