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Articles by YakonObstacle Busting Enthusiast

Version 2018-02Value Ware

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CONTENTS

Article Page

Introduction: ACE It! 3

7 Point Obstacle Mastery Strategy 5

7 Reasons to welcome obstacles Part 1 8

7 Reasons to welcome obstacles Part 2 14

7 Ways to acknowledge and accept obstacles 17

7 Elements of an effective approach to obstacles Part 1

22

7 Elements of an effective approach to obstacles Part 2

29

7 Questions to evaluate obstacles Part 1

32

7 Questions to evaluate obstacles Part 2

38

7 Strategizing points to beat obstacles 44

7 Ways To Let Your Action Self Loose 51

7 Ways in which obstacles develop our wisdom 60

ACE It! Solver of Obstacles 67

Obstacle Busting Questionnaire 68

Your turn to act! 68

Value Ware 69

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Introduction: ACE It!

Develop a key set of skills to overcome obstacles and apply them to allobstacles you meet in all aspects of your life to become the best you can be.

When you think about it, a major part of life is about dealing with obstacleswhich include all kinds of problems, frustrations, road blocks, challenges,disasters, and tragedies that we face. We meet these obstacles in all aspectsof our lives - personal, social, fitness and health, career, building our assets,recreation, and creating an environment to our taste.

It stands to reason that you will become much more successful in yourendeavors over a wide range of activities if you can improve youreffectiveness in dealing with obstacles. By building on your skills to deal withobstacles once, you will be able to apply these skills for a lifetime to allobstacles you encounter.

Improving, sharpening, and developing you ability to overcome obstacles isone of the most fruitful ways in which you can spend your time and energy.The benefits you will get from improving your skills to beat obstacles are notonly far-reaching in terms of the number of obstacles your will be able toovercome. Maybe more important are those critical and pivotal points inyour life where the way you handle an obstacle have a drastic influence thatcan change the course of your life altogether.

I know from personal experience one can improve one's ability to deal withobstacles not only by a few percentage points, but to such an extent that itchanges one's whole life.

The way in which we can build our obstacle beating ability can besummarized by the two words ACE It!.

The A stands for attitude which includes the way we welcome obstacles,accept and acknowledge them, and how we approach them.

The C stands for create: the way we evaluate the obstacle and create abest possible action plan to overcome the obstacle.

The E stands for executing the action plan, and how we deal withrequired deviations.

The It! stand for internalize training - the way in which we must useobstacles as experience to improve and better ourselves and learn aboutovercoming obstacles.

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Learn to use the system once, and use it for a lifetime of happy and effectiveobstacle busting.

Obstacles you beat today, shape your future.

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7 Point Obstacle Mastery Strategy

Introduction

It is the nature of life to throw obstacles ranging from minor incidents to biglife changing events in our paths. Obstacles include all kinds of problems,frustrations, challenges, disasters, and tragedies that we are faced with.

This is an article about a seven point strategy to increase the effectivity withwhich we deal with obstacles, small and big, to build our self-esteem withlegitimate feelings of efficacy and mastery.

The 7 Point Obstacle Mastery Strategy

1. Welcome obstacles

There is no doubt that the best attitude to obstacles is to welcome them withappreciation and gratitude as life's presents for personal growth anddevelopment. It will give you a great sense of satisfaction if you learn to dealwith obstacles with as much resourcefulness as you can, and learn as muchas you can from both successes and failures in handling obstacles.

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2. Acknowledge and accept obstacles

When you are faced with significant obstacles, you must admit to yourselfthat you are faced with a hindrance and apply your courage, resourcefulnessand ingenuity to face the obstacle. Once you admit the obstacle exists, andis getting in your way, you can start taking steps to deal with it. Part ofacknowledging the obstacle, is to understand the full impact it has on you.In this phase you must look objectively at yourself, e.g. by writing downexactly how you experience the obstacle, and how it affects you. Somepeople even conduct a dialogue with themselves to find out how the obstaclecan help to improve their lives.

3. The approach to obstacles

Some obstacles strike out of the blue with dramatic effect. You should havea strategy to deal with the initial shock of these obstacles. You can usebreathing exercises, counting to ten, quickmeditation - whatever works foryou. You do not want to make things worse by doing or saying something ina moment of anger or fear that you will regret later. Your objective should beto reach a state of inner calm and power as soon as possible to acteffectively to overcome the obstacle.

4. Evaluate obstacles

When faced with an obstacle, ask yourself whether it is worth the time, effortand money to overcome the obstacle.

If yes, there are three ways to go: i. If you already have a method to beat the obstacle, just implement it. ii. You might have to do research to find the technique to beat the obstacle.iii. Otherwise, you will really have to demonstrate your resourcefulness toovercome the obstacle.

5. Method to overcome the obstacle

Unless it is a very simple obstacle, you will must identify the actions requiredto master the obstacle and schedule the times to take the actions. It is goodto also think of things that can go wrong in the implementation of your planand devise contingency plans to use where necessary. If there is anymeasure of complexity to the plan, it is better to write your steps andschedule down.

6. Actions to overcome the obstacle

Decide on the best practices to execute the chosen method to beat the

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obstacle. These involve planning and scheduling taks, writing checklists,setting controls to identify deviations, and points where corrective actionsmust be taken, if necessary.

You need to continue taking action and tick off completed tasks. You mighthave to start with small tasks related to the obstacle, finish it to completion,and then take on the next task on the schedule. Always keep moving forwardby completing tasks along the way, and remember to celebrate even smallsuccesses.

7. Developing wisdom from the obstacle experience

The view propagated here is that obstacles are presents from life to you foryour own personal growth and development. It will be a pity if you gothrough all the steps above and then fail to actually reap the benefits ofbeating the obstacle.

You must learn from the experience, regardless of the success or failure ofthe outcome. Review your experience and note benefits such as new ideas,improved confidence and growth of self-esteem that came from being incontrol of the effort to overcome the obstacle. Also note how obstacles serveto be strong motivators to action, and what they tell you about the kinds ofobstacles you particularly like to overcome.

Conclusion

Mastering obstacles must be one of the core life skills to learn. If you thinkabout it, just about everything you do, has to do with overcoming obstacles,which are usually external, but they can also be internal, like irrational fears,or limiting beliefs. It is therefore a major advantage to have a favourableattitude to obstacles and a sure-fire strategy to deal with them.

Overcome Obstacles with Ease - Solve Problems Fast

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7 Reasons to welcome obstacles

PART 0NE

Obstacles include what are often called problems, challenges, frustrations,issues, roadblocks, hurdles, bumps, blocks, snags, stumbling blocks, hurdlesand hindrances.

Have you ever noticed how people with hobbies look forward with gleefulanticipation to obstacles they encounter in their hobbies? Collectors enjoythe most difficult challenges to obtain rare specimens of whatever they arecollecting. Mountaineers look for ever more difficult climbs. Golfers loveobstacles in their way. Hobbyists actually thrive on obstacles related to theirhobbies.

There are people, and we can be among them, who have the same sort ofwelcoming attitude to all obstacles in their lives. They, in fact, do not seeobstacles, but raw material life provides for them to build and enhance theirlives.

1 A more satisfactory way of life

We all face a never ending series of personal, social, and environmentalobstacles in our lives. Remember Murphy’s Law: Anything that can gowrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time, all of the time when youleast expect it. So what are you going to do about it?

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Obstacles roll out whether we like it or not, but what we do about theobstacles, is clearly up to us. We can choose whether we rant and rave,become aggressive, become despondent, meekly admit defeat, just hope theobstacle will go away, or feel angry, hurt, sad or disappointed.

The question we must ask ourselves is why choose to feel anything butgood? Why not choose to love the obstacles fate put on our way asopportunities to develop and live our lives well?

Instead of complaining about how it should have been, think about what youcan be grateful for, and find pleasure in looking for the best way to deal withthe obstacle.

Try to welcome and love obstacles, instead of resenting obstacles, toexperience how much more satisfying life can be.

“Many times we are our worst enemy. If we could learn to conquerourselves, then we will have a much easier time overcoming the obstaclesthat are in front of us.”- Stephan Labossiere

2 Best version of you - opportunity to self development

By welcoming obstacles as opportunities to develop yourself, you will bemoving steadily towards being the best version of yourself. Each obstaclepresents you with situations in which you can grow in desirable attributessuch as strength, wisdom, patience, courage, humility, resourcefulness,reason, justice, perspective, and creativity. The beauty if this attitude is thatit not only enables your own growth and development, but you can alsocontribute for the good of your surrounding circumstances and the universe

We use obstacles to improve ourselves if we see them as opportunities to tryout things and test ourselves. Whether we succeed or not, we will learn if weactively engage obstacles.

Life never stops and obstacles will appear continually. As you deal with one,the next one is already rearing its head. If you meet each obstacle witheager anticipation, you will grow because of, and in spite of them.

Make a point of listening to people who have experienced difficult times.Note how often they say they are in a better place after their ordeals.

As you deal with obstacles and function outside your comfort zone, you learnmore about your own values, personality, strengths and weaknesses. Use

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these new insights to steadily make progress towards the best and mosteffective person you can be.

Keep in mind, and continually redefine if necessary, how you desire to liveyour life. That is how to adopt a winning and healthy mindset, especiallywhen adversity of any sort strikes. Use obstacles to catapult you towards thebest version of yourself.

"I think we all have blocks between us and the best version of ourselves,whether it's shyness, insecurity, anxiety, whether it's a physical block, andthe story of a person overcoming that block to their best self. It's trulyinspiring because I think all of us are engaged in that every day."- Tom Hooper

3 Catalysts for improvement

Catalysts increase the rate of reaction. As a master of obstacles, lookforward to obstacles because they are catalysts, hints, or clues thatsomething can change to improve your life. It could be a personal condition,a social relationship, or an environmental condition, or a combination ofthese, that are involved, the obstacle is a catalyst prompting you to improveyour life.

Think about it, without obstacles you will remain as you are. The obstacle isthe fire that moves you to a better place. Obstacles are the catalysts for yourcreative instincts to kick in that allows you to think of new and alternativeoptions that will lead you to paths you would not have considered otherwise.

Author Ralph De La Vega in his book "Obstacles Welcome: How to TurnAdversity into Advantage in Business and in Life," illustrates that within eachobstacle we encounter, there are possibilities to transform, not onlyourselves, but also the people and world around us.

"Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition -such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcomingchallenges and adversity."- Stephen Covey

4 There is a way past or through every obstacle

Obstacles become easier to deal with if you really believe they can beovercome. Dealing with obstacles is a constant learning experience throughwhich you add to your bag of obstacle beating tricks.

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The way to go is not only to believe that there is a way past or through everyobstacle, but importantly that you can find that way. This belief in yourselfmust be built up to form a core part of your self-image. As Norman VincentPeale explained it: “Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mentalpicture of yourself succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit itto fade. Your mind will seek to develop the picture...Do not build upobstacles in your imagination.”

Cultivate the two beliefs that the obstacle can be overcome, and that you cando it. Build confidence in this way to welcome all obstacles as they appear.Think first "there is a way," and then "I can figure out how to beat thisobstacle."

