In my last post I told you how you can become whatever you want. It’s a common theme I’ve shared time and time again. So here’s my question to you: what’s stopping you?
You Can Do It
There are a lot of times we don’t try something because we think we can’t. The fact is that we have a lot more potential than we ever thought possible. Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin company dropped out of school. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, dropped out of college.
We can overcome a lot more than we think we can and do more than we expect. A lot of times we thing there are roadblocks when we simply need to find a way around them.
Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, spent hours each day for three years rolling soda bottles under his flat feet to build up his arches because he was determined to go to the US Naval Academy. He knew flat feet could mean rejection. He graduated from the USNA in 1947.
What’s stopping you? There may be many things that put up roadblocks in your life. Let’s tackle them.
Don’t Know Where To Start
If you don’t know where to start, I’ve got you covered. I have spoken at universities like the University of Alabama and on Fortune 500 campuses, sharing with thousands of people tools you can use to make things happen. Here are some of the tricks I’ve shared:
If you don’t know where to start on anything, follow these three steps I’ve outlined in detail here:
- Limit Yourself: Often times we struggle to make decisions because the choices are infinite. If I told you to come up with a story, that may be challenging. If I told you to come up with a story involving a super hero dog, ideas start becoming clearer. Instead of saying “what can I do?” ask yourself, “what can I do in less than 5 minutes?” or “what can I do to come up with a task list?”
- Don’t Look for the Best Option: Often we get stuck trying to make things perfect. Instead, simply look for options. We have a way of adjusting and improving as we go along, plus, doing the third best option well is better than not doing anything on the “best” option.
- Get Rid of Good Options: We often find there are so many choices we struggle. So, immediately whittle down all options to 3. Once they are down to three it will be much easier to choose.
So now, what’s stopping you? If you don’t know how to do it, let’s talk about that.
Don’t Know How to Do It
We live in an amazing world! You can buy a fantastic tablet that you can learn from, draw on, interact with, search through and more for about a dollar a day (assuming it only lasts one year).
We have all kinds of courses that are widely available to learn anything. You have amazing potential. There are all kinds of ways to learn things like cooking, sports, coding, design, or pretty much anything you want. I’ve covered them both in my posts on your amazing potential and on living a life that’s wowful. You can learn for free or very inexpensively.
Now that you know where to go, what’s stopping you? If it’s drive, don’t worry. I’ve covered that too.
Don’t Have the Discipline
Everyone procrastinates and struggles with discipline. Here are some ways to get the upper hand.
First, it’s good to have goals and know where you’re going. Setting up a plan makes it easier to stay on track.
Secondly, just make progress. Doing something daily, no matter how minor often plays a much bigger role in success than anything else.
Finally, keep at it. Consistency is what makes success happen. Be sure to keep what you’re doing exciting and enjoyable. That’s the key to staying consistent.
Here are a few more resources that can help:
- Three Simple Steps to a Better Life
- Three Simple Steps to Achieving Your Dreams
- Self Improvement Goals that Stick
- Three Powerful Self Improvement Ideas
What’s Stopping You?
So now you have the tools: you know where to start, you know where to go to learn how to do it, and you know how to deal with motivation and discipline.
So what’s stopping you? Because if nothing else is stopping you then the only thing stopping you… is you. Now is the time to get out of your way and make it happen.
