Overcoming Obstacles to Achieving Your Goals
We’ve all been there. You know how it is. We set realistic goals that will move us forward on our path of purpose then we are overcome by obstacles when we try to achieve them.
We have the best intentions of getting great things done. Then, out of the blue, something comes along that keeps us from achieving them.
I’ve had two events occur over the past few days that demonstrate this perfectly. On one occasion, I was able to move past the obstacles in my way and actually made progress on a goal.
Another time I allowed my obstacles to stand in my way, therefore I hindered my progress on a goal.
Let me share these two events.
One of my current goals is to participate in another 1/2 marathon in March. I have a plan that will guide me in building up my walking mileage over the course of the next 12 weeks. Saturday, since we were experiencing a mild winter day, I decided I needed to go ahead and get out and start walking.
I got up that morning all pumped about getting started when I realized I had not charged my Garmin watch that would track my miles and time. Not to be deterred, I quickly downloaded an app on my phone to take it’s place. However, once I got it going and started walking I noticed that the app was not tracking my distance. I had to stop and find the setting that would allow it to track my distance. After I figured that out, I realized I forgot my sunglasses, and it was extremely bright outside.
Being set back by all these little obstacles just to get out and go on a 2 mile walk could have easily discouraged me and made me want to give up. But, I decided that I had to press on and work around the obstacles so I would set myself up for success in training for the 1/2 marathon. Thankfully I got going and was able to complete my miles.
The very next day, however, was a different story. I have tried so hard to be consistent with posting on this blog. Many times I’ve actually been able to write ahead and be prepared so I wouldn’t have to scramble the day before to write something.
Well, I let some other commitments and unexpected events get in the way of being prepared for Monday morning’s post. I planned to spend some time on Sunday working on it, but I just couldn’t make myself go to the computer to write. I was really in a funky and tired mood that day. So, the result was there was no post on Monday.
I let the obstacles of too many other commitments and other events as well as being tired distract me from achieving my goal of consistent posting.
So, what did I learn from these events?
1. Be Prepared.
When you have goals you want to achieve, you must always be prepared. They will not happen on their own. You’ve got to have a plan, and part of that plan is to be prepared for whatever may come up to keep you from achieving your goal.
I should have been prepared for walking by making sure I had all I needed the night before. If I had done this, I would have noticed my watch needed to be charged and could have taken care of it. I would have set out my sunglasses so I wouldn’t forget them.
2. Stay Focused.
Last week when my schedule got crazy, I could have set aside time to make sure I was able to write and stay on schedule with my blog posts. I let too many distractions keep me from focusing on my goal.
3. Don’t Give Up.
It’s easy to give up on your goals when you are confronted with obstacles. I could have easily used my one day of not blogging as an excuse not to write for the rest of the year. However, here I am today moving forward on that goal of consistent posting.
How do you overcome obstacles to achieving your goals?