Your hindrance, frustration or difficulty can point to a better way. Yourperformance will increase in dealing with the same type of obstacles, andyou will learn to anticipate probable obstacles and have plans ready to dealwith them.

“Overcome the prideful need to measure your worth by how much moresuccessful you are than others, by operating from a core belief grounded inabundance.”- Richie Norton

5 Obstacles are stepping-stones toward goals

If you set goals, there will inevitable be obstacles to overcome to accomplishthe goals. These obstacles point to out the way to the goals. You mustovercome them to proceed towards your goals.

By welcoming these obstacles, your mind will accommodate them and adaptto turn the obstacles into stepping stones towards your goals.

A welcoming attitude will not necessarily make obstacles easy to overcomeand goals easy to attain, but it will be much easier to look for, and see thelight at the end of the tunnel.

Some people are not big on goal setting and goal achievement. Even if youjust move day-to-day from annoying to satisfying situations, the obstaclesyou deal with on the way, will be the stepping-stones towards a moresatisfying life. Eventually you will be doing more of the things you arepassionate about, and less of the things you do not really care for.

“The difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is how highyou raise your foot.”- Benny Lewis

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6 Exploit benefits

A good way of looking at the surprises and obstacles life rolls in you way, isto view them as presents you must open to discover the benefits andadvantages they hold for you. Think about the excitement when you get awrapped present, and the joy of opening it to find what is inside. You canexperience the same joy when faced with obstacles. Analyzing the obstaclesis like unpacking a present to explore the benefits, advantages, andopportunities contained in the obstacles. Ask: How can this obstacle improvemy life and the world around me?

Although not always obvious, in almost all cases obstacles have embeddedbenefits for you. Think about the possible benefits in the obstacle, and howyou can turn the obstacle from disaster into your favor.

It is true that it takes creativity and ingenuity to embrace an obstacle as ablessing in disguise, but we must do it to discover the opportunities that areshrouded by the obstacle. Those opportunities can open doors topossibilities that are bigger and better than our wildest dreams.

“You become limitless when you overcome what holds you back.”- Lorii Myers

7 Feel great about it - thrive on obstacles

Just think, whatever people accomplish in life, big or small, is because ofovercoming obstacles. People who overcome more, and more difficultobstacles, tend to experience more of what they desire from life. They thrive,not because everything is easy, but, in fact, because of obstacles.

So, the reason to feel great about, and welcome obstacles, is because theywill enable you to thrive in all your endeavors.

Many people attain great heights precisely because they thrive on theobstacles on the path that leads them to step into greatness.

"It's part of life to have obstacles. It's about overcoming obstacles; that's thekey to happiness."- Herbie Hancock

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Hopefully these seven reasons will persuade you to become an obstaclesbuster rather than an obstacle wimp.

Overcome Obstacles with Ease

Obstacles Welcome: How to Turn Adversity into Advantage in Business and inLifeBy Ralph De La Vega

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

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PART TWO

EXERCISES TO DEVELOP A WELCOMING ATTITUDE TO OBSTACLES

1. Focused Visualization

Visualize feeling great and exited about obstacles and using yourresourcefulness to turn the obstacle into a launchpad that will lift your life tonew heights.

a) Do the visualizations consistently and regularly as the mind and the body,responds most strongly to our dominantly held thoughts, images, emotions,and beliefs.

b) You mind will work against you if you do not really believe in the core ofyour being what you are visualizing. Do introspection to remove any blocksthat prevent you from a strong belief in the benefits of a welcoming attitudetowards obstacles. Make you visualizations vivid and intense byincorporating all of your senses and the strongest emotions you can muster.

Visualization Success - Activate Your Inner Vision

2. Heal Limiting Beliefs

It is fine if you can switch easily to a welcoming and enthusiastic attitudewhen faced with obstacles.

If, on the other hand, you catch yourself entertaining negative or doubtingthoughts, you must to deal with these.

Consider these questions about you undesirable thoughts ?

“My negative thought or perception is based on a one of my beliefs. What isthat belief?”

“How does the underlying belief influence my life?”

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The answers to these questions will point out how your beliefs restrict yourability to utilize obstacles to enhance your life, the lives of those around you,and the world.

Keep asking the questions until you clearly see the core limiting belief.

You can then decide rationally whether you still want to belief it, or not. If itlimits you enjoyment of obstacles, you might decide to change the belief.

Awareness of the limiting belief is the first step to alter it. The second step isto replace the limiting belief consciously with a belief more in line with yourdesires.

Let Go of Limiting Beliefs - Erase Negative Programming

3. Emotional release

You will require a strategy to apply if you experience an uncomfortableemotion when faced with an obstacle. To deal with these uncomfortableemotions, utilise one of the many emotional release techniques, such as theone quoted below from Bram Radcon's book “100 Techniques for successfulliving.”

“PURPOSE: To manage runaway emotions

DESCRIPTION

1. Use this technique when you experience a strong unpleasant emotion, forexample depression, anger, fear, that's not easy to control.

2. Just let the emotion go for a while without trying to fight it. You can eventry to increase its effect. Observe and experience the emotion. Initially it willfeel as if the emotion is in control, but gradually you will realise that you aretaking over control.

3. Once you feel that you have had enough of this unpleasant emotion, youcan start redirecting your thoughts to more pleasant and effective channels.

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4. Please note that the idea is not to evade or escape problems you have todeal with. The purpose is to neutralise strong emotions that do notcontribute to the solution of the problem.

5. Having succeeded in neutralising the emotion, your next step is to findmore effective attitudes and thoughts to deal with the problem.

COMMENTS: It is amazing how quickly and effectively one can deal withunpleasant emotions once this technique has been mastered.”

You will want to master your obstacles, and not be a slave to your fears ofobstacles.

Attitude of Gratitude - Be Grateful for What You Have

Control Your Emotions Emotions - Learn to Manage Your Feelings, usingHypnosis

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7 Ways to acknowledge and accept obstacles

Introduction

Welcoming obstacles is a great way to face them.

After welcoming an obstacle, it is necessary to fully acknowledge and acceptthe obstacle in order to appreciate its total impact, and the possible benefitsand opportunities embedded in the obstacle. Acceptance in this context doesnot mean giving up or admitting defeat. The idea is to face the situationsquarely and realistically, not to condemn it, or wish it was otherwise.Acknowledging and accepting an unpleasant situation in its totality cansometimes be very difficult and take a lot of guts, but it is really a necessarystep before we can decide on appropriate actions to deal with the obstacle.

If you acknowledge and accept obstacles. it means you are taking fullresponsibility, and you are prepared and ready to face life head on. Itbecomes your responsibility to be inspired by what is possible.

The discussion below is about some of the elements that help toacknowledge and accept obstacles in order to make the best of the difficultsituations we face continually in our lives.

1. Acknowledge obstacles

To acknowledge obstacles is to perceive and pay attention to them. Admitand recognize their genuine existence, status, and validity. Obstacles can beinternal thoughts , feelings, or attitudes, or external people or objects.Identify them and expose them out into the open.

2. Beware of your tricky mind

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The mind is tricky, and it may not always let you acknowledge the obstacle.

a) You may not see it.b) You may see the obstacle but not recognize it's meaning andimplications.c) You may deny the existence and/or the significance of the obstacle.This is the worst thing you can do. With denial you cut yourself off fromopportunities and benefits that are embedded in the obstacle.

3. Fear can distort perception of obstacles

Obstacles can be acknowledged, but with a distorted view because of fear:Fear of failure;Fear of success;Fear of the experience of rejection;Fear of discomfort.

When faced with an obstacle you need to be sensitive to the fact that yourperception might be affected by fear. If you perceive any fear, it must beacknowledged and accepted as a useful element to help you overcome theobstacle. An analysis of the fear will tell you a great deal about yourself, theobstacle, and the way to overcome the obstacle.

Keep in mind fears, anxieties, and tensions are often based on falseassumptions, perceptions and beliefs. There's a great acronym for FEAR:False Evidence Appearing Real. Being aware of your fears and askingyourself questions about the fears, will most of the time lead you to a morerealistic experience related to the obstacle you are facing. Even beyond that,welcoming and facing your fears usually gives you pointers towards ways inwhich you can master the obstacle in a way that is uniquely suitable to you.If you have gone through this process a few times, you will know that fear isjust a part of the process you must use to overcome obstacles.

Look outward also toward people who have faced and overcome similarobstacles. You can learn from them, also ask people you trust, if they haveexperienced similar fears and how they have coped with them.

4. Accept external obstacles

One thing is sure, and that is that external obstacles will pop up in whateverendeavor you are involved. These external obstacles will appear during yourdaily routines, or in pursuit of lofty goals. These trying externalcircumstances are most of the time unpredictable and can strike any time toblock your way.

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These external obstacles are not of your own making, and they definitelyfrustrate you efforts to proceed on a smooth path towards your goal. How doyou react when external obstacles block your way? You can take itpersonally, as if life is choosing you as a special target for bad luck. You cansulk, rant and rave, and give up, throwing in the towel.

On the other hand you can accept these external obstacles as part and parcelof life. That is just how life is, testing your resolve to accomplish your goal.You can accept external obstacles for what theyare, just objective things that occur with no intention to help or hinder you.Once you accept external obstacles in such a frame of mind, you will bebetter able to deal with each obstacle as it arises, and proceed steadilytowards your goal.

Other people's emotions are often a source of obstacles in negotiation.People often react with fear or anger when they feel that their interests arethreatened. Here too, the other party's emotions must be acknowledged andaccepted as external obstacles. Part of dealing with this type of obstacle is torefrain from emotional reactions, and to allow the other side to express theiremotions. Gestures to indicate rapport and empathy can aid to defuse strongemotions.

5. Accept internal obstacles

Internal obstacles include a whole array of factors in your psychologicalmakeup that stand in the way when you reach for your goals. These can beopen and well known, such as thoughts that you are not good at a task to bedone, that you do not have what it takes to do it, or that you usually fail ifyou try. Some factors that sabotage your efforts to accomplish somethingare more subtle, but somehow cause yourself to fail. Internal obstacles canbe standalone as obstacles in themselves, or they can be reactions toexternal obstacles which make it more difficult to deal with the externalobstacles.

Self knowledge is important when dealing with internal obstacles. It helps ifyou have clarified your values, world and life philosophy, and have a goodgrasp of your personality characteristics, attitudes, interests, strengths andweaknesses. This will make it easier to acknowledge internal obstacles.Without recognizing internal obstacles you will not be able to deal with themeffectively.

Once you realize you are dealing with an internal obstacle, it becomespossible to react with curiosity and compassion, telling yourself you aresensing a source of valuable information. If you accept the internal obstacle

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fully, and interrogate it, you will often discover valuable information aboutyourself and clues how to overcome the obstacle. Resisting, or trying tooverpower the internal obstacle, seldom leads to success.

6. Accept obstacles you can change as well as those you cannotchange

You have the power to change some internal and external obstacles, butothers fall outside your sphere of influence so that you cannot alter them.

You cannot alter the weather or traffic jams obstructing your progress, andyou can also not transform core personality traits in the way of attainingyour goals.

On the other hand, some physical obstacles can be changed in manydifferent ways, such as building a bridge over a river, or making a buildingaccessible for handicapped people. There are numerous methods to flipinternal obstacles such as fear, anxiety and anger into confidence andcalmness.

