Your obstacle is a gift…

“Smile at the obstacle, for it is a bridge.”

Medusa

One of the books that I reread regularly is “The Obstacle Is The Way” by Ryan Holiday. I love seeing how people we now hold in high regard had challenges and roadblocks in their lives that would have stopped the average person in their tracks. However, as you read their stories and understand the obstacles they faced, you learn that in many cases, it was the obstacle itself that provided them the opportunity to become the person we now esteem.  

The obstacle you face is the gift; it is the moment of opportunity you have been waiting for. What are you going to do with it?

Are you pushing hard enough?

“I’ve always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way, and you’ve got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles en route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish.”

Chuck Norris

Is it worth achieving if you don’t have obstacles? If it is easy, anyone will do it. Anyone could do it. So perhaps the real question is this. Are you pushing hard enough to find the obstacles? If not, push harder…

Sometimes the wall isn’t the obstacle after all…

“If you can’t go one way, there’s many ways to get where you’re going. So you just take a step back and see beyond the wall.”

Cyndi Lauper

The challenge with being goal-oriented is that you can become so fixated on a particular goal that you forget to check and see if the destination you are focused on is still the right one. Sometimes you need to step back on purpose, to check and make sure. It’s amazing what you can find out when you take the time to assess the situation. Perhaps it’s not a wall at all…

Change much?

“People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete … the things that once were productive and no longer are.”

Peter Drucker

Change can be really hard. In some ways it is so much better when it is forced upon you and there isn’t an option to remain the same.

The best part about forced change is that it frees you to truly grow and when you aren’t encumbered by the past you can embrace an entirely new future.

How can you develop an attitude of becoming intentionally obsolete?

Relentless growth…

“Goals live on the other side of obstacles and challenges. Be relentless in pursuit of those goals, especially in the face of obstacles. Along the way, make no excuses and place no blame.”

Ray Bourque

I see relentless growth as having to keys for success. First, if one can set the right goals, then those goals will inspire the effort required to bring them to fruition. Second, living life in an authentic manner without judgement, excuses or blame enables you to learn from failure and achieve those more difficult and inspiring goals. Becoming the person we were meant to be requires both.

A goal that is chosen because it is likely to be free of obstacles or challenges isn’t truly a goal. It is a choice for the easy path, to go along through life simply existing. Goals need to be hard enough, to be inspiring enough, to be powerful enough to stir your soul and make any obstacle or challenge that happens to come up worth the effort to persevere. If you have goals like that, then being relentless is simply a result of the power of a well-crafted goal.

And when you fail, and we all will inevitably fail, be candid and honest with yourself about that failure. Don’t condemn yourself, or others, and don’t justify the failure. Simply look at it through the lens of learning and growth so that the next goal has an even higher likelihood of success.

Success over the long-term requires both of these traits, and they are synergistic. Do your goals measure up? Are you learning from failure? If not, dig deeper…

Stronger through overcoming…

“A challenge only becomes an obstacle when you bow to it.”

Ray Davis

I don’t see a huge difference between a challenge and an obstacle. In my mind obstacles are just harder versions of challenges. They can still be overcome.

Sometimes we need some of the challenges in our lives to become obstacles just so we can learn how much we really want something. It is recognizing the obstacle and figuring out a way to go “over, under, around or through” that builds the resilience and strength we need when the real challenges of life present themselves. I can’t think of a single challenge I have had in my life that hasn’t served to make me stronger in some way.

What is the lesson in the challenge?

“I’ve always found that anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way and you’ve got to have that drive and determination to overcome those obstacles on route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish.”

Chuck Norris

If it is easy to achieve is it worthy of your efforts? Doing what is “easy” doesn’t strengthen and build a platform for long-term success. I have learned far more in life from the obstacles and challenges along the way than I have from any “accomplishments.” Well, that’s not entirely true. I have learned a great deal from accomplishments that occurred AFTER I had to overcome a challenge along the way. Those were the ones that reformed who I am as a person and have helped me grow and learn. While I might have wished to avoid the obstacle if given a choice I can’t think of a single one where I don’t appreciate the lesson it taught me.

Having drive and determination to overcome challenges is critical. Equally important is taking the time to reflect on what it is you were supposed to learn from the challenge so you can improve and grow.

What is the lesson you are supposed to be learning from the challenge before you right now?

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dusty

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