It is easy to understand how to set goals and why goals are important. One of the hardest parts of working towards a goal is finding the motivation to start. So, what happens when you set a goal, motivate yourself to start working towards the goal, and then run into an unforeseen obstacle that interferes with your success? Well, depending on the size/complexity of the obstacle, it could be a momentary distraction or something that completely derails your journey to meet the goal. Either way, obstacles to goals are very frustrating.
When you begin working towards a goal, there are typically some obstacles that you can anticipate. If your goal is to lose a significant amount of weight, there are a lot of small obstacles that are easy to foresee. Things like specific diets not working for your body type can really affect the timeline of meeting your goal. Similarly, if you are choosing to increase your exercise and activity level to meet your goal, injuries and dwindling motivation can impact your process. There are a million other small potential obstacles that could derail this specific goal. Everything from travel to an increased workload to a common cold can throw off your plans. With the goal of weight loss, a large portion of people end up failing primarily from a lack of motivation.
Because we can anticipate a lot of these small obstacles, we have the opportunity to plan ahead for what happens if/when these obstacles arise. If your goal is to graduate high school with a 4.0 GPA, an obvious obstacle would be a really hard course. A way to plan ahead would be to educate yourself on your school’s tutoring options. Once you find yourself starting to struggle in a hard course, you will already know how to get in touch with a tutor and get the help you need to succeed in the class.
The harder thing is when we encounter unforeseen obstacles. These obstacles can seemingly come out of nowhere and often catch us off guard. Obstacles of this nature can easily throw us off our plan to meet our goal because we could not have planned ahead for them. If we encounter a significant obstacle it can completely derail us. This can be incredibly disheartening, especially if we were close to achieving our goal. The key to overcoming obstacles of this nature is to practice patience and to look for other paths to your goal. The best thing to do when facing unforeseen obstacles is to try to maintain composure. It will be frustrating, but a lot of these obstacles have an expiration date. If you keep your eyes on the prize and stay focused, you will eventually be able to complete your goal. Determination and positivity can help you overcome the obstacles in your way.
Bria