The important attitude is to accept both controllable and uncontrollableobstacles in a non-judgmental manner. Then it becomes a matter of workingaround and adapting to obstacles that cannot be changed, and figuring outthe best way to adapt controllable obstacles to your advantage.

Acceptance is in contrast to wishing things were different and better, or howthey should have been. Acceptance of difficult situations often becomesmuch easier if you consider how much worse it could have been. It matterslittle whether you control obstacles or not, if you accept them and look themsquarely in the eye, you can discover realistic ways to deal with them.

7. Accept obstacles with gratitude and love

When we talk of accepting obstacles, we do not mean it in a sense like weaccept punishment or bad tasting medicine. Think of it in a sense likeaccepting gifts, or lottery wins, or anything pleasant the comes our way.

Instead of complaining "I don't need this now," acceptance is like stating"Life rolled this obstacle in my way, and I accept it with love and gratitude,as something to grapple with to improve myself, and propel me forward tomy goals." Do not try to fool yourself into a false sense of euphoria andbelieve everything is rosy and easy. The obstacle is there in your way,whether you like it or not. How you react to the obstacle is within yourpower. Your general attitude to obstacles is a major factor, not only in howwell you handle obstacles, but also in how much happiness and glowing

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healthy energy you generate and radiate.

A defeatist attitude leads you to discover all the darkness in the obstaclecloud and miss the silver lining. With an accepting attitude you will still sufferthe darkness to deal with, but emphasis will on reaping the benefits andopportunities in the silver lining of the cloud.

You fate is what life has in store for you. Love it, enjoy it, and make themost of it.

Mind Mastery Through Multimedia Technology

Learn to Accept Yourself - Increase Your Personal Power

Learn to Accept Your Loss

Accept Criticism - Let Faults Lead You to Success

Attitude of Gratitude - Grateful for What You Have

Release Any Fear

Fear of Failure - Turn Defeat into Victory

Fear of Success - Truly Believe You Can Achieve

End Self-Sabotage - Stop Denying Yourself Opportunities

Seize the Day - Live Life in the Here and Now

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7 Elements of an effective approach to obstacles

PART ONE

We have learnt that life is much better if we welcome obstacles asopportunities to reap benefits and make progress in life. Resentment andresistance to obstacles lead nowhere fast, and we now realize the benefits oflooking obstacles straight in the eye by acknowledging their existence andinfluence, with an accepting attitude.

We envision ourselves as resourceful people who like to tackle and overcomeobstacles, or at least give it our best shot, so that we can feel good aboutourselves, having done the best we could.

To deal effectively with obstacles, it helps a lot if we approach them in a waythat will enhance our chances of success. By adopting an effective approachto obstacles, we are not only more likely to succeed, but it also puts us incontrol of the situation. We approach the obstacle knowing what toaccomplish, and we believe will shall discover the most appropriate actions toimplement.

In the rest of the article I shall talk about various elements that go into awinning approach to obstacles. These elements are all part of our make-upas people and we can learn and developed them to improve our obstaclebusting behavior.

1. Disposition

Learn to develop your resourcefulness to its limit to apply as much of it as

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you can when faced with obstacles on your way. Obstacles should notdeviate you from your intention or purpose, but activate your abilities toaccommodate obstacles, adapt to them, and shape them to move youforward along your intended path.

When we approach obstacles with a positive focus to do our best in the hereand now, it opens up the way for us to achieve the best possible results inthe given circumstances. We may not achieve perfection, but we will beassured of achieving as much impetus towards our intention as is possible.

We gain strength and resourcefulness from experience with overcomingobstacles. Follow a coherent and deliberate process based on pragmatism,craftiness, savvy, and strategic vision to build resilience, energy, andpersistence to deal ever more effectively with obstacles.

The important thing is to start with a positive disposition when faced withobstacles. Even if can only do it with relatively small obstacles initially, overtime we can develop the ability to face all obstacles with the confidencebased on earlier successes. As mentioned,success does not mean perfection,but the sure knowledge that we have given it our best shot.

Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.Chinese Proverb

2. Steady nerves

Discipline is necessary to distinguish between the obstacle itself, andunhelpful emotions you may generate that contaminate your efforts toovercome the obstacle. Steady nerves and calmness enable better ways toovercome obstacles than fearful instinctive reactions.

That does not mean that all emotions generated as a result of the obstacle,are in the way. Helpful emotions are the ones that can contribute toovercoming the obstacle. They can motivate you to spend time and energyon activities to tackle the obstacle.

Unhelpful emotions must be recognized and felt, observed, and engaged totell you why they are there, and then allowed to go away, and distance themfrom you. Questioning the why and validity of the emotions with logicalquestions, such as "Do I need to freak out about this?" can help to disengagethem. It also helps to label these unhelpful emotions to distance them fromyou.

Ryan Holiday in his book "The obstacle is the way: The ancient art of turning

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adversity into advantage," uses the concept of sangfroid to describe the kindof steady nerves attitude that must be cultivated to deal effectively withobstacles. Sangfroid refers to the ability to stay calm in difficult ordangerous situations, and self-possession or imperturbability when understrain. This kind of composure implies you can control emotional or mentalagitation by an effort of will or as a matter of habit.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days ofsorrow.Chinese Proverb

3. Disciplined observation

If we can keep up steady nerves when faced with obstacles, it unlocks thedoor for us to look at them clearly in a disciplined manner, free from fears,anxieties, anger, and other distracting emotions.

Disciplined observation means you are looking at the situation objectively asif it is outside you, without involving you. Try not to look at the obstacle froma subjective point of view where you and your emotions and desires areinvolved. An effective way to observe objectively, is to write the obstacle andsurrounding facts down, and then consider the situation from the perspectiveof different people you are familiar with. Objectivity can be developedthrough practice.

We all realize how different witnesses all give different accounts of the sameevent. People tend to see what they expect to see, or want to see, or thinkthey should be seeing, and not what is actually there. It is natural and easyfor us to misconstrue the situation in the same way when looking atobstacles. We should be aware of pitfalls like these, and consider them toperceive the situation as far as possible realistically, without involving ourown prejudices.

We must be careful to ignore what disturbs or limits others, and focus onwhat can be controlled, choose to discover the good in a situation, and lookfor the advantage and proper course of action to go forward.

Nil desperandum (Never despair)Latin Proverb

4. Your own view

Although we must approach obstacles in an objective, and not a subjectiveway, we must contribute some of our own strengths into the approach. Wemust develop these strenghts, if we do not already have them.

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We constantly tell ourselves stories about us and the world. These stories areoften negative and dis-empowering. Switch the stories continually to reachpositive and empowering outcomes. Bring this sense of empowerment intothe approach to obstacles. Assume full responsibility for life andcircumstances. Develop confidence and self-belief to think effectively aboutthe obstacles and problems in our lives.

Do not look for sympathy from other people, but accept responsibility foryour own life. When asking for help or assistance from others, do it from aposition where we judge it will propel us forward towards the attainment ofour goals and objectives.

If our mind, or other people, tell us something is hopeless, awful or evil, wemay disagree. We shall make up our own view of the situation based on ourbelief that there are benefits, advantages, and learning experiences touncover in every situation.

Perspective means the obstacle always occur in a bigger context. We mustdo our best to see the bigger context, and the different angles from whichthe obstacle can be viewed. Perspective can often remove the fear out of anominous explanation, with a simple explanation so that it loses its powerover us. It can lead us to discover leverage we never imagined we had.

Another element of perspective is our unique way of looking at the world andinterpreting its events. Aspects such as empowerment, confidence, and self-belief were mentioned above, but another very powerful value can built intoour perspective on the world and events. It is the realization that we are partof a bigger whole. When we think, for example, of other people's sufferingand how we can serve them, it casts our own sorrow and obstacles inperspective. This perspective opens our own obstacle up, as we can discoverways to contribute our bit to improve and thrive not only in our own lives,but indeed to make the world a better place little by little

Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I shall either find a way or make one)Latin Proverb

5. Personality

There exist specific personality traits we must apply when dealing withobstacles. We all possess these personality traits to a greater or lesserextent. Even if we are low on a particular personality trait, we must developwhat we have as much as possible. The important point is to apply allrelevant personality resources when overcoming obstacles.

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Many obstacles can be overcome with standard and known practices,methods, and procedures. In such cases it is a matter of identifying andapplying the relevant method. Often, however, there isn't a cut and driedsolution to the obstacle, or we encounter problems when trying to apply thestandard method. In such cases resourcefulness is a crucial personality traitthat must be applied to overcome the obstacle. Resourcefulness is yourability to deal in a clever way with new or difficult situations by devisingways and means to discover solutions to problems. Resourcefulness issupported by our creative powers.

Obstacles often look overwhelming and discouraging. Our best efforts toovercome the obstacle may initially meet with failure. We therefore mustdevelop our powers of resilience to withstand and overcome the push byobstacles to beat us. Resilience is our ability to recover from, or adjusteasily, to misfortune, change or disappointments in trying to deal withobstacles. It is essentially our ability to adapt successfully to overcomesituations we are faced with.

We must be energetic and daring to overcome obstacles. That really meanswe must be sufficiently motivated to apply the required energy to theobstacle, and be willing to go beyond our comfort zone where necessary toaccomplishdesired effects. We must understand what motivates us, and howour motivation applies to a particular obstacle.

We must be motivated for full-out effort to overcome the obstacle. If we arenot that motivated, we must ask ourselves if there is really enough in it forus to overcome the obstacle. It may not be something we need to do. If wedo not want to do it, but must do it, we must determine what is the factorthat give use the idea we must do it. That factor will be strong enough togenerate the required level of motivation.

Nothing is impossible for a willing heart.French Proverb

6. Opportunistic

In marketing, the experts talk about the "What's in it for me?" question youmust ask yourself when preparing to present your product or service toprospective clients. Clients are not interested in your story, they just need toknow what you can offer them that they desire.

We must really adopt a similar approach when faced with obstacles. All wedo is trip over ourselves if we see obstacles as problems, limitations orstumbling blocks that limit our progress. That is how we exacerbate the

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obstacle by adding our fears, anger, worry, to it.

We must do a mental flip and take a leave from the marketing people andask the question "What's in it for me?" when faced with an obstacle. Itcannot be just a superficial "think positive" sort of attitude. We mustdevelop the ability to really look through the surface of the obstacle touncover the "What's in it for me?" embedded in the obstacle.

What are the sorts of things to look for under the hood of the obstacle?

* Obstacles contain opportunities, and we can find them.* If we look for benefits in obstacles, we shall detect them* Obstacles present a rich source of learning experiences - learn from theorigin of the obstacle, your reaction to the obstacle, the solution to theobstacle, and how the obstacle made you a better and stronger person.* Even if your obstacle is a really very bad experience, consider the conceptof post traumatic growth. Just listen how often people who had passedthrough deep waters relate afterwards how they have grown and becamestronger because of their experience.

The bee has a sting but honey too.Swedish Proverb

7. Right questions

When dealing with obstacles we must act with a proactive mindset.

One part of a proactive mindset is asking effective questions. These includequestions such as: Why is this a problem for me? Is the informationcorrect? What new answers, opportunities, and solutions can I apply?

