If you have struggled with achieving your goals in the past, one of the reasons might be the obstacles that you experienced.

Obstacles are events that happen in life or factors out of your control that sort of stop you in your tracks and prevent you from traveling forward.

Sometimes these can be small events, and sometimes, they are so large that they seem unmanageable.

What matters is your attitude toward the obstacle and how you will face the challenge.

In his book on this topic, The Obstacle Is The Way, Ryan Holiday writes:

“We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.” 

Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

Anyone can overcome obstacles – you just need adopt a positive mental attitude to facing and overcoming them.

Sometimes the obstacle before you can even create a new opportunity.

How many times have you read, or seen on your local news, a story about someone who was faced with a diagnosis of incurable disease and, with the time they had left, went on to raise millions for research into that same illness?

These people faced a major life obstacle and turned it into something positive.

Now, I hope you are never faced with an obstacle of such magnitude, but chances are you and your business will hit obstacles along the way.

Perhaps you may lose a major customer depriving your business of the cash it needed to grow.

Or it is possible the government introduces a new law which impacts your profession, requiring you to change the way you have always worked, or invest in new tools.

The current global pandemic of COVID-19 has created major obstacles for all of us, yet, despite this, business owners are finding different ways to remain trading.

Some businesses, such as those making PPE products like hand-sanitiser and face masks, are experiencing massive growth because the COVID obstacle is actually an opportunity for their products to reach new markets.

For comprehensive learning on how to recognise, and overcome obstacles, I thoroughly recommend Ryan Holiday’s book.

For those who just want a basic introduction, here are 5 simple ways that you can overcome obstacles.

1. Take a Different Direction

When there is a stumbling block in your path, try to take a different direction, it may be a longer trip, but you will still reach your destination

In other words, if you are faced with a barrier in your path and you don’t see any way to move forward, try to think of a solution outside of the box.

Come up with something creative and you might find a way around the barrier. 

2. Think About The Obstacle From Someone Else’s Perspective

Think about this problem pretending to be someone else.

You might think of a solution that you would never have normally.

Imagine that you are someone else that has had a great deal of success in business.

What would they do if they were in that situation? 

3. Try to Think of a Way to Make the Obstacle Smaller Than it Currently Appears

For example, you might think that a problem is a huge, life-changing event that will prevent you from ever achieving your goals.

But if you think about it for a while, you might find that it’s not nearly as big as you thought it was. 

4. Take a Break and Let Your Subconscious Mind do the Work.

When you have a problem to overcome, and it is keeping you from the success you desire, consider just forgetting about it for a while.

Sometimes your subconscious mind can do its best work by itself, and long after you have moved on to a different task, your mind might pop up with the perfect solution. 

5. Turn the Problem to Your Advantage

You might think that something is a barrier keeping you from reaching your goals, but what if you could turn it around and make it actually work for you instead of blocking your path.

When you come upon problems, try to think of creative ways that you can make them actually get you closer to your goals instead of stopping you. 

Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople have only achieved their place in history by being able to face and overcome the obstacles in their way.

Often, their entire business empire was founded on the basic need to solve a major problem, not just for them but for society as a whole.

Facing and overcoming obstacles is one of the key success factors in the life of an entrepreneur.

Just know that when you next hit an obstacle in your business, you are among good company.

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