Tips For Overcoming Obstacles In Life
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“Stop for no one, I don’t know, but I’ve been told an obstacle that blocks your road to knock it over, time to go for that pot of gold!” – Eminem
We have all been there. Essentially at a stalemate with life. We reach a point that can be essentially a small obstacle, or the biggest obstacle of our lives.
You may be there right now, right?
If it is a big obstacle that is related to grief, check out this post I mad for you, if not, proceed on.
How To Overcome Grief (15 Helpful Tips That Work)
You may be at a point where you are wanting to throw in the towel. May it is an obstacle in a relationship, or you aren’t able to get that business going. Or it even has to do with your personal life.
Whatever it is, rest assured that I am here to see you through it. I have your back. I know you can breakthrough this obstacle. And come out stronger, more powerful, more efficient and more evolved than ever.
Before you give up, check out this list. I know it has what it takes to get you through this realm of the unknown.
As the quote goes,
“Challenges are what makes life interesting, overcoming them is what makes life meaninful.” – Joshua J. Marine
So lets learn how to overcome challenges in our lives, to make life meaningful as hell.
Venture with me.
13 Tips For How to Overcome Obstacles
#1 Gather Yourself (Mini-Isolation)
First things first, we need to be getting out of our own way. When we have an obstacle to overcome in life, we feel as if we are trapped in it. It essentially consumes us.
Look at the problem or challenge that faces you from an entirely different perspective. Almost like a neutral 3rd party.
Act as if it is someone else’s problem. That the only reason you are looking at it is to give advice to a friend on how to get through it.
This will take the emotion out of the equation. As emotion can cloud our judgement.
Often times you will get answers to what you need to do to overcome obstacles simply by stepping out of the actual obstacle.
#2 Recruit Help
At the end of the day, one of the best ways to reaching the goals you want in this life are to list who you need help from. No matter what obstacle you are up against right now, there are people you can use for leverage.
Take a look at your obstacle and list out people you can call, text, reach out on social media or show up at their doorstep.
Drop your ego and enlist a person, people or group that can help you blow through your obstacle.
This is by far one of the fastest ways to overcoming obstacles.
#3 New Life, New You
In order to do something you have never done, you need to become someone you have never been. For example, my real estate business wasn’t doing all that good. I was challenged to up my cold calls. I was doing around 20 contacts a day. Actually talking to real live potential prospects.
I upped it to 100 one day. I became someone new. And now when I cold call, I am barely getting started after talking to 20 people. My old norm is now essentially the bottom of my potential now. Once your mind is stretched to new dimensions, it really doesn’t go back.
What seems hard to you now, will one day seem like a walk in the park.
Ask yourself, who do you need to become to blow through your obstacle? What YOU would be able to become unstoppable?
Maybe it is a book you need to read. A sermon you need to listen. A course you need to take. What will get you to the next level?
If you don’t know, do something that you have never done before in an entirely different realm of the breakthrough you are trying to have.
For example, let’s say that you want to breakthrough into a new income bracket for the work that you do. Go to the gym and lift something heavier than you ever have before.
Everything in this life is connected. If you change one area of your life, the others follow suit.
This is why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Everything affects everything. And once we really internalize this fact about life, we can use it to our advantage.
Get some really good momentum, and you will notice areas in your life shifting positively that you weren’t even devoting much effort to.
#4 Reframe The Way You See Your Obstacle
An obstacle is only that if you see it that way. Instead of seeing it as an obstacle, see it as a challenge or a hiccup or hinderance.
Simply put, the word obstacle has some strong fire power. It feels hard to deal with when looking at it as an obstacle.
View it in terms that makes it feel smaller and more manageable. There are power in words. Use them to your benefit.
Bully your obstacle into feeling small and minute, and soon it will become just that. More of a speed bump than an obstacle.
Here are even more synonyms for the word obstacle to help you: Obstacle Synonyms
#5 Begin With The End In Mind (2nd Habit to Highly Successful People)
Author Stephen Covey popularized this tip for looking at life and its challenges. What do you want out of life? Whatever it is, see it as already being done.
This goes for each day, task and project. Start with a clear destination and that way you can have a more desired direction you can work towards and look forward to.
You can also retrace your steps back to your initial desire. Essentially you fill in the gap between your end goal and where you are right NOW.
You can tap into a different and creative part of your mind by asking the following question:
“If I knew what to do to breakthrough this obstacle, what would it be?”
This really activates that thinking center of your mind. You have genius in you and this is part of that genius. You will essentially mentor yourself to the finish line.
These answers will allow you to essentially fill in that gap of seeing yourself as already breaking through the obstacle, to where you are now.
#6 What Will Life Look Like If You Give Up (Power of the Negative)
Sometimes the uphill climb can look to treacherous. It can seem like the altitude is too high. That the climb is imply too dangerous.
And yet, take an honest look at your life and the way it would look if you don’t overcome your obstacle.
Who would suffer because of it, other than you? How would your self esteem look like if you gave up? Would it be a regret on your deathbed?
Sometimes it is good to look at the positives and the upbeat ways of overcoming tough spots in life. But it can be even more powerful to turn the negative on itself.
Just take a couple minutes and ask yourself what would happen if you didn’t keep pushing.
#7 Reasons You Want To Overcome This (Should Into Must)
We need firepower. As much as we can to overcome obstacles in our life. Have you ever heard it said that if we have a strong enough WHY we can endure almost any HOW? This came from a man that survived the Holocaust. Viktor Frankl.