A proactive mindset is also open, flexible and adaptable, always ready todiscover alternative ways to go over, through, round or under obstacles.When facing an obstacle, we know what our goal is, and we shall applyproactive ways to overcome the obstacle to reach the goal.

It is often the case that someone, or even we ourselves are to blame for theobstacle that arose. Playing blame games is, however, not productive inovercoming obstacles. Instead, we should rather ask questions about theunderlying processes or systems in which the obstacle occur, so that we candeal with the real issues involved.

When faced with an obstacle, we often experience thoughts milling around inour mind without really serving to determine a proper course of action. It

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helps a lot if we write these thoughts down. That will remove the issue frominside our brain and separate us from the impact of the experience. It willallow us to make notes of thoughts floating up from our subconscious mindand engage our conscious brain. Putting everything out there in the open onthe table enables us to ask penetrating questions that will lead to proactivereactions to the obstacle.

You need a sharp axe for a tough bough (a branch of a tree)Russian Proverb

***************************************Sharper Thinking - Learn to Think Outside the BoxWhole Brain Thinking - Unlock Your Brain’s Full PotentialBecome More Creative - Unleash Your ImaginationDissolve Anger - Stay Calm and Emotionally StableControl Your Emotions - Learn to Manage Your FeelingsBe the Best You Can Be - Achieve Your True PotentialSizzle with Great Ideas - Supercharge Your ThinkingAttract Opportunities - Seize the MomentSuperior Self-Control - Enjoy Dazzling Levels of DisciplineKeep Calm - Keep Cool and In Control***********************************************

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7 Elements of an effective approach to obstacles

PART TWO

Develop your ability to be resourceful

Resourcefulness is being aware of the vast amount of possibilities andopportunities at your disposal, and the ability to utilise the resources aroundyou with ingenuity and inventiveness to meet situations effectively.

Developing your resourcefulness ability will not only serve to overcomeobstacles. Research has discovered resourceful people were better able tomeet life's challenges and to achieve more positive outcomes.

Resourceful people apply not only their own personal resources, but theyalso employ other people as resources when necessary. These include family,friends, or professional people. Research has demonstrated that peopleexhibiting both personal and social resourcefulness adapt better to situationsthan those with high social or personal resourcefulness alone.

1. Learn resourcefulness from others

Analyse stories of resourceful people you know, or from biographies. Whathave they done? Why? How have they accomplished their goals? Learnactively by making notes, trying to apply what you have learned, and notingthe results. Is it true that most resourceful people can think beyondeveryday solutions, push forward when faced with complicated problems,and learn from mistakes along the way?

2. Use methods and technology that boost resourcefulness

Manual or electronic mind mapping is a great way to represent obstacles,relevant information, and possible courses of action. Find methods (mindmapping, kanban. planners, outliners) that work for you and applyconsistently.

3. Reflect on your obstacle busting processes

Review the thought processes you have used to overcome, or attempted toovercome obstacles. Which thought processes worked well? Were anythought processes counter productive? What can you learn from the review?

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What can you improve, and how?

4. Optimum balance between contributions by self and others

Practice in deciding which tasks are best accomplished alone, and whichcould benefit from help by others. Resourcefulness means exploitingresources - your own, those of other people, and in the environment. Makelists of resources you can use, and how you can get co-operation

5. Skepticism

Skepticism is critical to resourcefulness, because we must always be satisfiedin our own minds of the truth of information about the obstacle. Learn not toaccept claims at face value, but delve for more information to ensure theinformation is reliable. Resourceful problem solvers base solutions on validinformation.

6. Start, even if resources are insufficient

Learn to start overcoming obstacles with the available resources. Even if wecan only start very small, rather do that little bit, than to wait for enoughresources to become available. Small results tend to snowball into biggerresults if we keep doing what we can with what we have. As more resourcesbecome available, we can do more.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.Martin Luther King Jr.

7. Develop resourcefulness by participating

We can practice and develop resourcefulness by participating in activitiesthat need resourcefulness, such as emergency response teams, simulations,or whatever similar voluntary activities are available in our area.

Remember that resourcefulness is not developed once, and then we have itforever. We must continually practice our resourcefulness skills and readstories and articles that inspire us. Read, for example, Eric Barker's article"How to Attract Good Luck: 4 Secrets Backed by Research," in which heexplains: (1) Maximize Opportunities: Keep trying new things.

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(2) Listen To Hunches: Especially if it’s an area where you have someexperience, trust your intuition. (3) Expect Good Fortune: Be an optimist. A little delusion can be good. (4) Turn Bad Luck Into Good: Don’t dwell on the bad. Look at the bigpicture.

********************

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7 Questions to evaluate obstacles

PART ONE

We have talked in other articles about welcoming obstacles as opportunities,acknowledging and accepting them as part of the way the universe unfolds,and approaching them with resourcefulness, fortitude and resilience.

We cannot, however, chase after obstacles like a fox terrier chase after everycar that goes by. We need to ask some critical questions to decide whichobstacles to tackle and how much resources we are willing to spend on eachobstacle. We must keep in mind that useful obstacles are the ones that fitinto our master plan and that will move us forward towards our goals.

1. What are the details of the obstacle?

Some obstacles are easy and straight forward to understand and overcome.When dealing with more complex obstacles, we must ask questions todetermine who should try to overcome the obstacle. We should ask what theindications are that we must deal with the obstacle, or someone else. Maybewe are trying to involve ourselves in an obstacle that someone else mustdeal with. It may not even be an obstacle, but just false perceptions orthought processes from our side.

If the obstacle is real and relevant to us, we must ask questions to discoverwhere the obstacle originated, who and what are involved, what perpetuates

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the obstacle. We must ask these questions to make sure we grasp theobstacle thoroughly and accurately. We must understand the origin, course,and probable future ramifications of the obstacle.

We should be especially careful when dealing with "hot coal." The Buddhastated anger is like a hot coal we are carrying around. If the obstacle is inour way to throw our "hot coal" at someone, we should ask ourselveswhether it is better to be burned up with the hot coal of anger and hatred inourselves, or to let it go.

Real obstacles don't take you in circles. They can be overcome. Inventedones are like a maze.Barbara Sher

2. What do you control?

Obstacles contain many external factors outside our control. Aspects underour control, include our own thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions.

We must clarify in our own minds about which aspects of the obstacle we cancontrol. We must also be clear about aspects outside our control. It isnecessary to consider and answer the question how to respond touncontrollable aspects.

If the situation is out of our control, we must possess the wisdom to accept itas such, and figure out how to adapt, and work around the obstacle.

If the obstacle is in our control, we can make an estimate of our chances ofsuccessfully overcoming the obstacle. If we realize what aspects we control,what not, and what our chances of successfully overcoming the obstacle are,we can decide whether we want to overcome this obstacle. Do we want tospend our limited resources on this obstacle?

Let's remember the children who come from broken homes, surrounded bycrime, drugs, temptation, their peers having babies out of wedlock, but whostill manage to get a good education despite the many obstacles they faceevery day.Armstrong Williams

There was a strong focus on performance and respect for people. And one ofthe points that my father always made was that with all the challenges andobstacles and barriers, the one thing you can control is your performance.And that is one thing I have tried to adhere to throughout my career.Kenneth Chenault

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3. What is your perspective?

We tend to view reality from a perspective that is comfortable and easy forus. We are used to a set of assumptions on all kinds of things and situations.These are assumptions we often use and that come easy to us. It is alsoknown as a frame within which we perceive and react to reality.

Different people have different perspectives, and people also communicate ina way that reflects their perspectives. All of these are important whendealing with obstacles, because perspective and frames influence how we willsee and understand obstacles that crop up. It also influences how obstaclesare presented to us when other people provide us information about theobstacle.

We should be sensitive to the fact that our assumptions could be cloudingour perception of obstacles. We must ask ourselves what assumptions wemake when thinking about the obstacle. We must question the validity of ourassumptions, and ask ourselves if any false or questionable assumptions leadto misinterpretation of the obstacle.

Try to describe different perspectives to the obstacle. Think about how otherpeople would view the obstacle and even ask others, if suitable people areavailable. We can do research to find out how people have managed tosuccessfully overcome similar obstacles.

It is a useful practice to question our assumptions when dealing withobstacles to make them explicit. Analyze assumptions until the basicunderlying assumptions are identified. In the long-term it is good practice tokeep a journal of our assumptions. This makes it easier to make ourassumptions explicit every time we deal with an obstacle.

If you look at the history of big obstacles in understanding our world, there'susually an intuitive assumption underlying them that's wrong.Jeff Hawkins

4. Where is your stop loss point?

People who invest in company share often determine a stop-loss point. If theshares fall to the stop-loss point, they are automatically sold to preventfurther losses. When dealing with obstacles, it is often good to also considera stop-loss. Yes, persistence and determination are necessary and good, butpersistence must also be practised wisely.

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If a particular course of action to overcome an obstacle consistently fails, weshould at some point decide to drop it and try something else. Even thewhole obstacle can be dropped at a point where the resources we spend on itexceed the value of overcoming the obstacle. At this point it might be betterto find a route that circumvents the obstacle.

When we evaluate obstacles, there are some questions to identify and definestop-loss points. What is the worst thing that could occur? What are therisks involved? What are the costs in physical, mental, and time resources?What will be lost, missed, or compromised if the obstacle is not overcome?How will it impact the situation and people if a particular action to overcomethe obstacle is, or is not, done? What will the impact be if the obstacle is oris not overcome? What alternative routes to our goals are available and howdo they compare with the route through, over, or around this particularobstacle?

I do seem to try to make things harder and harder for myself. In someperverse way, obstacles interest me and I'm drawn to projects that end upbeing incredibly laborious.Taryn Simon

5. What will be achieved by the effort?

It is clear by now that obstacles always offer something good for us in theform of opportunities, benefits, learning experiences, and steps on the ladderto our goals. We shall also not look at obstacles in a superficial "thinkpositive" sort of way, but look through the surface of the obstacle to discoverthe benefits for us.

Once we realize what we can accomplish by overcoming the obstacle, we canplace a value on it. This is how we can decide how to prioritize or discardobstacles. We face many obstacles and we require a way to cut our effortsdown to manageable size. We must spend our time and resources to attainmaximum effectiveness with minimum effort.

We should ask a few questions to place the value of the obstacle in thespotlight. Is there a reason why this is a "must do" obstacle? If so, what isthe reason? Are there compelling reasons to consider the obstacle asimportant in the context of our goals, values, and commitments? Identifythe short and long-term benefits of overcoming this obstacle? Is this thekind of obstacle where the journey is more important than the end result?These are the sort of obstacles we tackle just because we like working onthem, and are willing to let our work on the obstacles lead us in new andsometimes unexpected directions.

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He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, andexact a motive power out of the greatest obstacles.Walter Scott

6. What is the priority level of the obstacle?

An intruder in the house is in all probability an urgent and important obstacleto our peace of mind that must be dealt with immediately as a matter of highpriority. On the other hand, when considering painting a wall a differentcolor, it may not be such a big obstacle to our aesthetic sense that we mustpaint it soon, or even at all.

