No matter how carefully you plan your steps or how diligently you create goals, obstacles will always come before you. Even if you decide to play it safe, eventually you will be faced with difficulty. Whether it is a difficult conversation that you are avoiding or a setback to what you had planned, it will come. Your first step in overcoming obstacles can be your most important.
How often you overcome these obstacles greatly increases if you focus on this first step.
What is that first step in overcoming obstacles?
Taking it as soon as possible.
The other day my sons came back from school and I noticed that my youngest son had grass stains on his pants. Normally, my kids undress and put their clothes in the hamper. When I noticed the stain, I asked my son to give me his pants and I began to treat the stain with a spot remover. I could have waited until laundry day but I knew that the longer a stain remains, the harder it is to remove.
When you are faced with a hardship, you have many choices:
- Wait it out
- Ignore it
- Push it to a later date
Or,
Begin a plan to overcome it right away.
Just like a stain, the longer you wait, the harder it will be to confront it.
Think of a difficult conversation you avoided. You told yourself that you would have it at a later date. Then, the longer you waited, the more you thought about it and the more difficult it became to have that conversation. You may even have given up having it all together thinking to yourself, “It’s no point now, it’s been too long”.
Only, it doesn’t go away. It just gets built up only to become twice as complicated the next time you are faced with the same obstacle.
Instead, stay focused on what you need to do to solve your problem. Confronting it earlier than later will make the obstacle seem less overwhelming. Learn from what didn’t work and use it to find new ways to approach the problem the next time.
What have you been avoiding lately? What have you not been able to overcome?
Our lives can get pretty hectic and it can be easy to get lost in our actions. When we are so focused on what is ahead, we forget to pause, reflect and find ways to energize our minds. These 5-minute motivation posts are meant to give you that recharge. The goal is to give you a 5-minute Vitamin for your mind through quotes, posts and videos. It is also meant to challenge your thinking and inspire you to take action.
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