What’s Stopping You?

We all have dreams and goals. And every single of those dreams and goals comes with obstacles.

If you have a dream or a goal and no obstacle between you and the finish line, and yet you have no achieve it, then that particular goal does not excites you enough to make yourself take action.

When you really want to achieve something, the simple idea of turning your dream into reality should produce a strong positive feeling. You may find yourself day dreaming about it often. And the only reason why you would not have achieved such goals is because the obstacles between your and where you want to be are just too big, or you might not be ready to tackle those obstacles. Maybe some other day.

Fulfilling, meaningful dreams and goals comes with obstacles, both of them are bound together. You will hardly encounter one without the other. If this is so common, why then the presence of obstacles can become so frightening or discouraging, to the point where we avoid taking any action towards our dreams

Fear Vs. Rational Thinking

Not to pursue our dreams and goals because of the obstacles we might encounter in our way is like being in a sinking boat and not to jump to the boat next to us because we fear we could drown. It’s not very rational, but fear has the power to override our rational thinking.

Some of the obstacles in our way might not even be real, but flawed beliefs or a wrong point of view of reality. And even when such obstacles are real, that should never be a reason to get frozen and avoid taking action.

Resources Vs. Resourcefulness

We often confuse lack of resources with lack of resourcefulness. We might not have the money to start a new business, we might not have the time to write a novel, we might not have the experience to apply to a raise. But all of that does not really matter. As long as we focus on the absences of resources (and doesn’t matter who or where you are, there will always be some kind of resource absent when pursuing a particular dream or goal) we will achieve nothing.

We must focus instead on our resourcefulness to find a way to achieve our goal or dream, despite the absence of resources.

You don’t have the money to start a new business? So what? Look for a partner, or become a partner on a staring business that needs your expertise, or start building your business online. The problem is not lack of money (resources), but lack of creativity (resourcefulness). Don’t worry about gathering resources, but to develop resourcefulness.

You don’t have time to write that novel? Sure you might have a busy schedule, but what about those 30 minutes at lunch? Maybe you could eat in 15 minutes and squeeze so time there. Maybe you could wake up 15 or 30 minutes early or go to bed 15 or 30 minutes later. You don’t need time, you need determination.

You don’t have the experience to apply for that raise, or to apply for another job? We are on the 21 century. The whole knowledge of the human race is at the distance of your fingers. Every day new stories about self-taught entrepreneur and professional are posted online. You don’t need experience, you need curiosity.

It Gets Better

The beautiful thing about resourcefulness is that as with any skill, the more we practice, the better we get.

Maybe it will feel hard and awkward to try to find a way around our obstacles, instead of smashing our heads against them, but soon you will realise that this approach is way more natural and effective that what we are used to.