Whenever an obstacle confronts us, we must always place it into our scale ofpriorities. How does it relate to our values, goals and ambitions, what is in itfor me? Try to express the priority level of obstacle numerically on a scalefrom 1 to 10, for example. The exact nature of the scale does not matter -as long it is practical and makes sense.

When thinking about the priority of obstacles, always keep in mind that someobstacles are decisive in projects, with far-reaching consequences. If wemanage to overcome such obstacles, it may just be the breakthrough wewere waiting for to make spectacular progress towards our goal. If we slipup on such obstacles, it may set our efforts back substantially. Often thesetypes of obstacles arise at very difficult times, and requires real grit to dealwith effectively, but the rewards will definitely make it worth the effort.

And our job as people and as characters is to find our own motivations anddesires, to overcome conflicts and obstacles toward defining ourselves sothat we grow and change.Adam Johnson

7. Is it worth to proceed?

We should realize by now that any obstacle presents us with opportunities,benefits and advantages. We also expect obstacles to roll out in front of usall the time. They can pop up in the normal routine of our daily life, or theycan jump out to stop us in our tracks on our way to try to achieve a goal.

We noted in earlier sections that we manage our lives by selecting whichobstacles to tackle and how much resources to spend on each. In thiscontext we must answer the question for each obstacle: Is it worth goingahead? How important is it to overcome this obstacle? Is there a limit to the

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amount of time, energy, and other resources we will spend on the obstacle?Have we lit the fire within ourselves that will motivate us to do the best wepossibly can to overcome the obstacle? Are we keeping an open mind toidentify alternative ways to deal with the obstacle, or to discover ways topropel us toward our goals?

Most obstacles coming our way are quite easy to analyze and decide whetherto proceed or not. More complicated obstacles are not so easy to analyze,and we should use paper and pencil or a computer program to write ourthoughts and information down, in some sort of organized way. Methodssuch as mind maps are useful to do this.

I think when you have a passion for something, you can overcome obstacles,if you float through life without having anything to hold on to or get you firedup emotionally and to focus on, I think it's really hard to overcome things.Steve Nash

After this step, we should have a very clear understanding of WHY we havedecided to tackle this particular obstacle. If we understand the why, the restfollows easily and we will have the motivation, courage, determination, andpersistence to see it through.

******************************************************Find Your Life Purpose - Discover Your True DestinyReinvent Yourself - Become the Person You Always Wanted to BeAccess Your Inner Strength - Call On Your Personal PowerBe More Decisive - Just Do ItIncrease Your Good Luck - Make Fortune Smile on YouLive Passionately - Satisfy Your Lust for Living*******************************************************

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PART TWO

A. Unhelpful thinking styles

Avoid confusion with unhelpful thinking styles when analyzing and evaluatingobstacles. Awareness of unhelpful and distorted ways of thinking, such asthese mentioned below, will clarify the nature of obstacles.

1. MENTAL FILTER

Mental filtering means perceiving only the difficulties in obstacles, whilemissing the possibilities and benefits. Difficulties are, in fact, magnified,while positive aspects are filtered out. Mental filtering sees only the blackspot on a piece of white paper and denying the existence of the large whitearea.

2. ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING (Polarized Thinking; Black and White Thinking)

When you think in black and white, it means you view everything inextremes, with no room for middle ground. Everything is all or none,without any shades of gray. People are right or wrong and situations good orbad. If your performance falls short of perfect, you consider yourself as atotal failure, rather than failing to some extent in one thing. You placepeople or situations in one of two extreme categories, with no middleground. You ignore the complexity of most people and situations.

3. OVERGENERALIZATION

We reach a general conclusion based on a single incident, or a single piece ofevidence. If something bad happens only once, we expect it to happen againand again. A person may interpret a single, unpleasant event as part of anever-ending pattern of defeat. By often applying concepts such as always,never, all, or every, you might be taking generalizing too far. Thoughts suchas "I fail in every social situation," or "Things always turn out bad for me"are examples of overgeneralizing.

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4. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

You make an unfavorable interpretation without convincing facts that supportyour conclusion. This often leads to mind reading or predicting the future.

Mind reading — Assuming you know other people's minds, and that theyperceive you in the same negative way that you experience yourself.

Fortune telling — Predicting the future, usually while assuming the worst willoccur. You just sense that things will be horrible, so you are already anxiousin anticipation before the situation arises.

5. CATASTROPHIZING (MAGNIFICATION OR MINIMIZATION)

Self made catastrophes are created when small problems are magnified intobig ones, or small issues are blown out of proportion into large disasters.Catastrophizing take place when you consider your own mistakes as muchmore important than they really are. The same applies to unduly ratingachievements by other people as really great, if they are just ordinary. Falsecatastrophes can also be created when you minimize your own strengths orimperfections of other people.

6. PERSONALIZATION

Personalizing occurs when you accept responsibility for, and feel guilty about,an external event even if you were just partly to blame, or even not at all.You are not the main cause of the event, but you consider yourselfmistakenly as totally blameworthy.

Another way of personalizing is to believe unreasonably that other people'sactions are about you. This refers to an unfounded assumption that peoplereact to you in a negative manner. It also involves basing your self worth onunfavorable comparisons with people, instead of applying your intrinsicqualities as your center of self worth.

7. EMOTIONAL REASONING

Emotions and feelings arise from many different causes, and they do notalways reflect reality. In emotional reasoning, emotions and feelings are

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irrationally perceived to refer to something real. When you feel afraid,anxious, stupid, humiliated, angry, or similar emotions, it may just be a caseof emotional reasoning where there is nothing in reality to justify theemotions. Find the causes of unpleasant emotions before allowing themlegitimacy.

8. LABELING AND MISLABELING

This refers to an extreme form of overgeneralization. A label, usuallynegative, is attached to ourselves or others based on one, or very few,incidents without considering the context of the incidents and the validity ofmaking generalizations from them.

It is, by way of example, not valid to label yourself as a failure based on afew unsuccessful experiences. Success and failure are more complexconcepts, considering that people are more successful in some areas than inothers. Success and failure are not absolute, there are usually manydegrees of success and failure.

Labeling is usually laden with very negative connotation and grosslymisleading when the context and contradictory evidence is ignored.

9. DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE

This is magnifying good things about other people and minimizing goodthings about ourselves. Humility is one thing, but people with this thoughtpattern goes beyond that. They do not recognize their own good qualitiesand discount the bad qualities of others. Positive experiences are rejectedby insisting threy are not valid for some reason or other. In this way youcan keep up a negative belief that is contradicted by your everydayexperiences.

10. SHOULD AND MUST STATEMENTS

Some of us have very strict, unbending rules about how we and othersshould and must behave. When the rules are broken, we feel angry,frustrated, and resentment if it involves other people. If we break the rules,we feel guilty. People who are overly relying on what they and others oughtto do, often behave as if they believe they must be punished before theyact.

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When evaluating an obstacle, it helps to keep the list of unhelpful thinkingstyles at hand to make sure your analysis is accurate and based only on thefacts and reasonable inferences.

(Aaron Beck first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions and DavidBurns was responsible for popularizing it with common names and examplesfor the distortions. The descriptions above are based on presentations onthe web sites below.

http://healthypsych.com/psychology-tools-what-are-cognitive-distortions/http://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-cognitive-distortions/http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/Panic-05_Unhelpful%20Thinking%20Styles.pdf)

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PART TWO

B. PERSPECTIVES

We often discover how politicians from different groups cast a different spinon the same set of facts. They are looking at it from different perspectives.When we look at obstacles from different perspectives, we utilize differentstrategies, experiences and world views. This is necessary because we mustconsider different ways of looking at issues and reaching solutions.

By considering alternative perspectives we become more familiar with ourown values and assumptions. We also become more open-minded and willingto take relevant evidence and argument into account in forming or revisingour own beliefs, values and assumptions. We develop an ability to respectand empathise with other points of view.

By considering different perspectives, we become aware of more options forsolving problems and addressing obstacles.

TIPS TO GET NEW PERSPECTIVES ON OBSTACLES

1. Read non-fiction and fiction books and articles on the subject. Internetsearches are often useful to unearth alternative perspectives on specifictypes of obstacles.

2. Imagine you are a different person or put yourself in the shoes ofsomeone who looks at life from a different perspective. Try to figure out howthe other person would perceive and interpret the obstacle and whatapproach he or she would follow to deal with the obstacle.

3. Try to describe the obstacle in different words. This will often force you tothink in new ways about the obstacle.

4. Physically visiting a different place can sometimes stimulate freshperspectives on obstacles. Walking on the beach can put one in a differentmindset.

5. Look at the obstacle from a reverse perspective. How would you go aboutcausing the obstacle? Does this give you hints on alternative ways toapproach the obstacle?

6. Use different methods to look at the obstacle. Write notes, talk, even if itis to yourself, make 3-dimensional models, play act relevant roles tostimulate your ability to develop new perspectives.

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7. Discussing the obstacle with other people not only helps by drawing ontheir perspectives, but it also helps you to clarify your conception about theobstacle and understand different ways to look at the obstacle.

8. Brainstorming can throw up new ideas about the obstacle and how it canbe evaluated. It is good to have a few people in the brainstorming session,but if it is not practical, even a solitary brainstorming session can serve toproduce new ideas with its free flow of thought.

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7 Strategizing points to beat obstacles

I must admit that I do not have bragging rights about overcoming obstacles.I do not have a spectacular story to tell about overcoming seeminglyinsurmountable obstacles. But I changed dramatically in a positive way whenI adopted an obstacles busting attitude. I am now happy and cheerful whenfaced with obstacles and I feel enthusiastic about dealing with them. I amalso more effective in overcoming obstacles. It is as if obstacles realize anirresistible force is coming full blast at them and they just pop open and letme through.

I sometimes remember an interview on TV with a quadriplegic man in hisearly thirties. He became quadriplegic in his early twenties in an accident.This young man was very friendly, optimistic and upbeat throughout theinterview. It was clear that he was just that sort of a person. It was not anact he just put on for TV. He said throughout his life he just acceptedobstacles that came his way, and he handled them. When he becamequadriplegic it was just another obstacle and he handled it. He gathered theresources and used the appropriate methods to adapt to his handicap andgot on with his life. He completed his university studies, started a business,got married, and generally lived a happy life. This man was trulyinspirational, even though he was not even in the inspiration business, givingmotivational speeches, etc. His business was in a totally different field.

People have a very wide range of different types of obstacles to deal with,each requiring different sets of resources and methodologies. No one isbetter able to deal with the obstacles than the individual facing the obstacle.

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There are a few generic principles that can be applied as guidelines whendeciding on appropriate resources and methodologies. A few of those arepresented below.

1. Assumptions and beliefs

Our general attitude to obstacles must reflect in the strategy, tactics,methods, procedures, and action we choose to tackle the obstacle.

We must realize that our work on the obstacle must be based on cybernetics.As in cybernetics, we must define a goal which hopefully includes to unlockopportunities, benefits, and learning experiences we have discovered in theobstacle. As in cybernetics, we are heavily dependent on feedback toimplement corrective action to remain on course to overcome the obstacle.Feedback will come in the form of actions that do not work, or outrightfailures. By now, we realize these point to valuable lessons teaching us howto modify course to overcome the obstacle.

