Having goals will help you achieve the life you want. Some of life’s most satisfying experiences are those that involve staying focused on a goal until you achieve it. Yet you’ll likely experience times when, no matter how hard you try, you’re frustrated by obstacles blocking the way.
Obstacles come in all shapes and sizes.
Here are some typical blocks to goal achievement:
1. Lack of creativity. You might have your own struggles determining how to best work toward attaining what you want. Perhaps you’ve run out of ideas to make it happen. Creativity is a key component to long-term success, and creativity is a skill that can be built over time.
For instance, many years ago I worked in a sales role where the sales team received leads that contained information that was often inaccurate. While teammates remained frustrated and helpless in contacting these leads, I took it upon myself to find ways to contact these leads via social media. Some of these leads that others perceived as a waste of time turned into sales for me.
2. Negative thinking. We’ve all been plagued by negative thinking. You feel you’re just not going to be able to achieve your goals. You turn on the news at any given time today and you’re bombarded with headlines that can easily turn into stinking thinking. Negative thinking is a potent block, because once it begins, it tends to escalate and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. Lagging confidence. Following closely on the heels of negative thinking, a lack of confidence is the bane of goal achievement. You begin to seriously question your skills and abilities to complete the work required to reach your goal. The other side of the same coin is that oftentimes a lack of self-confidence is outwardly projected onto the job, employer, or the manager. Rarely do you hear, “I just don’t think I can do this”, but rather “why don’t they (employer/manager/supervisor/department) provide me the tools for me to succeed?”.
4. Focus follies. Who among us can claim we’ve never lost our way on the path toward our dream job scenario? We want to reach that milestone but we keep getting thwarted by distractions. How can you work on an important project when your wife keeps asking you why you aren’t painting the house or spending time with the kids? A lack of prioritization, procrastination, and discipline all lead to situations that become distractions and cause barriers to remaining focused.
5. Refusing to put in effort. It goes without saying that every goal requires you to work and persevere to reach success. Life owes you nothing. Period.
6. Time traps. Making your way toward goals is challenging enough without having the irritation of not enough time to do it. You either manage your time, or time manages you. There are a lot of time management strategies and techniques available. Some I’ve written about previously. A lack of time is rarely the root cause of missing a target, it usually comes back to a lack of time management. No one has more than 24 hours in a day.
7. Vague aspirations. If you’re unsure about what you really want, it’s a challenge to continue toward your goals. Vague aspirations equal unmet goals. Too many resources are wasted on individuals who don’t take the time to write out their goals and can articulate them clearly and concisely.
Navigating Obstacles
Now that you have a good idea of blocks you might encounter on your way to goal achievement, review the suggestions below (corresponding to above-numbered items) to determine how to best avoid them.
1. Take responsibility to keep creativity going. Draw pictures of what you hope to achieve. Make a storyboard of your plan of action. Design a vision board of what your goal pathway looks like and include how your life will differ after achieving your goal.
2. Arrest negative thoughts. As soon as they creep in, think, “Stop it now” and mean it. Then, replace that negativity with an “I will persevere and achieve” message. Tell yourself, “I can and will do it.”
3. Review past achievements. Give yourself props for goals you’ve achieved before. What were those goals? Use these reminder techniques to find and connect with your confidence. Anytime you feel that you need a dose of positivity, or a simple reminder of why you do what you do, reach out to a customer you’ve worked with successfully in the past.
4. Commit to goals. Remind yourself daily about why you want to reach a particular goal. Perhaps you’ll earn more money, get a better job, live in a place you prefer, or protect your family’s future. Stay the course by re-committing to goals each morning.
5. Work. Along with committing wholeheartedly to goals, you’ve got to put in the work. Tell yourself your effort will, in the end, be worth it.
6. Use your schedule. No matter what your goal, consistently schedule the time to work toward it. If you don’t keep a calendar now, start. Look at your entire week or month and what’s scheduled with a quick glance. Write in when you’ll work toward goals. What gets measured gets managed. If you are not measuring your available time and planning accordingly, you’ll begin to miss key opportunities.
7. Clarify goals. Write them and place copies everywhere inside your house, car, office, and calendar. When you’re sure about what you want, then you can diligently work toward those goals.
There will be obstacles to block the path toward your goals. But if you can identify the sources of the blocks, you can develop solutions or use these time-tested strategies to navigate those obstacles and claim your success.
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear”
Ambrose Redmoon
If you’d like a FREE Action Guide on how to begin building a strong foundation to overcoming trying situations simply leave a comment below and I’ll send you the download link!
Catalyst Consulting 