He had massive reasons behind making it out of the Holocaust. Of seeing his family and living out his dreams. They were so powerful that they made him keep pushing when others gave up.
List 25, yes 25 different reasons why you MUST overcome the obstacle in your life.
The more the better. As who do you think will be more unstoppable? The person with a couple reasons or the person with a couple dozen reasons?
Also, last but most important, don’t see this obstacle as something you SHOULD overcome. Simply make it into something you MUST overcome. as Tony Robbins says, when you should’s become must’s, that is how life transformation is done.
#8 Turn Rejection Into Redirection
Make NO your vitamin. Every NO you get is getting you one step closer to that YES. Instead of seeing NO as a bad thing, look at it differently. Look at it in a way that essentially says that a NO is worth something to you.
For example if you are hitting an obstacle in which you are interviewing for jobs, but you haven’t gotten one. Lets just say you have gone on 3 interviews and haven’t received an offer. Let’s just say for examples purposes, you need to go on 8 to get the position you desire.
Than every rejection in a job interview is getting you 0.125% closer to getting a job for yourself.
When we reframe failure differently, we almost get excited about it. Say to that employer that rejected you, thank you for my 0.125 percent and happily move onto the next.
#9 One Step At A Time
When we are faced with obstacles, the best thing to do is to simply pick one thing per day that will help you have a breakthrough.
Ask yourself this question:
“If there was only ONE thing in the world that would help me get through the obstacle, what would that be?”
Go deep with this question. Write out 5 potential things and keep asking this question, taking one and then another off the list until you are left with your ONE thing.
#10 Take Full Responsibility
At some point I have to be the bad guy. But lets call a spade a spade. You cannot change your situation in life from a victim standpoint.
Taking full responsibility for your life and for your obstacle will bring you empowerment.
And what better place to make a change than from a self-empowered point of view? Beats victimhood every time.
It is easy to find yourself in a woe-is-me state when confronted with obstacles.
But like playing sports, the YOU that shows up dictates how you play. I mean we have seen great players show up having off days. Because of something going on off the field.
The same is true with you. You are a phenomenal player. A winner. And yet maybe you are just showing up to the field not ready to play.
Take responsibility for your obstacle. You got yourself there you can get yourself out. Plain and simple. Instantly you will feel bigger than the problem. And be able to tackle it that much more effectively.
#11 Like Attracts Like
If you are going through a big obstacle in your life, it is likely that someone else is going through it. And if they’re mindset around their obstacle is negative, that is going to bleed out on you. And vice versa. A downhill negative, self-fulfilling spiral.
Temporarily, remove yourself from this person. Until you get through the obstacle. No one can be the rock when two people are going through it. Even if this person was your anchor in the past, now is not the time.
When you come through victorious, then you can integrate that person back into your life.
#12 Use Gratitude
Up to now, this term has become overused. And yet gratitude is the most powerful emotion known to man.
We need to interrupt our pattern. We need to get ourselves into a much better state to tackle our problem. This is sort of an extension of Rule #10.
When you give gratitude for something, you cannot feel like you are stuck. The feeling of being in the middle of an obstacle disappears.
So moving forward, as soon as you feel overwhelmed by the obstacle, give gratitude for something. Try even this, be grateful that you will be a much better version of yourself when you come out at the end of the tunnel, victorious.
The point is, find something to be grateful for and about. And you will find that once you think of one thing, another will come up and another. Until you have rattled off a dozen or so things that you are grateful for.
It will make your problem look so much smaller than before. As you have raised your level of conscious. Going from a place of insecurity, to full security and courage.
#13 Double Down On Your Strengths
When we are going through an obstacle, it is very easy to focus on the things that we aren’t good at. The things that we are weak at. And naturally we blame ourselves for not being good at them. Thinking if we were good at them, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Often times we are too busy playing defense on our weakness, that we forget to play offense with our strengths.
Only focus on what you are good at during this time. Figure out how you can use your unique strengths to blow through your obstacle. Maybe it will take one strength, maybe them all.
The main thing here is to remember to not focus any energy at all on your weakness and how they are keeping you from breaking through.
BONUS! #14 See Things As They Are
When we see things worse than how they actually are, we get depressed. When we see them better than they are, we are in denial and don’t take proper action.
So when you are going through obstacles, refrain from doing either of these things. Truly look at the problem as it is. No worse, no better.
Also, see it as something that WILL be overcome. No fatalist mentality here. Look at it as something that will be in your rearview mirror soon.
Because when we see it as something that will never end, we give up too early. We feel as if it will “last forever”.
Simply see it as a roadblock, that you will turn into a stepping stone. It may take creative energy, drive and persistence. And yet you will bring those all to the table, at full force. As you know it is only a temporary inconvenience.
Conclusion To Overcoming Obstacles
So there it is my friend. A list of sure fired ways to get over obstacles in this life. To essentially obliterate anything in your way.
And the most beautiful part about overcoming obstacles is the fact that WHEN you do, not IF, the next obstacle will become easier to manhandle.
You will literally transform yourself into a stronger and better and more resilient version of yourself. A person that will be easily able to cope this the low points in life. And not only cope, but thrive. As life isn’t just for surviving, it is for thriving.
All the best my friend. I hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know your advice on the topic. Along with if you have any good tips you use for overcoming obstacles that I left out. To help us all master this earthly realm.
With gratitude,
Chris
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