We aim to have fun in taking the actions to beat obstacles. To have fun, wemust belief in the possibility to overcome the obstacle, and we must believethat in our ability to beat the obstacle. We refrain from taking ourselves tooseriously, and we smile while overcoming obstacles.

We want to experience freedom when grappling with obstacles. We need tobe free from fear of failure. We need to be free to take calculated risks. Weneed to be free to be creative and try new things. We must be free fromcomparisons with other people. We shall burn our own candle with the flameas big as it is, and not be concerned with other people who might havebigger candles, or brighter candle lights.

You cannot blame circumstances for any failure. The ultimate power lieswithin you to fearlessly conquer challenges for your achievements.Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

2. Develop skills

We have seen that overcoming obstacles involves the use of resources in andaround ourselves to pit against the obstacle. One of the main resources iswhat we have inside us - our knowledge, abilities, skills, mental and physicaltalents, and also our social skills.

We need specific skills in our areas of speciality to overcome obstacles in our

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work, recreation, or roles in society. We also use a wide variety of skills toovercome the spectrum of obstacles life generally throws in our direction.

We want to be resourceful when dealing with obstacles, and one of theimplications is that we must have a good set of obstacle busting skills inourselves. It is therefore a requirement that we must continually be busybuilding and enhancing our personal powers to be come better in overcomingobstacles.

In some cases learning or improving skills will be required to overcomespecific obstacles we face. In addition to that we should always be alert tonew generic skills we can learn that might help us in future to beat obstacles.These might be interpersonal skills, new knowledge based skills, personaldevelopment to handle pressure, etc.

The methods we can use to deal with obstacles very often depends on ourpersonal powers. The more we have to offer, the more effective actions wecan choose to overcome the obstacle.

You become limitless when you overcome what holds you back.Lorii Myers, No Excuses, The Fit Mind-Fit Body Strategy Book

3. Build a team

We all heard it is more important who you know, than what you know. Onecan debate the truth of the this, but there is no doubt that people are amongthe most important resources available to overcome an obstacle.

Just like we must develop ourselves, as mentioned in the previous section,we must build our team of people who can contribute when dealing withobstacles. We can call the process networking, or something else, but werequire people like family, friends, acquaintances, professional people,suppliers or clients with whom we are on good enough footing to approachthem when necessary to deal with an obstacle.

It is better to build our team ready to call upon when facing an obstacle,than to try to find people who can assist in the midst of the process ofdealing with an obstacle. For this reason we should continually build ourteam to rely on when facing an obstacle.

Building a network is a reciprocal process. We must refrain from beingperceived as parasites sucking people dry without offering anything in return.In fact, one of the best ways of getting people to co-operate and help, is togive so much that they feel in debt to you.

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Our team can help us decide on effective actions to overcome the obstacle,or they can help us test ideas about overcoming obstacle. The team can evenbe a resource to encourage us, provide emotional support, or to motivate us.

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’sperformance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond itsnormal limitations.Peter F. Drucker

4. Preparation

When faced with obstacles, we may already have the resources to deal withit through our self-development and team building efforts. The same appliesto physical objects we may need.

While considering actions to overcome the obstacle, it may become clear thatsome of the resources to deal with the obstacle are missing. This is often thecase as also stated in one of the Laws of Murphy: Before you can dosomething, you must first do something else. Before we can tackle theobstacle, we must identify what resources we require and obtain them.

It requires much knowledge and skills to think effectively about obstacles,how to overcome them, and the necessary resources to take appropriateaction. An idea journal is very helpful in this regard. Keep a journal andwrite as many ideas as possible in the journal. This will stimulate us to bealert to new ideas, and to do something by recording the new ideas. Theprocess will help us become more adept at generating new ideas, and theideas will be available when needed to deal with an obstacle.

Another activity that can help us, is to read diversely in different fields.Often methods, procedures, or resources we read about in one field, can beadapted and fitted to our obstacles.

When we read stories of heroes, we identify with them. We take the journeywith them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see howthey grow as human beings or gain qualities or show great qualities ofstrength and courage and with them, we grow in some small way.Sam Raimi

5. Actions required

The specific strategy, plan, method, or procedure together with the relevant

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actions are the real operational ways to overcome the obstacle. When weare considering plans and actions there are a few principles we must keep inmind.

(1) Focus on the objective, not the obstacle.

(2) Identify and work with positive aspects in the situation.

(3) Obstacles are seldom unique. Most have presented themselves millionsof times to millions of people. There may be tried and trusted proventechniques to deal with the obstacle we are facing.

(3) Expand options by asking questions that will lead to differentpossibilities, so that we can put our own unique spin to the obstacle.

(4) We must realize some ideas take time to develop, and we must givethem that time.

(5) We must state criteria for success, and indicators for feedback on successor failure.

(6) Keep the plan simple. Go for maximum effectiveness, with minimumeffort.

(7) Actions provoke reactions. Think like a chess player a few moves aheadto deal with counter actions we might meet.

(8) Anticipate risks and possible things that can go wrong. Formulatecontingency plans and actions to carry out, if it becomes necessary.

(9) Communication is vital. Include specific communication acts in the planto keep important people in the loop. Make sure people around usunderstand what we do and why.

(10) Sometimes a whole plan to deal with an obstacle will not be clear to us.We then want to think of at least a few actions we can take to start chippingaway at the obstacle. We can trust our mind to keep working on ways andmeans to beat the obstacle.

When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resiliencewe did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do werealise that these resources were always there within us. We only need tofind them and move on with our lives.A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

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6. Schedule it

A plan and list of actions to overcome an obstacle is necessary, but notsufficient to actually beat the obstacle. We must also plan to make sure weexecute all the necessary actions on time. We must schedule the tasks ofour action plan.

We must record our schedule in a format that suits us - diary, calendar, mindmap, outliner, project planner. Any instrument will do, as long as it capturesall our planned actions in a time frame and have a mechanism to remind usof scheduled tasks.

If we have deadline for overcoming the obstacle, we must work back fromthe deadline and fit in all the tasks in the period from now until the deadline.If there is no deadline, we can decide on a suitable target date and scheduleaccordingly. If we do not have and end in sight for overcoming our obstacle,we can set target dates to accomplish the tasks we know of at present.

The degree of accuracy we place into our schedule, will depend oncircumstances and requirements to overcome the specific obstacle. We mustbuild check points into our schedule, to pause, take stock, review ourprogress, and consider if any changes are required in our plans to eventuallyovercome the obstacle.

We must be in control of our schedule. We must get reminders to start thescheduled tasks, and our system must show which tasks had beencompleted, and which are outstanding. We require a system that focusesour minds on the tasks currently at hand, but that can also provide anoverview so that we can easily see where we are in the bigger picture. Oursystem must make provision for deviations in scheduling and/or actions totake, and there must be an easy way to make these amendments in oursystem.

It's the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance,sweeps away all obstacles.Claude M. Bristol

7. Prepare for failure

We do not have to live long to realize the truth in the Law of Murphy. Thingscan and do go wrong, usually at the worst possible time. We know that istrue, so why ignore it?

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While digging up the possibilities and opportunities in obstacles, we areaware things will go wrong and there will be failures along the way. What wedo not want, is to be thrown off-balance or beaten altogether by thesefailures.

Anticipation is a great way to deal with failures along the way. Once wehave decided on a course of action to overcome the obstacle, we should askourselves the question: "What can go wrong?" There are two advantages.to answering this question. One is that it can point out weaknesses in ourapproach to the obstacle. We can then review and improve our plan. Theother advantage is awareness of specific things that can go wrong. We canthen not only prepare to handle those situations, but it will also empower usto be ready and to deal effectively with the failures.

Anticipation can take us so far, but not further. Adversity can strike all of asudden, from totally unexpected directions, out of the blue, to hinder ourefforts to beat the obstacle. We know that, and must be prepared for theseunexpected adverse situations as well. Firstly, we must devise strategies tohandle our own reactions to the adverse event. We want to look at it from asense of power within us, and not through fear, anger, frustration, ordesperation. Secondly, we must apply our normal obstacle busting approachto the adverse event as well.

Failures are essentially valuable educational experiences. They teach usabout ourselves, and how we can apply our strengths to overcomedisappointments, frustrations, failures, and all kinds of adverse conditions.They also teach us about the world around us and how to make progresstowards our goals. With this sort of attitude we shall be prepared for failureand able to turn failures rapidly into growths experiences.

When you anticipate adversity, you can then plan for adversity. You maynever gain control of it, but you can keep it from controlling you.T Jay Taylor

******************************************************Attract Opportunities - Seize the MomentWhole Brain Thinking - Unlock Your Brain’s Full PotentialAccess Your Inner Strength - Call On Your Personal PowerBe the Best You Can Be - Achieve Your True PotentialSeize the Day - Live Life in the Here and NowReach All Your Goals - Turn Dreams into RealityKeep Calm - Keep Cool and In Control******************************************************

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7 Ways To Let Your Action Self Loose On Obstacles

You can always decide to ignore item 2 below to become a sitting duck forobstacles. If you are not constantly busy with item 2, you are guaranteedto go nowhere fast and obstacles will play a game of cat and mouse withyou.

In this article, we shall talk about the coal face, so to speak, of overcomingobstacles. When dealing with obstacles, by far most of our time and effortmust be allocated to actively doing the tasks we have listed to overcome theobstacle.

You can't plow a field simply by turning it over in your mind.Gordon B. Hinckley

1. Light you fire

We must be motivated and energized to complete the tasks required toovercome obstacles. The crucial requirement for motivation and energy isthat the task must be clearly linked to our core values, beliefs, attitudes,personality and important goals. If we had followed the steps correctly todecide on actions to overcome the obstacles, the link between task and

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reason to do it, will already be clear. We will look forward to the rewards foraccomplishing the task, and the negative consequences for not doing it.

People's emotions and energy levels vacillate up and down. It is thereforeadvisable to find a way to energize us for the day and for specific tasks.Individuals usually have their own ways of doing this. Two energizing ritualsare provided here for those who are still looking for ideas.

A morning ritual is good to tune in for the day generally, which includes tasksto overcome obstacles. The ritual proposed by Hal Elrod in his book "TheMiracle Morning" is both comprehensive and adaptable. The ritual can bemade as short or as long as you like. You decide on the content in each ofthe six sections in the mnemonic "S A V E R S." The whole ritual can be donein less than 15 minutes (much longer if you have time) and really set you upto do your best for the day.

The six sections are below with content suggestions to do the whole ritual inbed in the morning. This is for illustration only. Best is to make the ritualyour own with your own content.

(S)ilence - short ritual to connect with the universal powers

(A)ffirmation - 3 core affirmations

(V)isualization - relive a very successful visualization, and then visualizesuccess in important goals

(E)xercise - 5 isotonic exercises from head to toe

(R)eading - read a quote from my obstacle beating quote a day subscription

(S)cribbling (writing, journaling) - One success from the previous day and 3things to be grateful for

It is also good to apply an energy booster just before we start with one ofour obstacle busting actions. There are many ways in which people do this,but here is one connected to the Hindu elephant headed deity Ganesha, the"Destroyer of obstacles." It is a mantra with the words “Om GamGanapataye Namaha,” (A good explanation how to use the mantra is on thiswebsite. If you want to go for it in a big way, you can buy a 30 minute MP3of the mantra enhanced with brain wave technology.)

