Copyright 2005 Flaming Life Coaching INC.

Think back to a time in your life when you felt inspired and excited to make a significant change. Did you go for it or did your inner obstacles get in the way?

Your thoughts and beliefs are the foundation on which you build your success. You can't build a solid house on a foundation of clay and debris and the same truth holds for your success.

If your thoughts and beliefs are shaky, these obstacles will hold you back unless you eliminate them.

Sometimes it is our friends, colleagues and family members who sow the seed of doubts by trying to talk you out of changing your path. It is when you decide to make a better life for yourself that your decision will be met by all kinds of cautious warnings. All unsolicited under the guise of serious concern and well meaning.

People will say such things as "that sounds great, "but do you have any idea how much that will cost you or how long it'll take to get the kind of result you want?" Or, "And what will you do if it doesn't work out?" Or, "what will happen if . . .?" Downright to "you'd better stick to what you have now, at least you know what you've got".

Regardless the origin of these warnings, they only serve to increase your level of anxiety and self doubts. The best way to handle such opinions is to thank your friends for their concern. Turn deaf ears to their platitudes and decide to watch out for whom you share your ideas with in the near future.

Learning to handle obstacles is the best way to stand your ground and succeed. While running away only undermines your self esteem.

Nature presents you with these challenges in order to learn to weather the storm and grow stronger.

To succeed at overcoming obstacles you need to have the guts not to quit, but to see things through; to have the strong faith to believe more in yourself than in the obstacles and to have the willingness to do what it takes to turn the obstacles around.

This means, you need to stand up to your obtacles and firmly believe you can overcome them. When you attack your obstacles and do something about them, you'll find that they are not as threatening as they appeared to be at first.

Decide that you will not give up and if something has to give, it will have to be the obstacles and not you.

Standing up to your obstacles imparts you with a sense of accomplishment and reinforces the sense of your inner power. By developing a habit of facing resistance, you instill into your psyche a strong message of endurance and success. This strengthens the faith and the belief in yourself. Which helps remind you of the responsibility to yourself.

Sometimes you may have to resort to some other measures to overcome obstacles. If you can't get through the problem, try going around it, and if you can't go around it, try getting under it, and if you can't get under it, try going over it, and if you can't go over it, just dive straight into it.

Reflection:

Ask yourself if the obstacle can be ignored. Your fixation of the problem only renders it more cumbersome. If possible, stop paying attention to it.

Use humour or your wits to get around the obstacle. This helps to diffuse the tension around the issue.

Take the bull by the horn and confront the obstacle. Doing this might be challenging at first, particularly if you are not used to confrontation. Yet the more you do it, the easier it will become.

Action Point:

1.See obstacles as propeller to move you forward and use them wisely.

2. Repeat loudly as often as necessary to yourself : "I can overcome this, and I will".

3. Confront obstacles as habits of success and not of failure.

4. Develop the ability to overcome, bypass, or eliminate obstacles.

5. When difficult circumstances arise, have the confidence to take action. Don't allow other people to put obstacles in your path. Learn to overcome obstacles by standing up to them without complaining. Have the faith and strength to change your thoughts and beliefs that you can succeed and you will.