Overcoming Barriers to Success …What Laws Teach Us
How do you overcome a barrier? By first identifying what the true barrier is. Else the situation continues to be similar to someone rowing a boat, but yet remaining stationary.
Take for example, you may have tried your hand at many business ventures, but no luck; you keep applying for jobs, one application after the other but still no luck; or perhaps you continuously find yourself in the same type of destructive relationship again and again?
Before you can move forward, you need to identify what the true barrier is. Note the use of the word ‘true’, which is about identifying the root cause to why you are not getting the job, your business ventures are not working out, your relationships keep failing, or why you’re producing the same negative results every time.
The process and benefits of identifying what barriers may be stopping you from moving forward is succinctly illustrated in The 15 Invaluable Laws of Personal Growth by John C. Maxwell. The Law of Awareness states “You Must Know Yourself To Grow Yourself”, and not only do you need to know yourself, you “Must See Value In Yourself and Add Value To Yourself” as described in the Law of the Mirror.
While facilitating a recent Mastermind group on the 15 Invaluable Laws Growth, some of the barriers identified by participants included; fear of failure, comparing self to others, and procrastination. Many barriers that can be identified as holding us back from success also include; lack of knowledge, communication skills, limited resources, low self-esteem, health issues, the economy, family and friends, environment etc. and the list goes on.
To identify our specific barriers or limitations, we need to apply the Law of Reflection by taking a step back to pause and determine what the root cause may be. You can do this individually or with the help of an outside party such a respected peer, mentor, coach or friend to provide guidance. An example of a barrier when it comes to finding a job, could be a simple case of someone having a lot of experience, but because they are unable to articulate themselves effectively in their resume, they are not getting call backs for interviews. I have seen this happen several times as a hiring manager; I spend less than a minute first browsing a resume, and if it does not immediately grab my attention, I move to the next one in the pile.
There is a popular quote that says “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. For change to come, we have to be prepared to take a different action to identify and overcome the barriers that are keeping us from moving forward.
Upon identifying the barriers as stated above with my Mastermind participants, we were then able to come up with practical action plans to help them move forward successfully. My favourite recipe for overcoming barriers includes an intentional reflection of where we are; a generous serving of self-belief; a big dollop of persistence; a dash of fearlessness; and the ability to turn barriers into bridges.
Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC is a great example of someone who overcame rejection, poverty and family adversity to create a world renowned brand. At the age of 65, with great belief in his tried and tested recipe, he is said to have set out with $105 to seek out the KFC franchises, and succeeded. Even the Law of Environment tells us that if an environment, be it family, friends, location etc is holding us back, it may be time to change our environment.
Identify what is holding you back and persistently work towards overcoming it to get ahead!
About the Author
Yvonne is a High Performance Consultant, Coach and Speaker focused on working with Individuals, Entrepreneurs and Organisations to Drive Results and Achieve their Goals.
Contact Yvonne at : http://www.johncmaxwellgroup.com/yvonnerukeakpoveta