Rituals are not just nice to do. They are scientifically proven to improve ourperformance.

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There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through usand produce miraculous results.Mahatma Gandhi

2. Knock them over

Actions to beat obstacles stand there like ten-pin bowls waiting for us toknock them over. If we do not roll the ball, we shall not knock them over.

Action is the force that will destroy the obstacle. All the other thinking andpreparation serve just to choose the most effective actions, but they inthemselves will not impress the obstacle at all.

Even minimal actions will accomplish more to overcome obstacles thanresearching or thinking about the obstacle. Even poorly thought out andimperfect actions will achieve more, than trying to find perfect actions.

Our Active Selves must be in the front line of the battle against ourobstacles. Our Active Self is the doer in us, that part in our being that isaction oriented, the busy bee.

Our Active Self is the part in us with a burning desire to jump in and dosomething about the obstacle. We must, of course, keep the Active Self incheck for us to decide on the best course of action, but we need our ActiveSelf to keep us under severe pressure to start acting immediately and keephammering away until the obstacle is overcome.

We must spend the vast majority of our time taking action to beat theobstacle. We can start the first action as soon as we have a minimumworkable plan of action. We can develop the action plan further as we goalong. We shall even obtain valuable feedback from actions already taken toimprove our further course of action.

Action gives us first hand experience of the nature of the beast which is ourobstacle. Action teaches us how to struggle with the obstacle, and how todevelop the resilience, resourcefulness, toughness, and adaptability requiredto deal with obstacles.

Our top priority in dealing with obstacles must be to act sooner rather thanlater, and to take more action not less, and to keep on taking action in theface of resistance and not to stop. We must remember to include rewards inour action system to celebrate successful actions.

If you want to achieve something, sitting around and just waiting is

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not really an answer to get your desired results.Unknown

3. Ears of the hippopotamus

"The most delightful moment of their conversation, perhaps, was his story ofa Scandinavian visitor to South Africa using the expression “That's just thetip of the iceberg” in a dialogue with some local farmers, whose facesremained blank until an interpreter translated the phrase to mean 'That'sjust the ears of the hippopotamus.'" (Published Apr 28, 2010 Copyright 2010Samantha Schnee)

Our obstacle may be as big as a hippopotamus, but we cannot work with thewhole hippopotamus at once. We must concentrate on something small, likethe hippo's ears. When the hippo is in the water, not much more than itssmall ears stick out about the water.

We should list many actions to deal with the obstacle, but we can onlymanage one at a time - we can only work with the ears of the hippo, not thewhole hippo. We can accomplish great things with consistent small steps.

Just like we can see the hippo's ears sticking out above the water, we requirea system to point to the task we must accomplish now and keep the othertasks out of sight. The rest should be hidden like the body of the hippounder the water so that we can concentrate on the one task at hand.

There are many systems to list, organize and prioritize tasks to overcomeobstacles. A simple system that functions well, is a combination of Kanbanand Trello.

Kanban is a system of moving cards to follow the flow through a process. Forthe purpose here, a simple system of three columns of cards isrecommended. Keep to do items in column one. Doing cards are in columntwo - these are the ears of the hippo items that we are concentrating on, andbusy doing now. Completed tasks are shifted to the done column. It is goodto see the completed items for a sense of achievement as we can view theprogress we are making.

Trello is an online program in which you can create the three columns for ToDo, Doing, and Done. It is easy to create cards for the specifics tasks to doin the To Do column, with the priority items at the top. Items can bedragged up or down in the column. Drag top items to the Doing column sothat you can concentrate on them and only them. Once completed, drag thecard to the Done column.

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Whatever system we use, we must focus on the ears of the hippo, the tasksto knock over now. Then the system must elevate the next task in front ofus.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.Martin Luther King Jr.

4. Dig gold out of time

When very young, I overheard one of my old aunts declining an invitation togo for an afternoon nap, because she stated she would shortly be lying 6 feetunder the ground for a very long time. As I grew up and into adulthood herwords served as constant reminder to me that we were living on the clock,so to speak, and our time was a limited consumable resource.

The question arises what must we do with this limited consumable resourcethat is being expended every second. On the one extreme we can drift alongwithout making an effort to use the resource available to us. On the otherextreme we can become overly driven, believing we must "live life to the full"every second. There is, of course nothing wrong with either, or any otherapproach.

When we are dealing with obstacles, we must use the time allocated todealing with the obstacle to best effect. We must endeavor to get themaximum results for the time spent dealing with the obstacle. There is asaying that "time is money," but in our context of dealing with obstacles, wecan consider time as a resource containing gold to dig out. We must usetime not only to overcome the obstacle, but more importantly to benefit andimprove our lives through our efforts to beat the obstacle. In the same waywe search for opportunities in obstacles, we want to find gold, benefits, inthe time we spend working on overcoming obstacles.

To dig out the gold in time, we must discover the optimum balance in thetime we allocate to different aspects of our lives - personal, social, health,recreation, career, assets, and environment. Then we need to find theoptimum rhythm to alternate between spending time in total concentrationon an activity, and taking a break.

I have found by trial and error that 25 minute concentration and 5 minutebreaks work well for me, with longer breaks when I need them. This issimilar to the Pomodoro Technique (a time management method developedby Francesco Cirillo to break down work into intervals, called pomodoros,traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks) When I wasyounger, I could easily handle 40 minute or longer concentrated work. I find

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this technique especially useful when I am "in the zone" and can work andconcentrate for long periods without a break. The forced short breaks makethe work more pleasant and increase the quality and quantity of output.

There are many time management techniques to choose from. We canenhance our work to overcome obstacles, if we apply appropriate timemanagement techniques that work for us, to execute the tasks we need todo to beat our obstacles. This is how to be effective while we enjoy theprocess of overcoming obstacles.

Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Bepatient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect yourmost important goal - to do the best you can, enjoy this day, and restsatisfied with what you have accomplished.Og Mandino

5. Proud like a peacock

We must strive to deliver the absolute best in our efforts to overcomeobstacles so that we can be as proud of our work as the peacock showing offits beautiful feathers.

One of the satisfying things in life, is the warm feeling of pride in ourselveswhen we have done a job to the best of our ability. The end result may, ormay not be as desired or expected, but we can feel proud if we had done ourbest.

The way to go, is to set high standards for ourselves, and expect to act inaccordance with those high standards. We cannot expect to become amaster of obstacles by offering lazy and sloppy efforts to overcomeobstacles.

Doing work we can be proud of, becomes much easier if we are happy andenjoy performing the work. The implication is that we must seek out as faras possible the types of obstacles we love and enjoy tackling.

It is true that life presents some obstacles we do not like at all, but that wecannot ignore. In these cases we must determine what the reason is that wefeel we must deal with the obstacle. The reason will relate to our centralvalues, attitudes, personality, and goals, otherwise it would not besomething that we feel compelled to deal with. Once we find the reason inourselves to deal with the obstacle, it becomes much easier to bring theelement of joy and fun into our work to overcome obstacles.

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We must find ways to remain physically relaxed, but mentally highly alert todo our best work while enjoying it.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit inlittle matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.Charles R. Swindoll

6. Enticing distractions seducing you

Many of us are very good at finding nice and pleasant things we simply mustdo before we can start tackling tasks to overcome our obstacles. Even whilebusy with obstacle busting tasks, we are prone to be seduced by pleasurableside shows that we can attend to, instead of making progress on our task.

These seductive distractions make our work ineffective at best, and at worstcan derail our attempt to overcome the obstacle altogether.

Three points to keep in mind when dealing with these distractions.

(1) Self knowledge. It is relatively easy to study ourselves to become awareof the types of distractions that we are typically prone to. Once we recognizewhat sort of distractions easily entice us away from our task, it becomeseasier to deal with them. I once read that resourceful people do not collect alot of information they are not going to use. I realized straight away that itwas one of my distractors as my attention could easily shift from the task athand to irrelevant information that cropped up while busy with the task. Thisknowledge alone made me more aware of my undesirable tendency towander, and helped me deal with it. We must use a list of "not to do" things.

(2) Notes: Writing notes is a good habit generally, but especially so whendealing with distractions. If we always carry something to make notes, it iseasy to write our distractions on paper. If it is an idea, just make a note toconsider later at an appropriate time. The same can be done with anythought or source of information we encounter. Even when the distractioninvolves people, ask what they want and make a note to assist at a moreopportune time.

(3) Intrusive distractions. Some distractions are obstacles in themselves.These fall in the category of Murphy's law: Before you can do something, youmust do something else. While working on an obstacle, something crops upthat prevents you from continuing. This is an obstacle, usually a small one,to deal with before you can continue with the original task. Just deal with itin the same way you overcome all obstacles. We must prevent the intrusivedistraction, to seduce us into performing all kinds of pleasant things not

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aiding to overcome the obstacles at hand.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought withoutaccepting it.Aristotle

7. Negotiate bumps in the road

It is not a secret that our goals and objectives may remain constant, but ourplans to attain them almost invariably get twisted, turned, or blocked. Theroad to our goals is seldom a smooth freeway, but more often a bumpygravel road, meandering through rough terrain with many ups and downs.

There will be frustrations on our way to overcome obstacles, and we must beready for them. That is why we must develop our resilience,resourcefulness, and adaptability as much as possible to cope with thesefrustrations. Our plan is the road map, but we must make sure our plan alsocontains the alternative routes to take when one road gets blocked.

If we had done our planning correctly, we would have anticipated foreseeableproblems, and included contingency plans in our map. We should also haveour strategy in place to deal rapidly and effectively with problems we meetunexpectedly. We should deal with these using the same process wegenerally employ to overcome obstacles. We must apply our ingenuity andwe shall often find ways to pass roadblocks in the least expected ways.

If we keep our goal in mind, and believe in our obstacle busting systems,and in our ability to use these systems effectively, it will be very difficult forbumps in the road to stop us. We must keep in mind the advice of Obama'sadviser Rahm Emanuel, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

Every day, you have to remind yourself that you will always succeed nomatter what happens and whoever comes in your way.If you have this state of mind, you will obtain greater outcomes thanyou have every expected.Unknown

******************************************************Be More Motivated - Put the Fire in Your BellyBe More Productive - Optimize Your OutputTotal Focus Mental Skills - Get Limitless Powers of ConcentrationMaster Time Management - Use Your Time Wisely

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Be the Best You Can Be - Achieve Your True PotentialBe Insanely Productive - Dismiss Distractions & Power ThroughBe More Organized - Bring Order out of Chaos******************************************************

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7 Ways in which obstacles develop our wisdom

In previous articles we looked upon obstacles as the raw material, a resourcejust like time, to use to build and enhance our lives To get the most out ofthe obstacles we wrestle with, we should actively try to gain every possiblepiece of wisdom and life experience from each obstacle we encounter. Ourwork with obstacles should be a learning experience.

1 Four levels of learning

Andy Shaw in his book "Mastering The Law of Attraction," describes fourlevels of learning which can also be applied to the lessons we are learningfrom dealing with obstacles.

The first level is the purely intellectual level of knowledge what happened.

The second is the level of understanding. At this level we understand verywell of what we have learned, but we are not applying the knowledge yet.

At the third level, we not only know and understand the lessons learnt fromour obstacles, we are in fact applying those lessons in our lives. We havelearnt the lessons and made changes in our lives to deal better with newobstacles.

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The fourth level is when the lesson learned goes beyond something we applywhen necessary. It actually becomes a way of life for us as a core part ofour being.

Shaw lastly makes the point that our lives are dynamic. We constantly learnnew lessons, we reorganize our way of looking at things, and how werespond to them, and we incorporate new lessons into the way we are living.We constantly learn and improve in this way.

The levels of learning described by Shaw, presents a good model to keep inmind as we think about the learning and wisdom we build through our workin dealing with obstacles.

Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its ownlesson on how to improve your performance the next time.Og Mandino

2 Happy obstacle busting

As we go about our work overcoming obstacles, we develop a basicphilosophy and core attitude about obstacles.

Hopefully we shall learn that obstacles are in the nature of life itself, and notpersonal attacks on us. Obstacles simply present the raw material we mustgrapple with. It will be great if we learn that obstacle will arise whether welike it or not. We shall discover sooner or later that we have little to nocontrol over the obstacles that block our way, but we totally control ourreactions to obstacles.

If we learn along the way that happiness, joy, and pleasure come from insideus, rather than enter from the outside, this insight will empower us verymuch in dealing with obstacles. Once we reach a stage where we can faceobstacles with joy in our hearts and eager anticipation for the presents weshall get from efforts to overcome the obstacle, we shall be well on our wayto benefit greatly from the obstacles in our lives.

Everyone will go through different learning experiences in dealing withobstacles. The constants are our philosophy of, and attitude to obstacles,and our reactions to obstacles. We can observe in ourselves whether wedevelop along the lines described above.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you

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love what you are doing, you will be successful.Albert Schweitzer

3 Live for opportunities

As discussed in previous articles, we can always find opportunities inobstacles to better our condition. We have emphasized that it is not merelya matter of thinking positive, but looking through the surface of ourobstacles to uncover real opportunities in the obstacles.

How can we confirm that we have fully learned the lesson aboutopportunities in every obstacle? Referring to the learning levels describedabove, we shall know we have learned the lesson once we catch ourselvesthinking automatically about possible opportunities and benefits immediatelywhen confronted with an obstacle. A terrible flu had been a recent obstacle Ifaced, but I found myself thinking hard about benefits, opportunities, andlessons, and I uncovered quite a number of them.

We can also expect to learn that opportunities and benefits are not limited toindividuals. We are part of the people and world around us. We shall reallystart making good progress once we utilize obstacles as sources ofopportunities and benefits, not only for ourselves, but to make the world abetter place.

Finally, wisdom will arrive when we learn to decide which opportunities topursue, and which ones to let go.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but inhaving new eyes.Marcel Proust

4 March forward with obstacles

On face value obstacles are problems, issues, roadblocks, frustrations,hurdles, bumps, blocks, snags, stumbling blocks, hurdles or hindrancesblocking our way to our destination.

As we are accepting our new way of approaching and handling obstacles, weshall hopefully start to see obstacles as signposts and not obstacles. Weshall learn to grasp that obstacles are like signposts giving us valuableinformation about how to proceed. Obstacles can show that we are on thewrong road, and must follow a different route to our goal. Or they mightshow us we must learn how to overcome certain types of obstacles to reach

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goal. Or obstacles may point out we must develop some necessary qualitiesin ourselves to reach our goals. Obstacles may even just test our resolve toachieve our goal - if we are not motivated enough, it may not be a suitablegoal for us.

We can develop wisdom by reading obstacles like a road map coupled withsignposts to steer us towards our destination. With even more wisdom, weshall learn to enjoy the journey, including dealing with obstacles on the way.

The gateways to wisdom and learning are always open, and more and more Iam choosing to walk through them. Barriers, blocks, obstacles, andproblems are personal teachers giving me the opportunity to move out of thepast and into the Totality of Possibilities.Louise L. Hay

5 Catalyst for improvement

Many of us naturally like things as they are and we are quite resistant tochanges. We may learn from obstacles that they are often catalystsindicating that change is necessary in certain circumstances. The obstaclesmay point out that part of our system or strategy does not work, or does notwork well, and should be modified. An obstacle may measure a deviationfrom the norm, or a deviation from expected results.

We shall hopefully learn that when dealing with catalyst type obstacles, wemust apply all our obstacle busting skills to make sure we make changes forthe better.

By making changes willy-nilly, we may end up worse off, and we certainlymust avoid that.

If we make changes just for the sake of changing, we may or may not bebetter off. If this is our best option, we can try to attain improvementthrough a trial and error method.

We may well learn that it is best in most cases to apply our creativity,resourcefulness, and accurate thinking skills to discover most promisingalternatives that lead to improvements by changing things.

Turn catalysts for change into catalysts for improvement.

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’sperformance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond itsnormal limitations.

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Peter F. Drucker

6 Thrive on obstacles

We can learn to look for and find opportunities in obstacles, but we can alsolearn to turn obstacles into advantages. Once we develop the wisdom toturn obstacles into advantages in one way or another, we can learn toactually thrive on obstacles. Obstacles will then serve to promote our placein the world, to make a bigger contribution to improve the word around us,and to develop ourselves more than we could ever imagine.

Ethics come into play here. Are we going to thrive for the good of the world,or the bad. May we have the wisdom to use obstacles for good purposes notbad.

Robert Mugabe has led his country, Zimbabwe, since 1980, first as PrimeMinister and later as State President. He celebrated his 92nd birthday on 27February 2016 as the oldest active leader of his country in Africa. He thrivedon the many obstacles that threatened his position as leader, emergingstronger after overcoming every obstacle.

The photo shows he is still going strong at an advanced age. Some peoplehail him as a good leader, and others despise him as a bad leader. It is notthe place here to make a value judgement on his leadership. What it

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illustrates, is the possibility to thrive on obstacles, and to leave in thereader's mind the question, whether he or she will use obstacles in their ownlives for good or bad purposes.

Some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under everydisadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through athousand obstacles.Washington Irving

7 Doing life the best we can

Perhaps the most valuable wisdom to draw from learning to overcomeobstacles, is how to live our lives the best way we can, to be the best wecan.

Think about the qualities we develop while learning to overcome obstacles.We learn to be resourceful, resilient, keep our cool even under pressure, toaccept responsibility, be active and dare to do. We also learn to know andunderstand ourselves. We become aware of our values, personality,strengths and weaknesses, as we apply these to the obstacles we encounter.We learn to understand what we are passionate about, as we analyze whichobstacles we are motivated to overcome, and which ones not.

While learning to overcome obstacles, we develop our skills and wisdom inthe different areas of life - personal development, social relationships, fitnessand health, career, building assets, recreation, and shaping our environment.

We may realize through our work with obstacles how we are part of a biggerwhole, including the natural, social and universal (spiritual, somethinggreater than the concrete observable world) environments in which we areembedded.

The more we realize there are lessons to learn in obstacles, and the more weconsciously look for and internalize those lesson, the more we shall benefitfrom dealing with obstacles. We must deal with obstacles in any case, whynot utilize these to develop our wisdom?

Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seemsmost challenging.Joseph Campbell

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Join: Beat obstacles - quotes, proverbs, affirmations

******************************************************Bram Radcon DashboardUltra-Fast Learning - Learn What You Need at Lightning SpeedFeel Happy Now - Enjoy a Sunnier DispositionSolve Problems Fast - Overcome Obstacles with EaseThink Outside the Box - Get Your Creative Juices FlowingReinvent Yourself - Become the Person You Always Wanted to BeThink Big - Enjoy Limitless Brain PowerBe the Best You Can Be - Achieve Your True Potential******************************************************

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ACE It! Solver of Obstacles

I would say when the voice and the vision on the inside, become moreprofound, and more clear and loud, than the opinions on the outside, you'vemastered your life.Dr. John F. Demartini, Philosopher

Dr. Demartini's quotation clearly expresses our view of solving obstacles. Ifwe see obstacles from our powerful inner mind's eye, it becomes easy towelcome and accept them as raw materials for use to manifest our vision. Ifwe apply the voice of our inner vision to the obstacle, we find the motivation,resourcefulness, and relentlessness to turn it into one of the steps towardreaching the kind of life we want to live. This hold true for overcoming thesmallest to the most major obstacles in our lives.

The diagram below reminds us of the overall strategy to overcome obstacles.Use the "Obstacle Busting Questionnaire" below as reminder when dealingwith specific obstacles.

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OBSTACLE BUSTING QUESTIONNAIREDESCRIBE THE OBSTACLE:

YES NO1. Are you welcoming the obstacle as a resource to improve yourcondition?2. (a) Are you accepting the obstacle unconditionally and fearlesslywith gratitude and love?2. (b) Do you acknowledge the impact of the obstacle on yoursituation?3. Are you approaching the obstacle with a calm disposition,disciplned observation, emphasizing your own view of the situation,and a questioning mindset to find the opportunities and benefits inthe obstacle?4. Are you analysing the obstacle in terms of your values and goalsto find controllable and uncontrollable factors, and the priority levelof the obstacle?5. Are you organising all your resources into an action plan toovercome the obstacle?6. Are you spending most of your time taking actions to overcomethe obstacle?7. (a) Are you making notes of the lessons you are learning fromthis obstacle?7. (b) Are you incorporating the lessons into efforts to improveyourself and your environment?

YOUR TURN TO ACT!

You are very welcome to tell me what is on your mind.Follow the link to give me the benefit of your thoughts

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VALUE WARE

There are different systems of exchange, such as freeware, donation ware,barter, and selling goods and services at a price. My concept is Value Ware,which will become clear from the quotation below from Eric Shaffer.

“Every time we give or receive money, we create a flow of energy in theuniverse that can impact the rest of the world.

The next time you buy something, notice how you feel about making thepayment. Do you give freely, with pleasure in contributing to the person orcompany? Or do you do it because it is expected of you and because youwould be arrested if you walked off without paying? If you do not agree witha company or its product, you have an obligation not to support it financially.Money is empowerment, and every dollar spent promotes the person’sinfluence in the world. This is part of embracing your financial integrity.

Likewise, if there is a company or organization that is doing work that youvalue, you have an obligation to dedicate your money to its activities. Itdoesn’t matter if the organization is feeding the homeless or producing yourfavorite video game; if you really believe in what they are doing, it is yourright and responsibility to show your support. This is capitalism at its best:letting people vote, with their money, for the goods and services that theyvalue most.

When you start to see the exchange of money as a series of contributions,not obligations, you release yourself from poverty consciousness. Recognizeyourself as an important investor in the company, not just a harried billpayer. Without people like you, these products and services would not existat all.”

Shaffert, Eric J. Feng Shui and Money, A Nine - Week Program For Creating Wealth UsingAncient Principles and Techniques. Allworth Press, New York. 2002

If you think the book is worth it, and you are in agiving mood, follow the link to pay what you think it isworth into my PayPal or cryptocurrency account.